Collapse Of South Thames Tec

EDM number 596 in 1994-95, proposed by Bridget Prentice on 10/02/1995.

That this House notes that the South Thames Training and Enterprise Council, after repeated warnings to the Department of Employment that it was in financial difficulties, was put into receivership on 23rd December 1994; further notes, with the utmost concern, the plight of the many employees, trainees, and training providers, associated with the Agency, who have been devastated by its collapse; condemns the lack of positive practical action on the part of the Department of Employment since the collapse of the Agency, the Department's refusal to honour the debts of the Agency leading to financial crises among the many creditors, and the decision by the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State to farm out the training provision for the South Thames area to agencies with no geographical or training links with the area; demands that the Department of Employment lives up to its responsibilities, by underwriting the debts of South Thames Training and Enterprise Council, by securing the jobs of the Agency's staff, by guaranteeing the provision for present and future trainees in the South Thames area, and by re-establishing a unitary training authority to serve the boroughs of Lewisham, Lambeth, Greenwich and Southwark.

This motion has been signed by a total of 49 MPs.