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On 27 November 1980 BACIE set up a conference to discuss the MSC report entitled OUTLOOK ON TRAINING which is intended to guide the government in making its decisions on what changes to make in the statutory system of industrial training and vocational preparation in the UK. The timing was, by accident, impeccable because on the eve of the conference the Minister had announced in the House the government's response to the review. Mr Prior was to have addressed the conference himself but pressure of business necessitated his replacement by Lord Gowrie, one of his junior ministers. The other speakers were Sir Richard O'Brien, chairman of the MSC, Len Murray of the TUC, Sir Norman Lindop, Director of Hatfield Polytechnic, Shirley Williams and Dr K B Everard, Education and Training Manager of ICI Ltd. We reproduce below Dr Everard's version of his speech, in which he gave an industrial view of the report, its proposals and such items of official government policy on vocational preparation as have been divulged to date. We have entitled the piece

Both tags are applicable to social science and technology, and while academics seek to understand causal relationships in their studies of human behaviour, trainers in particular are trying hard to find places to stand from which they can more effectively influence the world around them. How can we use our craft to help the nation progress? To close down the objective, what can we do to interest the workforce of which we are a part, in trying to understand the root causes of our socio‐economic condition and to find for those who care about it a place to stand from which to move it to something better? Would it help to get an informed dialogue going, in the mode not of adversary politics but of problem‐solving, round questions like these: • What is our problem? • How did we get to where we are? • Where would we rather be? • How can we get there? • What is the first step for me?

There is no doubt that we are living in a turbulent society, and there are many who criticise the young for making it worse. Someone more renowned than I had this to say about it:

▪ Have you, the training manager, ever wondered how good your training department really is? ▪ Have you sometimes thought you are misunderstood? ▪ Do you sometimes feel disembodied — floating free of firm links with your board of directors? ▪ Do you ever wonder what on earth you ought to be doing, or which way to turn? — If so, it is possible that a process we call ‘mutual monitoring’ will help you to get your bearings and provide a measure of support. We are using it in ICI, not primarily in response to the questions above, but because circumstances compelled us to think of some better way of managing the training function than simply budgets, establishments and levy/grants. We look on it as a way of forming a reasoned, agreed judgment about the effectiveness and health of the training function, in such a way that the benefit of doing so outweighs the cost.

Last month I ventured the opinion that the disclosure of financial information to employees is now recognised as a major and urgent training problem, that there is a powerful desire on the part of many companies to do what is right and useful in this matter but that there is no widespread confidence that we have the ability to do it effectively. This is a time for clarifying our ideas and trying out solutions on a pilot scale.

In this part it is proposed to discuss five aspects of the contract of employment and matters relating to it. The nature of the contract of employment will be considered first and the discussion will then go on to treat statutory intervention as a factor which regulates the underlying structure of the law of employment. In the second instance the characteristics of the contract of employment will be considered. There will then follow a brief excursus on how a contract of employment is formed. Here only offer, acceptance, consideration capacity, intention to enter into legal obligations and form will feature. Discussions on legality of object and restrictive covenants will be left until later. Following on from this third aspect, the fourth will consist of a detailed examination of the statutory written particulars of employment, i.e. (written statement); the discussion will then go on to examine in what circumstances complaints connected with the written statement may be made to an industrial tribunal. The reader will finally be invited to look at a sample written statement by way of practical exercise.