The Manpower Services Commission (MSC) was a

non-departmental public body In the United Kingdom, non-departmental public body (NDPB) is a classification applied by the Cabinet Office, Treasury, the Scottish Government and the Northern Ireland Executive to public sector organisations that have a role in the process o ...

of the Department of Employment Group in the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and ...

created by Edward Heath's

Conservative Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy that seeks to promote and to preserve traditional institutions, practices, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civilization in ...

Government A government is the system or group of people governing an organized community, generally a state. In the case of its broad associative definition, government normally consists of legislature, executive, and judiciary. Government i ...

in 1973. The MSC had a remit to co-ordinate

employment Employment is a relationship between two parties regulating the provision of paid labour services. Usually based on a contract, one party, the employer, which might be a corporation, a not-for-profit organization, a co-operative, or any o ...

and

training Training is teaching, or developing in oneself or others, any skills and knowledge or fitness that relate to specific useful competencies. Training has specific goals of improving one's capability, capacity, productivity and performance. I ...

services in the UK through a ten-member commission drawn from industry,

trade unions A trade union (labor union in American English), often simply referred to as a union, is an organization of workers intent on "maintaining or improving the conditions of their employment", ch. I such as attaining better wages and benefits ( ...

local authorities Local government is a generic term for the lowest tiers of public administration within a particular sovereign state. This particular usage of the word government refers specifically to a level of administration that is both geographically-loca ...

and

education Education is a purposeful activity directed at achieving certain aims, such as transmitting knowledge or fostering skills and character traits. These aims may include the development of understanding, rationality, kindness, and honesty ...

interests. This was an example of the contemporary

corporatist Corporatism is a collectivist political ideology which advocates the organization of society by corporate groups, such as agricultural, labour, military, business, scientific, or guild associations, on the basis of their common interests. The ...

influence on British

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. With three executive agencies, the Employment Services Division, the Training Services Division and the Special Programmes Division, the body was led by Geoffrey Holland of the Policy and Planning Division under the overall management of Sir John Cassells. The Policy and Planning Division was initially based in Selkirk House, High Holborn, London and later moved to Moorfoot in

Sheffield Sheffield is a city in South Yorkshire, England, whose name derives from the River Sheaf which runs through it. The city serves as the administrative centre of the City of Sheffield. It is historically part of the West Riding of Yorkshire ...

. At Selkirk House a team of Policy makers took responsibility for putting Geoffrey Holland's 'Young People and Work' report of 1977 which created the Youth Opportunities Programme (YOP) and the Job Creation Programme (JCP) intruded to ameliorate the problems facing the young and not so young workers following high unemployment in the UK during the early to mid-seventies. 'You can't get a job without experience, and you can't get experience without a job' was the catch phrase of the time. YOP had its critics and bad press especially for its work experience programme where several companies were accused of manipulating the system to get their 'free boy or girl' for six months. However, there were some notable successes including the development of the information technology centres (ITECs) which started in Notting Hill, London, giving young, disaffected youths the chance to explore the budding information technology industry. Many young people were initially attracted by the electronics side, especially with music sound systems being popular at the time. They were encouraged to venture into computer programming by gaming first, and then understanding how the programmes worked and could be improved. The MSC also created the Training Opportunities Scheme (TOPS) which in 1985-6 gave way to the Job Training Programme. The MSC was to become closely associated with its management of the

Youth Training Scheme The Youth Training Scheme (YTS) was the name in the United Kingdom of an on-the-job training course for school leavers aged 16 and 17 and was managed by the Manpower Services Commission. The scheme was first outlined in the 1980 white paper ''A Ne ...

and various other training programmes intended to help alleviate the high levels of

unemployment Unemployment, according to the OECD (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development), is people above a specified age (usually 15) not being in paid employment or self-employment but currently available for work during the refe ...

in the 1980s. After 1987 the MSC lost functions and was briefly re-branded the Training Agency (TA), before being replaced by a network of 72 training and enterprise councils.Evans, B. (1992) ''The Politics of the Training Market''. Routledge.

References

External links

Employment And Training Act 1973
Education in England Defunct non-departmental public bodies of the United Kingdom government 20th century in the United Kingdom 1973 establishments in the United Kingdom {{UK-gov-stub

See also

References

External links