Training and Enterprise Council

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The Training and Enterprise Councils or TECs were local bodies established in England and Wales in the early 1990s to administer publicly-funded training programmes, replacing the former Manpower Services Commission. TECs managed various schemes including youth training (formerly known as the Youth Training Scheme) and the early Modern Apprenticeship. They also promoted training and business enterprise with local organisations. TECs operated as private limited companies and reported on their progress to their regional government office.

The TECs were abolished in April 2001 under the Learning and Skills Act 2000. In England, their functions, along with the Further Education Funding Council, were taken over by the Learning and Skills Council (LSC). In Wales, they were replaced by ELWa.

The first group of 19 TECs were launched in 1990. One of these was created in Hertfordshire under the stewardship of Tony Saint CBE, of British Aerospace and Gareth Osborne, Herts Chamber of Commerce. The Board included a host of senior local business and public sector leaders like Mike Moran of Wellcome, Gerry Hopkinson of KPMG and Maurice Le Flemming of Herts County Council. Sixty staff were transferred from the Training Agency to staff Herts TEC and a senior Civil Servant, Chris Wright became its CEO. He was later succeeded by Chris Humphries. Herts TEC quickly became a beacon for what private sector leadership could do for the delivery of public funded initiatives and the orgaisation brought a new quality and ingenuity to support for those between careers in Hertfordshire, UK.