First reports go off without a bang

Section 8 of the Industrial Training Act requires every ITB to present an annual report of its activities for each financial year, the report to include a statement of accounts for that year. The reports of the first five boards up to 31st March 1965 were published on 28th July. Since the period is within that for which the Ministry has assumed full financial responsibility, the accounts are of very little interest. Next year's accounts will be a very different matter: then we shall be able to evaluate the effectiveness of each board on the basis of what it did with the money it raised. Factually the reports are interesting only as a formal record, and as such they are remarkably bare: as a means of obtaining information about the activities and policies of the boards they have a low value.