Conservative Party plans launched on Thursday aim to tackle Britain’s "crippling skills shortage" with a five point action plan.
The launch of the policy forms part of a raft of measures unveiled this year as part of the party's pre-election campaign.
Tories say a fifth of vacancies remain unfilled due to a skills shortage and that eight million people lack basic skills, adding that the number of starters on work-based learning is going down.
Party Response: Conservative
Tim Collins, shadow education secretary, said: "We have a million young people not in education, employment or training. We need to fill the skills gap that are holding back many of our businesses.
"We need to engage the disengaged young - so often the cause of trouble in our society - and help them build worthwhile skills.
"We will only build the skills of our people by offering greater choice to learners and employers, by empowering our professionals, and by reducing the waste that has bedevilled post-16 education."
Party Response: Liberal Democrats
Phil Willis, Liberal Democrat education spokesman, said: "These long awaited, but inadequate, proposals have more in common with Rab Butler and 1944 than the skills needs of the 21st century.
"Seeking to separate young people into 'sheep and goats' on the basis of academic ability is a tried and failed option and has led to today's massive skills shortage as a nation.
"All young people need to be engaged in high quality vocational education as part of their 14 to 19 studies. To simply offer uncosted bribes to colleges and employers to take on disillusioned young people smacks of desperation.
"Rather than try to grab headlines with uncosted and irrelevant promises, the Tories should back the Tomlinson proposals and recognise that Britain needs highly skilled people from all social backgrounds."
Stakeholder Response: Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development
Victoria Gill, CIPD adviser on learning, training and development, said: "Ensuring there are good quality, relevant vocational opportunities available for young people should be a priority for any government.
"But all too often, with successive governments, similar initiatives have failed to meet employer needs. This is why we have the skills shortages we do today, across age groups.
"Whatever proposals are adopted to tackle the very real skills shortages facing the UK, government will need to work closely with employers to ensure that courses and qualifications meet genuine employer needs. There is no point providing grants for thousands of youngsters to take courses that will not be relevant to the jobs they are likely to find available to them when they leave school.
"Care should also be taken to ensure that vocational opportunities are truly integrated into the mainstream education system. Vocational courses should not be made available only to a select few, or delivered on the sidelines in a way that makes them seem separate from or inferior to the rest of the education system."
Stakeholder Response: CITB-ConstructionSkills
A spokesman for CITB-ConstructionSkills said: "CITB-ConstructionSkills is pleased that all political parties have acknowledged the seriousness of the skills shortage and the value of work-based learning for young people.
"Similarly, all parties need to accept that there are significant resource implications if vocational courses are to be properly funded. Educating and training students in more than one location is the right way forward but it is inherently expensive and non-school-based provision is more expensive than in-school learning.
"CITB-ConstructionSkills agrees that motivating young people who are not in education, employment or training is vital. However, vocational courses need to be made more attractive to a wider group of young people, including those who may be academically more able and for whom work-related further or higher education may be most suitable or rewarding. In order to achieve this, we need to raise the status of vocational education itself.
"The industry will need 415,800 new people to join between 2003 and 2007. That's 83,160 per year. This represents the training requirement and does not take into account the numbers currently training who will qualify in that time or who will start to train during that time.
"It is essential that young people are given the education, training and skills required to meet the needs of the construction industry, so an acknowledgement of the skills crisis is welcomed, and we look forward to viewing further proposals."
Stakeholder Response: Association of Accounting Technicians
Karen Geddes, director of marketing at the Association of Accounting Technicians, said: "The AAT welcomes initiatives which focus on increasing the UK's skill levels. Young people need to be prepared for work when they leave school and they need help and guidance on how to take advantage of the benefits that a vocational education can bring them.
"However, acute skills shortages also exist at higher levels and the AAT would like to see proposals which include support for those who wish to progress beyond basic skills.
"The AAT's qualification and membership develop relevant and practical accounting and finance skills for life. We offer qualifications from NVQ Level two through to NVQ level four continuing with professional support and development for full members. The AAT are active participants in the drive to improve skills among the UK's workforce so as to help the UK's economy remain competitive."
Stakeholder Response: Business Services Association
Norman Rose, director general of the BSA, said: "While it is encouraging to see the Conservative Party focusing on the serious problem of skills shortages in UK business, I am not convinced that this is really the right approach.
"To split academic and vocational training at this stage in a young person’s career risks a lack of focus that could inhibit achievement in either field. As major employers, we need to recruit those who, however reluctantly, have proved their ability to cope with basic academic work.
"Unless or until the government of the day, the educational establishment and the business community fully recognise the equivalence of NVQs with formal academic education, we owe it to all our young people to focus primarily on equipping them to fulfil their potential in this sphere."
