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Skills
Ruth Kelly has launched a white paper aimed at ending a chronic skills gap that threatens Britain's future prosperity.
Gaining broad support from both unions and business, the measures are aimed at making the country more competitive.
The education secretary told the Commons that the measures would include setting up a new National Employer Training Programme, which will deliver free, flexible training for vocational qualifications to the equivalent of five good GCSEs.
Government Response: Department for Education and Skills
Ruth Kelly, secretary of state for Education and Skills, said: "We have made good progress on tackling skills shortages and educating adults but our ambition is nothing less than an end to 'dead-end-jobs'.
"Our goal is of a dynamic economy where our productivity is enhanced through high skilled, well rewarded employees working in companies committed to long term investment, improving the nation's economic productivity so we are fit to compete with China, India and other emerging economies.
"Too many adults in Britain still lack basic skills in literacy and numeracy and employers are concerned that they cannot recruit workers with the skills they need to be competitive. We need to tackle this and go even further to support more adults in achieving the higher end technician, craft and professional qualifications our economy needs to compete with the best.
"Improving our national skills base must be a joint endeavour between government, employers, trade unions, universities, colleges and other training providers. If we tackle the challenges that face us we have a real opportunity to make a fundamental change."
Party Response: Conservative
Tim Collins shadow education secretary said: "This government's lack of ambition knows no bounds. With 40,000 teenagers leaving school every year without a single GCSE – this White Paper will have a negligible effect on rebuilding our long-term skills base.
"We have already seen the extent of Labour’s failure over the handling of the Modern Apprenticeships scheme where drop out rates have averaged 56 per cent. Few in the Further Education sector now have any confidence in ministers’ ability to guide young peoples’ futures.
"Conservatives will invest £300 million in a skills programme catering for 300,000 young people to ensure they get a first class vocational education either at a new ‘Super College’ or in the workplace. We will end the social snobbery traditionally associated with skills training to deliver the very best for teenagers whatever their ambition."
Stakeholder Response: Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development
Mike Emmott, CIPD employee relations adviser, said: "The government's continuing focus on qualifications and targets, rather than on skills relevant to the workplace has caused concern amongst employers. The failure of the education system to equip all young people with the basic skills needed to bridge the transition into the workforce also remains an ongoing problem.
"At a time of continuing low unemployment, the issue of basic skills is more important than ever for employers. Yet those with the lowest skills don’t often receive the support they require. New research, conducted by CIPD among employees, shows that those who already have an academic qualification, or have already received training, are the ones who are most likely to get further training. Yet a failure to tackle basic skills deficits harms employers, employees and the economy as a whole.
"The proposed Union Learning Academy has the capacity to help raise the skills levels of the workforce. All too often employees on the front line view learning, training and development opportunities with suspicion. Yet union learning representatives are successfully helping to increase the involvement of employees who might be classed as reluctant learners. The Union Learning Academy should focus on building on this success."
Stakeholder Response: Learning and Skills Council
Chris Banks, chairman of the Learning and Skills Council, said: "As a nation we can no longer ignore the significant productivity gap that separates us from our closest competitors. Today’s Skills White Paper responds to many of the concerns of business and sets a challenge for employers to work more closely with colleges and training providers in new ways. It introduces for the first time nationwide a simple route for employers to access hassle-free, high-value training.
"To compete on cost and value-added goods and services in the global marketplace, we need to measure up to emerging economies like China and India, where the number of graduates each year are allowing these countries to increasingly compete not just on cost but on expertise. With employers we can develop a better mix of skills to fill jobs that demand high-level expertise as well as
those that require technical abilities. This will require the right kind of financial investment from both the public and private purse. The White Paper sets a huge and exciting challenge for the LSC, and we are determined to make a real difference."
Stakeholder Response: Sector Skills Development Agency
Christopher Duff, chief executive of the Sector Skills Development Agency, said: "In reinforcing the role of Sector Skills Councils, the White Paper makes clear the urgent need for education to get more closely involved in the productivity agenda, by prioritising work-related skills development at all levels.
"Through the new Sector Skills Agreements, the colleges, universities and their funding bodies are showing they are listening more closely to the needs of employers in our wealth generating industries as well as in our public services.
"There’s little point in educationalists simply asking for more resources, especially as education has received substantial extra funding in recent years.
"Employers too need to step up to the mark, just as they are in helping create the Sector Skills Agreements.
"If we trained 350,000 more people, we would create an extra £10bn for the economy. This is enough to increase spending on schools, colleges and universities by a fifth or to cut income tax by a tenth."
Stakeholder Response: Federation of Small Businesses
Carol Undy, chairman of the FSB said: "Current skills shortages won't be addressed by focusing simply on 14-19 education. Small businesses need assistance with funding training courses that are tailored to their needs and delivered in the workplace. Businesses also need more of a role in designing vocational qualifications to ensure they meet their needs."
Stakeholder Response: Institute of Directors
Richard Wilson, head of business policy at the Institute of Directors, said: "The new National Employer Training Programme and the proposed pilots to subsidise training to NVQ Level three should help to drive up standards of literacy and numeracy in the workforce and increase the proportion of people qualified to Levels two and three. Many employers will also welcome the development of Skills Academies to address skill needs in particular sectors of the economy.
"However, the government must also work to improve vocational qualifications, such as Apprenticeships, vocational GCSEs and vocational A Levels.
"Above all, the central priority for the future must be to improve levels of achievement in schools. Unless pupils leave school with a good grounding in basic skills and qualifications to at least Level two, there is insufficient on which to build and skill shortages and skill gaps will persist."
Stakeholder Response: Institute of Education
Ursula Howard, director of the National Research and Development Centre for Adult Literacy and Numeracy, based at the Institute of Education, said: "It is entirely right that literacy, numeracy and language are at the heart of a strategy for business and for employees to develop their education and skills. Adults face major change in their working lives. Shifting the emphasis of learning towards the workplace is essential if employers and unions are to be engaged and motivated to help staff to learn.
"There is still a mountain to climb in attracting people who have not succeeded at school back into learning as adults. Research at the National Research and Development Centre for Adult Literacy and Numeracy, led by the Institute of Education, on 10,000 people born in l970 suggests that only a tiny percentage of underachieving adults have returned to learn – or are likely to – even
though the negative impact of low basic skills on their lives is often powerful.
"But skills must be learned in ways which are relevant to learners, when and how they want to learn. NRDC’s study of apprenticeship showed that when teachers, employers and unions had a positive attitude to literacy and numeracy and valued them as part of vocational learning, it worked for learners. People need to feel positive about their learning as adults – and get support to learn key skills as part of their goals in life and work."
Stakeholder Response: CITB - Construction Skills
Peter Lobban, chief executive, CITB-ConstructionSkills said: "ConstructionSkills believes this Skills White Paper is a tremendous opportunity for UK industry because the emphasis is squarely on employer-led training in other words, it's about delivering the right training in the right format at the right time for employers and individuals in the workforce.
"This differs from previous government training initiatives because if employers don't agree with the way training is currently funded or delivered, or they feel new recruits are not correctly skilled, they now have a real opportunity, through Sector Skills Agreements, to shape how training is provided in the future."
Stakeholder Response: Adult Learning Inspectorate
David Sherlock, chief inspector of Adult Learning said: "The government and the private sector are investing billions into workforce development. It is essential that there is a rigorous mechanism for ensuring sufficiently high quality training to deliver the skilled people business and industry need. We have proved beyond doubt that there is a direct and powerful correlation between inspection and quality improvement and that it is delivering profound and potentially long-term change.
"For the first time we are beginning to see a comprehensive picture of skills training in this country. We need to build on the progress made. Work based learning is essential to labour mobility and technological change; poor provision has halved since inspections began in 2001. Inspection adds value and helps to raise standards by providing a specific focus for improvement work. More than 85 per cent of providers believe that the detailed findings in their inspection report will help them improve the quality of the service that they offer to learners.
"If we are serious about closing the skills gap we need to recognise that investment alone will not make the difference. We need to evaluate what we do well and where there are improvements to be made. We need to share the very best practice across the public and private sector. Being competitive is a long term goal. It involves continuously raising the bar."
Stakeholder Response: Forum of Private Business
Nick Goulding, chief executive of the Forum of Private Business, said: "The government’s Skills White Paper promising improved investment in training, was long over-due.
"Small businesses have been crying out for an improvement in employee skills for many years and today’s announcement is at least a step in the right direction.
"The Government needs to recognise the informal training provided by employers and “introduce a system whereby it is formally accredited."
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Published:
Mon, 21 Mar 2005 16:43:17 GMT+00
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