Written question asked by Barry Sheerman (Labour) on Wednesday, 14 December 2005, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Monday, 19 December 2005. It was answered by Phil Hope (Labour) on Tuesday, 20 December 2005 on behalf of the Department for Education and Skills.

WorldSkills Competition

Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what representations she has received on the UK's bid to host the 2011 WorldSkills Competition.

Answer: The Expression of Interest that we submitted to WorldSkills in September included letters of ““in principle”” support from Allan Wilson (Deputy Minister for Enterprise and Lifelong Learning, Scottish Executive) and Angela Smith MP (Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department for Employment and Learning, Northern Ireland). We have also received written ““in principle”” support from Jane Davidson, the Minister for Education and Lifelong Learning, Welsh Assembly, as well as letters from Sir Digby Jones, Director General of the CBI, Brendan Barber, General Secretary of the TUC, Sir Roy Gardner, Chief Executive of Centrica plc, and Carry Hawkes, Chair of Edge. Discussions are also on-going with various bodies to provide sponsorship (both in cash and in kind) for the bid as well as the event itself, should we be successful. These include the Corporation of London, City & Guilds, the Honda Institute, and various media organisations.

Secondary information