Oral question asked in the House of Commons, by Angela C Smith (Labour). It was answered on Thursday, 27 April 2006 on behalf of the Department for Education and Skills.

World Skills Championship

Question: I am sure that the whole House will join the Minister in hoping that the UK bid triumphs in Melbourne in May. Will my hon. Friend tell the House what role he thinks that world skills 2011 could play in meeting the distinctive skills needs of each region of the UK?

Answer: I attended the world skills championship in Finland last year. It was genuinely inspiring as we saw young people competing to demonstrate their skills at the highest level, benchmarking themselves against the rest of the world. I hope that we have full support across this House for our bid to host the championship. Whatever the result in Melbourne on 10 May, we intend to re-energise skills competitions over the next five years so that we really celebrate success. We are going to create a new framework at local, regional, national and international levels to ensure that we raise the profile of skills, raise aspirations and improve supply. In Northern Ireland, Wales, Scotland and all the English regions, we can target skills competitions around skills needs in the different regions and nations of this country.

Secondary information