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World Class Skills 2020

I will develop my answer either later in the debate or in writing, but I understand that the ranking is an assessment of the attainment level in specific core competences and skills that relate to the international equivalents of our level 2 and 3 qualifications. I will happily provide the hon. Gentleman with further details. We need to raise dramatically the awareness and aspirations of the British people to develop their skills. Employers must understand the value of skills and the crucial need to invest in their staff. Individuals should take action, too, to address their own skill needs. To do so—and this debate is contributing to that end—we need to raise dramatically the skills profile. We can certainly do so through skills competitions, such as those hosted by UK Skills, which showcase the high standards achieved by our young people. In 2011, we can take advantage of the significant opportunity of hosting the WorldSkills competition to show the world just how good our young people are at everything from welding to web design. Coming just a year before the 2012 Olympics and Paralympics, the competition presents us with a wonderful opportunity to link excellence in sport with excellence in skills. Of course, achieving world-class skills comes at a cost, and we should not resile from that fact. The Government are willing to bear their fair share of the cost, but we must focus our investment where it will do the most good which, to put it bluntly, is where the market fails. However, where there is significant private gain, it is only right that employers and individuals increase their investment. Even with the most generous state support, unless there is commitment from employers and individuals we simply cannot face up to those challenges. Sandy Leitch rightly says that world-class skills are about a shared partnership, with responsibilities balanced between Government, employers and individuals. It is not something that Government can do alone; we are all in this together. New investment must be in things that employers, large and small, want—not in a bureaucratic and centralised master plan. To respond to the Leitch ambition, the skills system must change and adapt quickly. We need to turn the traditional method of delivery on its head, and training must directly meet the needs of business and the learner. It is no longer enough to leave companies to hope for the best, and simply expect training providers to come up with the right course for them. We need a streamlined system that is not only responsive to, and shaped by, the views and needs of employers, but is genuinely employer-led through the sector skills councils. Crucially, we need qualifications that meet the needs of the new economy. The new diplomas that are being developed with industry will provide an exciting, aspirational and stretching programme of learning for all young people. They will appeal to the most capable students, preparing them for the most demanding university courses. That is a critical issue that we need to get right. Universities must work with us and embrace the development of diplomas, because unless all universities, particularly research-intensive universities, recognise and value diplomas, they will not work as effectively as they need to do. We must also provide help to students planning to enter the work force directly at the age of 18 and to those who find an academic curriculum insufficiently attractive. Our train to gain initiative is crucial, too, and its funding will continue to increase to more than £460 million next year. The initiative is truly demand-led, and it uses independent brokers to give a company the training that it needs to improve its business. When looking at the initial evaluation of the initiative, I was pleased that employers responded positively to the independent brokerage, which they believed gave them the quality provision that they seek. I was pleased, too, to see that a proportion of the older work force accesses training through train to gain—interestingly, about 27 per cent. of over 45 years-olds do so. That is a better success rate than previous training initiatives, and it is part of the reason why the initiative is so important. I am pleased that, following the further education White Paper, the Learning and Skills Council has started trials for the new learner accounts. Learner accounts will ensure that individuals wanting to learn have the best choice of learning options, the support that they need to choose the right learning for them, and the funding support to be able to take up opportunities. When we were developing the FE White Paper, we considered making a commitment to trial learner accounts at level 3. I had a discussion with civil servants that resembled a ““Yes Minister”” moment. Given the problem with individual learner accounts, my civil servants said, ““Well, it would be a really brave decision, Minister, if you went down that route””. We decided to do so, because whatever the flaws in the design of individual learner accounts—and we need to get that right in the new system—wherever I have been over the past two years, people in the system have said that individual learner accounts achieved something significant by unlocking the potential, enthusiasm, and commitment of learners, thus making a contribution to their learning. If we can get that right, it will help us to make progress. Overall, a business-led, Government-backed, individually responsive approach is essential if we are to make the enduring changes that are necessary to rectify weaknesses and to face the future with confidence. Just as economies and societies change both globally and nationally, so do the demands of business. We must create a sustainable skills system that can adapt quickly to meet those changing needs. The FE White Paper and the Further Education and Training Bill that is progressing through Parliament, set out the reforms that will equip the provider system to deliver the strategic challenge of transforming 14 to 19 education and the skills of our adult work force. Those reforms will transform the FE sector into the skills powerhouse of this country’s economy.