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World Class Skills 2020

I thank the Minister for his report—I well understand the hard work that he puts into the subject. He knows that I have served on the advisory committee of the London School of Commerce for the past two years, and higher education issues and international concerns, on which I shall speak later, have come to the fore. As the hon. Member for Bristol, West (Stephen Williams) pointed out, there is little doubt that vocational training has for far too long been a Cinderella item on the education and skills agenda. The Government are right to identify that fact and to create a vision for the next decade or so. I support the fact that the Leitch report pays significant attention to the role that further education must play in remedying the skills deficit. There is little doubt, however, that we urgently need to up our game. The biggest risk posed by globalisation is that it will leave many people in its wake. However, the Minister got it absolutely right when he discussed challenges and opportunities, rather than focusing only on risks, or considering the subject in a downbeat manner. He was absolutely right, too, to identify the fact that we are seeing not just the outsourcing but increasingly the offshoring of ever more skilled roles to India and to China in particular. Hundreds of thousands of computer science students graduate in China and India every year, and there is a rather miserable comparison to be made with the 3,500 computer science students who graduated in the last full year in the UK. I have been to India, China, Bangladesh and Kuala Lumpur to observe their education systems at first hand, and I have seen tremendous growth areas. We have great benefits in this country: we have a relatively skilled work force—we must not be complacent about that—and we have the great advantage of the English language, which is the world language of business and continues to provide us with tremendous advantages. However, as my hon. Friend the Member for South Holland and The Deepings (Mr. Hayes) pointed out, those advantages must extend to all parts of the community. There is a big risk to social cohesion, and I shall say more about that later in relation to immigration. However, we do not want to discourage very skilled people from coming to this country. Indeed, here in London we have some of the most skilled people not only in investment banking, but in a number of professional fields. Equally, part and parcel of life in a cosmopolitan and globally focused country is the fact that unskilled workers come here for a short period, whether as seasonal labourers or as young people wishing to take advantage of life in London for a year or two before returning home. However, that aspect of globalisation gives rise to some important concerns about social cohesion that are especially applicable to London. At the same time, the UK is wedded to a European model of high benefits and increasing employment regulation, with a 35 or 48-hour week that would make many people laugh. I would have supported the Government if they had retained our opt-out of the social chapter, but they have done good work and I hope that they continue to do so to ensure that employers have the flexibility to make the working week as long as possible. In India or China, people regard the prospect of being allowed to work for only 48 hours a week as laughable. It is certainly by no means the norm, and we will lose enormous opportunities and our place in the world economy in the decades ahead if we do not become more flexible. Employment regulation will be the legacy of the Chancellor of the Exchequer, but like most micro-economic meddling, it takes a decade or so to work through the system, so only in the decades ahead will we experience the precise disadvantages of the thinking behind that policy. In the general debate about education and skills, too much attention is paid to schools or universities. Education should not be regarded as ending at age 16 or in one’s early 20s. I entirely agree with the hon. Member for Bristol, West: it is easy to be derisive about so-called trendy degrees such as media studies, and the real challenge is to make such courses robust and relevant, ensuring that there is greater employer involvement. The creative industries, alongside financial services, and the energy, tourism and hospitality industries, are vital to this country. Some of the most important, cutting-edge employers in the computer games industry are based in Soho in my constituency. It is—and in the years ahead it will continue to be—an enormous industry, even though it had not even been heard of 10 years ago. [Interruption.] Does the hon. Member for Huddersfield (Mr. Sheerman) wish to intervene?