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World Class Skills 2020

I agree that employer engagement is very much part of the process. Furthermore, employer appreciation of the pressures on young people in such circumstances is also important. We need to consider how the framework of apprenticeships works and is addressed. In the context of the ambitious apprenticeship targets, we also need to consider more proactively apprenticeships for older workers. The hon. Member for Cities of London and Westminster (Mr. Field) referred to the number of career changes that people make, and not only those that bring them to this place. That is an important point. Some such career changes are voluntary; others are enforced or relate to periods of economic activity or illness. It is therefore important that we consider the potential for apprenticeships for older workers, particularly women. I pay tribute to companies, foresighted in that respect, that are setting up pilot schemes. I am thinking particularly of a British Gas pilot scheme to attract older women as apprentices. That has been extremely successful, and also successful in taking them forward thereafter. As we consider the ambitious apprenticeships target, we have to think about their structure and nature and how they can be made as portable as possible and as compatible as possible with people’s changing economic expectations and circumstances. That brings me to the issue of older workers, which I wish to deal with specifically. Many people have already raised it. Leitch points out the importance of adult skills, and the focus of his report is very much around older workers. However, we must go beyond mantras about the importance of older workers and, for that matter, adult learners, and consider some of the current pinch points and pressures. I shall quote some of the Age Concern’s comments about Leitch and the comprehensive spending review. It welcomes what Leitch and the Government have said about the untapped potential of skills in older people, and it recognises that the figures on demographic change, to which other Members have referred, are a powerful stimulus, leaving aside issues of equity, to our putting greater focus on older workers. However, it believes that progress towards acknowledging the issue—it is an issue not only for the Government but also for employers—has been somewhat patchy thus far. Age Concern stated that it"““believes training people over 40 is essential for future skills needs yet there has been no progress from 2000 to 2005””—" that is a little harsh, but I understand where the organisation is coming from—"““in up-skilling older workers. The Government must outlaw age discrimination in adult learning if they expect people to work longer. There is also an important role for education in sustaining the well-being and independence of older people.””" That relates to the concerns that have been raised about leisure courses in this debate. Age Concern goes on to say—here there are some specific points that the Government might pick up on—that a new approach to adult learning"““is crucial and should be addressed by the long term spending plans of the Comprehensive Spending Review. To achieve the skills mix envisaged by the Leitch Review over the next decade there will need to be a sustained increase in the training of mature workers with low skills. This will demand a radical shift in policy and delivery, to reverse the existing emphasis on young adults. Training of people over 40 should be prioritised within the Skills Strategy and New Deal for Skills programmes””." Age Concern gives two or three further examples of what it would like to see: action on the Leitch review’s commitments to join up Jobcentre Plus and the skills sector; the Leitch report age-proofed by analysis of the impacts that it would have on all adult learners, especially those who are over 40 years old; and age targets built into all Department for Education and Skills training programmes, including train to gain and the level 2 entitlement. I am not a great fan of quotas or tick-box culture, but that focus is an important one to take on board. When we consider the enormous challenges in respect of skills, taking into account the numbers that are required and the demographic situation, we must also focus more on the employment of people with disabilities. The hon. Member for Bristol, West touched on that issue, and I want to give one or two other figures. According to the Disability Rights Commission, more than 20 per cent. of disabled people are economically inactive, and the figures are also grim if broken down by disability. Only one in 10 people with severe learning disabilities are in work, and only two in 10 with mental health problems are in work. The commission said that the employment gap for disabled people can be explained largely by the educational attainment gap. I would add to that—it is a sad fact—the historic attitudes of employers, even when they take on board disabled people, about the treatment of disabled people and their capacity for progression. I am glad that those attitudes are being remedied, at least in some quarters.