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Employment, Universities and Skills and Housing

The worldwide credit crunch is hitting the economy and public finances in every country, and few families and businesses believe that they will be unaffected in any way. What families and businesses need is real help now. They want to know that investment is being made for the future to ensure that when the upturn comes the country will be stronger, more competitive and fairer. Last Wednesday's Queen's Speech showed how the Government are acting now to help families and businesses through the downturn and how we are planning for the future. All that is in sharp contrast to the Opposition, with their do-nothing attitude and their ““let the recession take its course””. The measures we set out last week support the action we are taking now and they will put the right structures in place to ensure success in the future. My Department has an important role to play in helping to create a fairer society and a more productive economy, through our support for research and innovation, for higher education and, crucially, for the skills that are vital to businesses in a downturn and in the future upturn. As was rightly said by the Time to Invest in Skills campaign, led by the UK Commission for Employment and Skills, the CBI and other business leaders, companies that do not train are two and a half times more likely to fail than those that do. We are making it easier for businesses to get the skills they need, quickly. Over the next two years, small and medium-sized enterprises will be the focus of a £350 million increase in Train to Gain funding. By then the budget for Train to Gain will be more than £1 billion. We are relaxing Train to Gain rules to allow funding for bite-sized units for qualifications in subjects such as leadership, risk management and customer service—things we know that SMEs prefer and that are proven to bring quick benefits to business. We are relaxing the rules to allow the staff of small and medium-sized enterprises free training at level 2, whether or not they have reached that level. We are investing more in funding for training at level 3.