No-one left behind in Brown’s high skilled Britain
Those without skills have been promised a second educational chance by Gordon Brown in his Pre-Budget Report.
Speaking this lunchtime in the House of Commons, Mr Brown told MPs that to be successful in the future Britain needed to move people from low to high skilled jobs, and outlined a package of training and skills measures to give those without skills a “second chance”.
Noting that 80 per cent of 2015’s workforce has already left school, Mr Brown said: “It is their skill levels and qualifications that will, over the next decade, determine the prosperity of our country
“So a policy of opportunity for all must provide opportunity for those who have missed out and should, in the economic interests of the country, have a second chance.”
Accepting that Britain has the higher proportion of unskilled workers of any major European Union country, said: For decades low skills have been our ‘Achilles Heel’ as a modern economy – and the post war ‘laissez faire’ training system has not, and will not, meet the skills needs of the future.”
Building on the existing training pilots, he pledged the first ever national Employer Training Programme, where: “Employers recognising their responsibilities to offer time off. Employees recognising their responsibilities to take up the opportunities. Government recognising our responsibility to fund the training.”
There will also be an independent review, to be led by the current chair of National Employment Panel, Sandy Leitch, tasked to examine the future skill needs of the UK economy
