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GOVERNMENT CALLS ON EMPLOYERS TO SIGN ‘SKILLS PLEDGE’
08 February 2007The Chancellor Gordon Brown and Education Secretary Alan Johnson will today call on all employers to sign up to a ‘Skills Pledge’ to ensure that all their employees reach a skills level equivalent to five good GCSEs. The Skills Pledge, part of a plan to equip Britain’s workforce for the future, will share responsibility between the State, employer and employees and will be open to all employers irrespective of size, status or sector. It is designed to stimulate demand for training services and support a new culture where gaining skills is taken as a matter of course.It will be unveiled at a public debate on how to retain competitiveness in the face of emerging economic powers. It follows Lord Leitch’s report into skills in December highlighting the need to achieve world-class skills by 2020. Chancellor of the Exchequer, Gordon Brown said:"In the future skills will be the only route to prosperity and jobs. Of 3.4 million unskilled jobs today, by 2020 we will need only 600,000. So if the UK is to continue to succeed in the new global economy we will need to be more ambitious with more people training and employers, employees and government each meeting their responsibilities.“This will only succeed if the British people themselves are involved in discussing and agreeing this priority to invest in education and skills. This way we can build the consensus essential if today's working men and women are going to achieve better-paid jobs and a better future for their children."Secretary of State for Education and Skills, Alan Johnson said:“We are kick-starting a public debate on the best way to improve skills in this country, our future competitiveness depends on it. Employers have a crucial role to play in this and must make skills training relevant for the challenges of the future. It is also vital we generate a culture of learning amongst individuals. “We want to build a consensus around Leitch and the best way to improve skills in this county. I am looking forward to hearing from training providers, individuals and employers about how they think we can best promote skills and be truly competitive by 2020.”The Government has already welcomed the Leitch aspiration to have at least 90% of working age adults qualified to Level 2 - the vocational equivalent to five good GCSEs - by 2020 to retain and drive forward competitiveness. To help adults get the skills they require to gain employment the Government is implementing a ‘demand-led’ funding system to meet employers’ needs and gear training to their requirements.Employers making the Skills Pledge would commit to a training plan building on the needs of their business. The plan would show timescales for training all staff to Level 2 as well as committing resources and setting priorities.An employer making the Skills Pledge will be making a commitment to raise the skill levels of all employees, giving staff certified competence in the workplace and the literacy, numeracy and employability skills for progression. The Skills Pledge will help employers’ competitiveness by helping them focus on the skills needs of their workforce. As productivity is increasingly driven by skills the ability of firms to succeed will also increasingly depend on their ability to draw on a skilled labour force.Editor's Notes
This press notice relates to 'England'
1. The Skills Challenge: A Public Debate is held today at the Queen Elizabeth II Conference Centre. Lord Leitch’s report is posted online at
http://www.hm-treasury.gov.uk/independent_reviews/leitch_review 2. The Secretary of State will say that the Government's priority is to concentrate on providing people with the skills they need for jobs and employability. He will urge employers to be involved in the new national employer training scheme, Train to Gain, and say that strengthening Sector Skills Councils will give employers a more powerful voice to help them design and deliver the training they need.
3. Skills are a principal driver of productivity, and the Government is building on the sweeping Further Education reforms and record levels of investment to give colleges a stronger business focus, as it moves towards ensuring that every young person is in education or training until they are at least 18. 4. The Skills Pledge will be fully launched in the summer once exemplar employers have trialled the early arrangements for signing up. Employers wishing to obtain details should initially ring the UfI helpline 08000 153423. Online applications will be available in the Spring.5. Level 2 is equivalent to 5 GCSEs grade A* to C and is considered the basic platform of skills for employability.
Contact Details
Public Enquiries 0870 000 2288, info@dcsf.gsi.gov.uk
Press Notice 2007/0022
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