Major skills review gives responsibility to employers

A report prepared for HM Treasury recommending moving further towards an employer-led education and skills system has been welcomed by SummitSkills as a ‘major turning point’ for the building-services-engineering sector. Lord Sandy Leitch was commissioned to produce the report, which sets out an agenda for radical change in the current skills spectrum to address the weak skills base of the UK compared to other countries. Keith Marshall, chief executive of SummitSkills, says, ‘The key themes of the report signal a major turning point for employers in our sector. The routing of public funding for adult vocational skills through employer-led routes will end the “supply-side” planning of training provision. ‘The important focus for employers is that these reforms are a “something-for-something” deal between Government and business. This approach recommends that employers take more responsibility for training in return for more influence over the type of training available, and that the Government takes more responsibility to reform and invest in training provision.’ The Chancellor, Gordon Brown, has accepted the principles of Lord Leitch’s recommendations and will now look at how best to achieve them.

Related links:

• www.summitskills.org.uk