New measures that aim to address the UK’s ‘skills gap’ have been announced, as the government attempts to prevent the nation’s businesses from ‘lagging behind’.
The Further Education and Training Bill is designed to help further education institutions to provide students with the sector skills necessary for the workforce.
The Bill follows a report on the nation’s skill conducted by Lord Leitch which concluded that the UK lags behind its international competitors.
Britain was ranked 24th out of 29 developed nations for the proportion of young people staying on in education or training after the age of 16.
Employers have been seeing the rise of a workforce without the necessary skills, and the review highlighted the UK’s need to improve productivity within its workforce to compete globally.
It found that the number of adults in the workforce without the skills needed to succeed in a modern economy is high: the UK is ranked 17th out of 30 countries.
Also, there is concern that nations such as India and China are rapidly improving their skills base.
The Bill aims to provide the further education sector with more flexibility and less bureaucracy, in an effort to increase the number of people taking part in further education and therefore upskill employees.
Education secretary Alan Johnson said, “The Bill contains a range of measures designed to reform the Further Education sector and help enable the system to achieve its full potential as the powerhouse of economic growth and social mobility.”
“[We are] channelling money to providers who will deliver flexibly and responsively to meet employer needs,” he added.
© Crimson Business Ltd. 2006
