Kumar Bhattacharyya: Skills White Paper a small step in the right direction

Dec 8 2010 By Lord Kumar Bhattacharyya

The Government’s recently launched Skills White Paper offers a real chance of taking one of the great Cinderella issues of our time by the scruff of the neck and making a difference.

And Britain and the West Midlands desperately need that to happen.

The proposals may be small beer compared to what is needed, but it is a promising start.

And in Skills Minister John Hayes we seem to have someone determined to at last make real improvements.

Skills are the bread and butter of the workshop and it has been in the land of the lost for far too long.

The Learning and Skills Council came out of honourable intentions but never made much of an impact.

The skills agenda disappeared amidst a multitude of quangos and the LSC turned into a bureaucratic nightmare.

So what does the Coalition Government propose?

The reform of the skills systems includes:

* Expanding the numbers of adult apprenticeships available, so by 2014-15 there will be 75,000 more adults starting than before, a total of 200,000.

* Fully funding courses for individuals who left school without basic reading, writing and mathematics.

* The introduction of Government-backed loans from 2013-14 for those aged 24 and over undertaking level 3 or higher qualifications.

* Initiating a demand-led growth and innovation fund of up to £50 million of government investment a year, to support employer-led initiatives.

* Replacing Train to Gain with an SME focused approach to help small employers train low-skilled staff.

I made a suggestion for loan proposals – along the lines of student loans – in a House of Lords debate, and I am delighted the Government has gone down this road.

Reviving the apprenticeship system is a very welcome move but it is also vital to offer hope for those coming out of school with no qualifications. They must not feel they are on the scrapheap at 16, cold-shouldered by society. This package offers the opportunity to those who might otherwise drift onto welfare or into crime to make something of themselves by getting on the first rung of the ladder. I welcome these initiatives but what matters will be making them work. And to do that they need to be industry-led.

They must succeed if we are to create sustainable employment especially in the manufacturing sector.

* Lord Kumar Bhattacharyya is founder of Warwick Manufacturing Group