Firms are getting better at training but gaps remain, a report says

The Adult Learning Inspectorate said the �4bn of government money in England spent on adult education had to "work even harder".

The proportion of companies offering poor training had fallen from 60% to 34% in two years.

Yet provision for many of the five million-plus adult learners was "inadequate".

'Assumptions'

David Sherlock, chief inspector of adult learning, said: "All the evidence now shows that British businesses are increasingly moving their unskilled work overseas and that the market for workers with low skills is rapidly diminishing in the UK.

"Adult learning urgently needs to make a difference here.

"It tends to be assumed that the acquisition of skills has to happen in schools and universities."

He added: "Of course this is partly true, but at any one time over 5 million adults in England are improving their skills outside those areas - at a cost to the taxpayer of �4bn.

"It's time this investment was recognised and valued."

The ALI's report is based on more than 700 individual inspections.

It claims its checks - in place since 2001 - are driving up standards.

However, adults with the greatest needs - such as prisoners, those with learning difficulties and physical disabilities - get a "uniformly raw deal", it says.

Chancellor Gordon Brown told a recent CBI conference the unemployment rate among the unskilled was 50%, which would rise without further action.

'Moral madness'

At the same conference Digby Jones, CBI director general, anticipated that within a decade there would be no jobs available in this country for the unskilled.

In 2002, according to the ALI, 60% of organisations offering work-based learning were "inadequate":

In 2003 that figure dropped to 46%, falling to 34% this year .

Mr Sherlock said: "Indeed, I see no reason why, with sustained effort, that figure should not reach 15% in a few years.

"All learners deserve uniformly high standards and these findings demonstrate that they are far more likely to find that in 2004 than they were in 2001."

He added: "That the lowest-skilled members of our society should be the most likely to receive a bad learning experience, which routinely fails to enable them to achieve their goal of greater economic independence, is economic and moral madness. Improving the educational provision for the least able is a priority."

Higher education minister Kim Howells said the report showed "significant improvements" since 2001 but conceded there was "still more to do".

He said: "We will continue to work closely with a range of partners to drive up standards in all parts of the sector and for all learners."

Some 59% of people think firms which do not train staff should be fined, according to a survey published by the Association of Colleges last week.

But the CBI says companies spend �23.5bn a year on this and that colleges often fail to provide enough useful teaching.