Reskilling 'priority in downturn'

Many people will need new skills in the economic downturn

Retraining people who lose their jobs in the economic downturn must be made a priority, a committee of MPs has said.

The skills committee said previous hopes of raising the nation's skills levels - "upskilling" - must be set aside as redundancies rose.

Training provision must be made more flexible and simple, as workers are forced to look for work in new sectors.

The committee's report was published to assess the impact of Lord Leitch's review in 2006 of UK skills levels.

Lord Leitch identified a skills gap, warning that the UK would lag behind comparable countries in 2020.

We've got to be more realistic about providing people with the skills to access the labour market Phil Willis Skills committee chairman

By that date he said 95% of adults should gain basic skills in literacy and numeracy, more than 90% of adults should have GCSEs or vocational equivalents and more than 40% of adults should have degrees or higher level qualifications.

But the Innovation, Universities, Science and Skills Committee said Lord Leitch's review took place "during a period of economic optimism".

"The change in the economic climate will mean that priorities have to be identified and it will not be possible to pursue all parts of Leitch," the committee's report said.

Train to Gain

The report said the government's Train to Gain programme - introduced in response to Leitch in November 2007 to help employers improve their employees' skills - showed a "lack of flexibility".

This could well have a "serious negative impact on the UK's skills base", the report found.

The committee's report concluded: "In the current economic downturn, it is essential that Train to Gain, as the main source of government funding for skills development, is made flexible enough to deal with rapid adjustments for people who have been made redundant and need quick retraining."

"We've got to be more realistic about providing people with the skills to access the labour market," said the committee's chairman Phil Willis.

"Since Lord Leitch published his review of skills, the economic climate has worsened and it is imperative that the government responds appropriately by making radical changes to its skills policy."

The committee also questioned whether it was the right time to scrap the Learning and Skills Council, which will be replaced in 2010 with the Skills Funding Agency.

Its report said a "period of relative stability" was needed in order for employers to sign up to the Leitch agenda.

'Real help'

But Skills Secretary John Denham said it was "precisely the right time" to reform the skills system.

"We need a system that responds effectively to the needs of individuals and employers and the new the Skills Funding Agency will achieve this," he said.

Mr Denham said much had been done to give businesses and individuals "the real help" they needed in tougher times.

"We are reshaping the Train to Gain budget so that employees are able to retrain and small and medium enterprises can easily access short training programmes that will help their businesses today.

"We have also announced new funding of �158m to retrain people who have lost their jobs, alongside a major expansion of apprenticeships to over 250,000 starts."

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