UK: International Competitiveness

Lord Jones of Birmingham Excerpts

Wednesday 23rd June 2010 Lords Chamber

[Lord Cotter]

My Lords—

[Lord Jones of Birmingham]

My Lords—

--- Later in debate ---

[Baroness Wilcox]

The enterprise finance guarantee scheme has been extended and there will be a Green Paper soon in which we will be looking at all these issues.

[Lord Jones of Birmingham]

My Lords, our international competitiveness depends on producing a value-added, innovative economy. That calls for skilled people. Will the Minister explain how, after 11 years of full-time, compulsory and free education—which is something that 5 billion people on this planet do not have—half the young people who will take a GCSE this month will not get grade C or above in English and maths, and will therefore be unemployable?

[Baroness Wilcox]

The noble Lord will of course be delighted that we are bringing forward the Academies Bill and he will no doubt be supporting it. We want to ensure that British higher and further education are better linked into our economy. Our priorities include an increasing emphasis on adult education, stripping out some of the bureaucracy around further education, and putting an end to the outdated distinction between blue-collar apprenticeships and further education on the one hand and university education on the other. BIS has already redeployed £200 million from Train to Gain to fund 50,000 extra apprenticeships and an additional £50 million towards capital spending on colleges.