Employment: Young People

Lord Ramsbotham Excerpts

Wednesday 10th December 2014 Lords Chamber

[Lord Nash]

I am grateful for my noble friend’s comments. Of course, we have involved employers greatly in the redesign of the curriculum, particularly, for instance, in computing. The involvement of employers in the syllabus and the curriculum of UTCs is central to that programme. I can see that this company would be a very good conduit for employers to make detailed comments to us about the context of the curriculum.

[Lord Ramsbotham (CB)]

My Lords, as the Minister was speaking I could not help reflecting on the late, lamented Donaldson report, which was so surprisingly rejected by the previous Government. I seem to remember that it suggested that a valuable service would be provided if some census could be made of skills needs and skills shortages by industry, which could then be passed on to the education world so that the two could be matched. Can the Minister say whether such a census might be made a responsibility of the new company?

[Lord Nash]

I shall certainly pass this on to the chair of the new company and to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills. I think that it is a very good point.