3.21 The Learning Age will be built on a wide range of skills, knowledge and understanding, from the most basic skills of literacy and numeracy right up to graduate and postgraduate level. As well as the demand for highly specialised and technical jobs at the frontiers of knowledge, there will also continue to be a large number of jobs providing service and support on which society depends. Business success will increasingly depend on people having the right skills in the right place at the right time. In order to ensure that we have the skills necessary for sustainable economic growth, we propose to take the following steps.

National Skills Task Force

3.22 We are setting up a National Skills Task Force, working with a new Skills Unit in the Department for Education and Employment. The Task Force will:

• assess future skill needs so that the economy has the skills it requires;

• strengthen partnership at regional and local level, share information and co-ordinate action to improve the supply of skills;

• ensure that accurate information on changing skill needs is effectively disseminated; and

• work with the new National Training Organisations (NTOs), the University for Industry and others to tackle skill shortages.

Basic skills

3.23 Few people in the United Kingdom cannot read, write or handle numbers at all, but around one in five of all adults has poor literacy and numeracy skills. People with poor basic skills are at a disadvantage in coping with the complex demands of modern life. They are more likely to be unemployed, to receive social security benefits, and to have low incomes, and less likely to get promotion or a new job. Our target is that by 2002 we will be helping over 500,000 people a year (more than twice the current number) to improve their basic skills.

3.24 We propose to expand the help already given through further and adult education (where all specific basic skills courses are free). Many students on vocational courses need additional help with literacy and numeracy. The Investing in Young People programme and the New Deal for unemployed young people aged 18 to 24, together with our continuing provision for older adults who are unemployed and lack skills, will all focus on basic skills.

3.25 Returning to learn, particularly basic skills, can be daunting. Different people respond to different ways of teaching. We will therefore pilot a range of new approaches by investing over £4 million a year in the Basic Skills Agency to support innovation, and £5 million in basic skills summer schools for 1998. The Agency is currently piloting new ways of helping families to improve numeracy, and we will use our family literacy programmes to help parents improve their skills while they help their children. The Standards Fund will provide resources to expand these schemes to reach some 6,000 parents and their children in 125 LEAs in 1998-99. We are inviting Sir Claus Moser, Chairman of the Basic Skills Agency, to chair a working group to advise on effective post-school basic skills provision. He will consult with the Literacy and Numeracy Strategy Group to ensure a complementary approach to that in schools. The University for Industry will support all of this work by giving early priority to helping people already in the workforce who have literacy and numeracy difficulties.

3.26 For many adult offenders learning provides a second chance. Education and training will form a fuller part of the new constructive regimes in prison, to which the Government attaches great importance. They will also be an important element of the closer working relationship we want to see between prison and probation. We want whenever possible to prepare people serving prison sentences for jobs when they are released.

Employability skills for unemployed people

3.27 Many people who have been unemployed for some time missed out on foundation skills earlier in their lives. That is why education and training are central to all four options in the New Deal for young people aged 18 to 24. For some - primarily those without NVQ level 2 or equivalent - the route to employability will lie in full-time education and training. They will be able to study for up to a year towards a qualification, or units which can go towards one. Study above NVQ level 2 will also be possible where it is linked to getting a job.

3.28 We plan to extend the New Deal to those aged over 25 who are long-term unemployed. We have already announced that for those aged 25 and over who have been unemployed for two years or more, we propose to amend the Jobseeker's Allowance (JSA) rules so that they can also study full-time for up to a year without having to be available for employment in term time. In the five prototype Employment Zones, people aged over 25 who have, in the main, been unemployed for a year, will receive tailored training and education to meet their needs. We are also running Workskill pilot projects to help us see how changes in benefit rules on education and training can assist people to get and retain a job and we will review the JSA rules on education and training.

Skills for young people

3.29 The earlier we get the foundations right, the better the chances of developing a learning culture in the workplace. Employers and young people have reacted enthusiastically to Modern Apprenticeships which include the higher level and technician skills needed by modern manufacturing. There are currently over 110,000 Modern Apprentices. We will make available an additional 10,000 Modern Apprenticeships in 1998-99, with a particular emphasis on young people aged 19 or over, on areas in which there are skill shortages, and on encouraging take-up by small and medium size enterprises. Employers will be invited to bid for these. Focusing on the older age group will help those wishing to build on their achievements under National Traineeships, or who missed out on the vocational route at an earlier age. We will work with employers in developing the new National Traineeships.

Developing technician skills

3.30 Modern Apprenticeships and further education are now prioritising skills and underpinning knowledge in engineering, manufacturing, office systems and information technology in response to demand. An increasing number of people and firms are looking to upgrade their technician skills, and responding to this will be a priority for the University for Industry, TECs and further education colleges. We will encourage providers to seek partnerships with local businesses, in particular to ensure that the technology available matches that used by firms.

Applying graduate and postgraduate skills

3.31 In the modern competitive world, a growing number of employers need staff with high level skills. One in three of new entrants to the labour market are graduates, and higher and further education institutions are increasingly delivering courses for people already in work. There is now a greater emphasis on advanced management and other professional skills and qualifications. We have recently announced pilot studies, in four industrial sectors, of the new Graduate Apprenticeships, to be designed jointly by National Training Organisations and universities or colleges. We want to see continuing links between higher education and employers to ensure that suitable courses are available for postgraduates in the years ahead. The University for Industry will address professional development as part of its range of courses.

3.32 Research in universities underpins world-beating UK companies, with universities playing a major role in providing postgraduate training for research scientists. These scientists contribute to industrial success either through continuing university-based research or by doing research in companies.

Strengthening managerial skills

3.33 The skills of managers, owners and the self-employed are fundamental to an organisation's success. Managers need to be committed to their own learning as well as enabling and encouraging their staff to get involved. One sign of progress is the number of managers now studying for MBAs (Master of Business Administration); 30,000 compared to 18,000 four years ago. There has been an even sharper rise in the number of people working towards management NVQs and SVQs (Scottish Vocational Qualifications); 100,000 compared to 40,000 four years ago. We will work with the planned Management and Enterprise National Training Organisation, and others, to:

• encourage people working in the professions to develop management skills alongside their specialist ones;

• encourage managers in smaller firms to develop the new skills they will need as their organisations grow;

• develop the University for Industry's support for managers, including in small firms;

• improve the links between vocational and academic qualifications and study in management; and

• explore the value of a new management code, incorporating ethical and environmental responsibilities as well as a commitment to learning.