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Summary
7.1 We believe that the proposals in this consultation paper will enable every part of
society to benefit from the opportunities of the Learning Age: young people and people in
retirement; people who are unemployed and those established in the workplace; people who
need help with basic skills and those at post-graduate level; large and small businesses;
employees and the self-employed; and the public and private sectors.
7.2 In summary, we will provide:
- as many young people as possible with the opportunity to achieve at least
an NVQ level 2 qualification by the age of 19. We will re-motivate those who are
disenchanted with learning through the New Start partnerships; give 16 and 17
year olds in employment a legal right to undertake education and training up to
NVQ level 2; introduce National Traineeships; build on the success of Modern
Apprenticeships; and support young people with a new National Record of
Achievement and a Learning Card explaining their entitlement and the fact that it is free;
- new opportunities for people in further and higher education. They will
help people to gain technician and higher level skills, including postgraduate development.
The Government remains committed to the principle that anyone who has the capability for
higher education should have the opportunity to benefit from it, and we will therefore lift
the cap on student plans imposed by the last government;
- better opportunities for learning for people at work who want to raise their
skills or re-train. The University for Industry will offer guidance and new ways to learn
at home or at work using leading edge technology. Our new free-phone national
helpline Learning Direct - open all day and in the evenings and on Saturday mornings -
will offer people information about learning that is available. Individual learning accounts
will help people take more responsibility for their own future by investing in
their own education and training;
- help for people who need basic literacy and numeracy skills inside and
outside the workforce. This will include new support and help through the UfI; targeted
individual learning accounts; our New Deals for unemployed people, lone parents and those
with disabilities; and through wider family learning building on the success of our family
literacy initiatives. As a start, we will invest £5m in 1998-99 in a new Adult and
Community Education Fund to promote local innovation, especially in improving access and
quality;
- support for businesses to secure the skills that they need to compete in
the world. We will help organisations to meet the Investors in People standard in the
training and development of their workforce; target the work of the UfI particularly on the
needs of small businesses and key sectors; support strong employer-led National Training
Organisations in each major sector; promote better information about investment in training;
and encourage further and higher education to build on the substantial contribution which
they already make to addressing skills requirements and to improving UK competitiveness.
We will set up a Skills Task Force to help ensure that we have the right skills required for
the 21st Century; and
- encouragement for a modern partnership for learning in the workplace
involving employers, employees and their trade unions. We will establish a £2m Employee
Education Development Fund to support trade unions and other employee representative
organisations develop innovative workplace education.
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