The government has revealed plans to shake up the UK skills system, with the aim of giving businesses and employees the skills needed to drive economic growth.
Proposals include the creation of 35,000 new apprenticeships over the next two years; giving every adult a personal skills account and plans to simplify the way skills policy is delivered.
According to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS), the government will work alongside the Commission for Employment and Skills to slash the number of skills quangos by more than 30.
The white paper, published today, also revealed a new target for three quarters of the population to have either a university degree or an advanced technical qualification by the age of 30.
Business secretary Lord Mandelson said: “The strategy marks a radical shift in our skills priorities. We need engineers to lay the cables to expand access to high-speed internet, skilled people to build the electric vehicles of the future, and technicians to develop the medicines that will save lives.
“The goal is a skills system defined not simply by targets based on achieved qualifications, but by ‘real world’ outcomes – relevant, quality skills, with real market value.”
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