The government’s skills agenda must now focus on re-skilling, not upskilling, in light of the economic climate, an all-party report by MPs has warned.

And ministers will “seriously have to consider” forcing employers by law to train their workforces if significant progress towards the vision of “world-class skills” set out by Lord Leitch has not been achieved by 2014, the report’s author told PM.

The innovation, universities, science and skills committee’s report said that the emphasis on upskilling the workforce in Leitch’s 2006 review of UK skills has been superseded by a need to “re-skill the tens of thousands of people who will become unemployed” and will be looking to move to other sectors.

Phil Willis, the chairman of the committee, told PM that a demand-led skills system driven by employers, as advocated when the review was published, was no longer appropriate in the economic climate.

But according to the latest figures from the Learning and Skills Council (LSC) the downturn has not affected the number of employers signing up to the government’s “skills pledge”, a key Leitch initiative by which organisations voluntarily commit to upskilling their staff. The number increased from 7,600 firms in September to more than 10,000 in November.

Willis said that the original targets set by Leitch, such as having a 40 per cent graduate workforce by 2020, were too focused on numbers of qualifications as opposed to specific skill requirements.

“Simply churning out significant numbers of graduates for whom there is no clear market in terms of employment opportunities has to be addressed,” he said.

The report also suggests that the government’s plan to axe the LSC next year “and bring in a plethora of new organisations” be delayed until the economy has recovered.

Government initiatives to boost skills
A number of measures to improve skills were outlined in a recently published white paper, New Opportunities. These include:
- creating 35,000 new apprenticeship places 
- a full-time community volunteering programme for people not in employment, education or training
- establishing a panel to remove barriers that prevent fair access to professional jobs
- trebling the number of career development and professional loans over the next two years 
- a £500 back-to-work entitlement for parents and carers 
- an employment support programme for young people leaving care.