The skills maze

A labyrinth, a maze and even a dog’s breakfast. All three terms have been used by employers to describe the UK’s skills landscape as it stands now, more than two years after Lord Leitch’s review identified the reforms and simplifications necessary to secure the nation’s economic competitiveness. A recent count identified a bewildering array of more than 3,000 government-funded training support schemes and 2,000 delivery agencies, costing more than £2.5 billion a year.When the Leitch report was published at the end of 2006, the UK had seen 14 years of economic stability, yet it still ranked 20th out of the 30 countries in the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development in terms of its intermediate skills base. Five million adults lacked functional literacy and more than one in six young people were leaving school unable to read, write or add up properly.