Prosperity For All In The Global Economy World Class Skills

Prosperity for All in the Global Economy -- World Class Skills : Final Report

In its report examining the work and performance of the Department for Innovation, Universities and Skills (DIUS), set up 18 months ago, the Innovation, Universities, Science and Skills Committee finds that the department has not yet found its feet and it is too early to say if it will achieve the Prime Minister's ambitious targets. The DIUS annual report is 'impenetrable' and 'peppered with jargon', and the Committee fears that the jargon may be a substitute for having a clear idea about where DIUS is going and how it will achieve the Prime Minister's goals to make Britain one of the best places in the world for science, research and innovation. Examples of innovation in DIUS's own operations were disappointing, and the Committee also has doubts about the way DIUS presents figures and calls for the statistics in future annual reports to be reviewed independently. The Committee also expresses concern about the approach of the Government's new Chief Scientific Adviser to his role as a champion of evidence-based science, and draws attention to Professor Beddington's evidence on homeopathy in which he did not take the opportunity to restate the importance of scientific process and to emphasise the need for balance of scientific evidence. The customary, strong public voice from the Government Chief Scientific Adviser advocating policy based on evidence-based science must not become muted. The Committee also recommends that DIUS: develops a consistent method for ensuring policy is soundly based on evidence; faces up to and addresses the criticisms it received in the Capability Review; shows clearly how £1.5 billion in efficiency savings it has promised will be generated.

Government response to HC 939, session 2006-07 (ISBN 9780215036988). The Government's Green Paper "In work, better off" was published in July 2007 as Cm. 7130 (ISBN 9780101713023) and a related document "World Class Skills: Implementing the Leitch Review of Skills in England' was published as Cm. 7181 (ISBN 9780101718127). The Leitch Review "Prosperity for all in the global economy - world class skills" was published in December 2006 (TSO, ISBN 9780118404792)

Incorporating HC 505-i-v, session 2008-78

In the UK, women's economic empowerment through employment is a success story of the last three decades. And yet women are over-represented in low-paid, insecure jobs, are under-represented in top jobs, and earn less than men on average, with a marked income gap over the lifecourse. When Labour took office in 1997, a new wave of women MPs entered parliament in record numbers, and women gained access to ministerial roles, including a newly-created minister for women. However, policy on women and employment remained an area of conflict. New rights were secured, particularly for mothers, but when Labour left office a sizeable policy agenda remained unfinished. Using documentary evidence and interviews from leading policy actors from the period, Women and Employment in Public Policy takes as its starting point the Women and Work Commission, which was convened in 2004 to examine causes of the gender pay gap. The commission was unable to defuse conflicts over equal pay but it set out an agenda for change at the level of government, private-sector work organizations, and public-sector organizations. Milner examines why the commission could not resolve key conflicts, and why its broad-based recommendations were only partially taken up. She traces the subsequent development of policy, observing well-established preferences for 'light-touch' regulation which can raise awareness but leave entrenched practices unchallenged, and weaken individual women's access to redress. Detailed study of the working of the commission provides lessons on the policy process, particularly for those seeking to influence policy. It also shows that within the wider policy space, opportunities for action to effect change are possible - based on appeals to instrumental logic or political exchange - but are constrained by party leadership.

This document sets out a plan for England in developing world class employment skills and is a companion document to the Green Paper, Cm.7130, In Work, Better Off (ISBN 9780101713023) also published today, and follows on from the Leitch Review, published December 2006 (ISBN 9780118404860) along with an Executive Summary (ISBN 9780118404792). This publication aims to explain how the Government will provide the right supporting framework to act as a catalyst for a skills revolution. More than a third of adults in the UK don't have the equivalent of a basic school leaving certificate; 6.8 million people have serious problems with numbers and 5 million people are not functionally literate. As part of this development, the Government has set out new rights that learners and employers will have, under what are called Skills Accounts and the Skills Pledge. The Skills Accounts will be part of the new adults careers service done through Jobcentre Plus, which aims to give every adult easy access to skills and careers advice. The Skills Pledge enables employers to demonstrate their commitment to improving skills in their workplace, with the Government supporting employers through Train to Gain brokerage. Also current funding entitlement for adults to free training in basic literacy and numeracy skills, will be strengthened. Produced by the new Department for Innovation, Universities and Skills, the document sets out the Government's policy direction to build better skills.

This report delivers evidence-based and practical recommendations on how to better support employment and economic development in England, with examples from the East Midlands, Yorkshire and the Humber.

In September 2007 the Government announced that it was withdrawing state funding paid to higher education institutions to subsidise the fees of ELQ students, that is those studying for a qualification at the same or lower level than they already hold. The result is that from 2008-09 students starting a second degree could see their tuition fees increase by 200 per cent. The Committee found that consultation on the withdrawal of the funding was restricted to the implementation arrangements with the full effects of the changes and consequences for other policies inadequately examined. They conclude that the transitional arrangements and exemptions are inadequate and inconsistent and feel that the change would have been better left until the independent review of variable fees due in 2009.