Last week Sir Digby Jones was interviewed on the Today programme about how to improve the skills of British workers. Sir Digby is the Government's Skills Envoy, but has made it clear he will not compromise his views if they are not in accordance with national policy.
In his interview, Sir Digby quoted the standard, but no less scary for all that, statistic about 7 million Britons who cannot read, write and count. That 7 million has been quoted for a number of years now, and is still regarded as current, even after nearly a million people have benefited from Basic Skills training funded through the Learning and Skills Council and other public bodies.
Sir Digby also noted that only about half of young people are achieving a Grade A to C in their English and Maths GCSEs - again, when you think about it, that is a pretty scary number as well.
It seems to me that Sir Digby is right in arguing that there is not only an economic cost to people lacking basic skills, but also a social inclusion issue. If the number of jobs where you don't need to read, write or count are reducing, then those without those skills will need to get them, or will drop out of society. The national statistics announced last week that while employment was increasing, and unemployment was decreasing, the numbers economically inactive were increasing could imply that this alienation from society is already under way.
So to my question - who pays? In the end, we all lose out if a proportion of the community are excluded. Should employers pay for the inadequacies of education policy over the years? In a previous blog response, Marc Bayliss pointed out that employers should pay for the material benefits they received from improved skills from their workers (looking at a different set of skills and workers). Evidence is that between 60 and 70% of employers provide training, but they are most likely to train those with high level skills already.
To be attractive to employers, a tax break for providing training to given standards and in given skills areas is surely the answer. However I am pretty sure that employers would then argue that the tax break was an increase in red tape!!
But then if the Government pays, we all pay - are we all ready to give up a pound or two to make a more inclusive Britain? I know I am, but is that true of everyone?
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