David Lammy - Vocational Qualification Reform Conference

Introduction

Good afternoon. I am sorry that I have not been able to join you earlier, for the discussions about what the title of this conference rightly calls a 'once in a generation opportunity' to get the Vocational Qualification system right.

Instead I have been at a hearing of the Education & Skills Bill, which is a step towards the radical reforms we are introducing to get that system right.

A historical development

These reforms are truly momentous. I believe they tap into the radical force that has always driven the further education system - the democratisation of knowledge and the life chances that knowledge brings. Enlightened industrialists like Robert Owen understood this when they paid for the basic education of their mill workers from their own pockets. Albert Mansbridge and Frances Pringle understood it, too, when they founded the Workers' Educational Association in 1903. So did Harold Wilson and Jenny Lee in 1965 when they proposed a 'University of the Air', now the Open University, open to everyone, regardless of educational background.

One major step towards addressing some of the big skills challenges was Gordon Brown's creation of my department, DIUS. DIUS brings together three elements that are vital to the economy and vital to our international success as a country: Innovation, Universities and Skills.

Britain can only succeed in a changing world if we develop the skills of our people, at every level, to the fullest possible extent, carry out world-class research and scholarship, and apply both knowledge and skills to create innovative products, services and companies. In turn, we need to raise skills levels in order to take advantage of the opportunities that an innovative economy brings.

So the three strands of DIUS' work are all crucial for the future prosperity of this country.

Need for skills

The challenges that our work poses are correspondingly great. All of you know already that Sandy Leitch has put numbers on them.

By 2010, we will need to have helped over 3 million adults to achieve their first full Level 2 qualification.

And by 2020, we will need to have reduced by 40 per cent, the number of adults who do not have functional competence in literacy and numeracy.

Currently, one third of adults do not possess the equivalent of a basic school-leaving qualification. That makes us 18th out of 30 in European league tables. On intermediate level skills, we fare even worse - twentieth out of 30. So clearly we face a huge task. By 2020 we will also need 40 per cent of the whole working-age population qualified at degree level or the equivalent. At the last count, the figure was 29 per cent.

Lifting our national skills base is not just about productivity and output. It's also about social justice.

Investing in skills is crucial to building a society where no-one is left behind, and where ordinary people are given a greater stake in the community in the form of higher wages, higher aspirations and more stable and secure lives. And it is crucial to abolishing, forever, the national scandal of wasted talent among our people.

Need for skills recognition

It's easy to become evangelical about the benefits of getting qualifications when you see the difference they can make to peoples' lives and their careers.

People with poor literacy skills have an employment rate of only 55% - almost half are unemployed. And I know from experience how empowering getting qualifications can be.

I would not be where I am today without having been inspired by my mother. She got her basic skills certificates, which were framed on the wall of our kitchen, and was able to go from being a home-help to a housing manager.

It was the union staff in her place of work that encouraged her to progress and who rallied around her after my father left us.

For some, the benefits of improving skills is something we might take for granted - looking at the change you've been given from a twenty pound note when you've bought a round of drinks and knowing whether it was right or not.

Altogether, over 1.75m people have achieved first "Skills for Life" qualification since 2001.

More than 1m people have achieved first full Level 2 since 2002; whilst FE success rates have risen by a third, from 59 per cent in 2001 to 77 per cent last year.

And apprenticeships - that had dwindled away to a mere 75,000 when Labour came to power - are now flourishing. We now have a quarter of a million apprenticeships, with hugely improved completion rates, too.

Formal qualifications, by offering public recognition of achievement, also offer dignity and self-esteem. Equally importantly, they are reliable hard evidence of skills to potential employers, and therefore a route to better personal prospects.

Vision for 2010

That brings me to the subject of today's conference. Much has been achieved, but we still have a lot to do.

I am sure that today's conference has painted a detailed picture for you of what the post 2010 world will look like.

I'd like to conclude with a summary what I envisage a world led by employer and learner demand to look like:

• Employers and learners place a high value on nationally accredited vocational qualifications. This will be reflected in more employer investment in skills and greater employability and wages for those with vocational qualifications than for those without.
• Learners and employers will be clear about what vocational qualifications are available and suitable to their needs - thanks to a more rational system.
• Individuals will gain credit from each unit of learning they complete and their achievements will be understood by others. Their learner achievement record will help them, and their employers, plan their future training and development.
• Vocational qualifications (vqs) will respond better and more quickly to changes in employer and learner needs, and to changes in the social and economic environment. This will result from greater flexibility in the vqs and to the central role of Sector Skills Councils and employers, in making decisions about which vqs should be part of the national system and which should receive public funding.
• A significant proportion of employers' training will be part of the nationally recognised vocational qualifications, with some employers being recognised as awarding bodies in their own right.
• Apprenticeships will be recognised as part of the national system for the first time - and a report on this is due out very soon.
• And finally, as part of this demand-led revolution, the regulator will not second guess employer needs. Under the proposals about the future of the QCA on which we are currently consulting in England, awarding bodies will be licensed to put vocational qualifications directly onto the national framework, once approved by SSCs.

In essence we will have a system which gives employers a stronger voice than ever before in defining which qualifications should be recognised and funded. A system offering the flexibility to truly meet learners' needs.

The digital age has changed our expectations of how we work, how we learn and how we consume information. It falls to everyone in this room to be innovative in the way we deliver education, training and accreditation. The rewards for learner, provider and state will be tremendous if we succeed.

The reform process we are embarked on in qualifications is the most ambitious and important in a generation. I know that change is unsettling and planning is difficult when we are in a test and trial situation. But I am determined that we should get this right. And getting it right means taking people with you so that we all own the final product, not just Government.

So I leave each of you with a challenge.

Employers - spread the word that raising the skills of employees really does improve productivity and profitability - and frequently also employee loyalty. Invest in skills. And tell us what you want from vocational skills - by working in partnership with your SSCs.

SSCs - you are in the driving seat to make this revolution happen. We know that there are great pressures being put on you and the new Commission for Employment and Skills is remitted to ensure that you can meet the challenges. We need you to represent your employers and we need you to work in close partnership with awarding bodies to ensure that the right vocational qualifications are developed.

Awarding bodies - you are the experts in developing vocational qualifications and you know what works in the market place. We rely on you to work closely with SSCs and to work with each other to ensure that there is a rationalised system.

And providers - some of you will face a considerable challenge in gearing up to deliver reformed qualifications from August this year and I trust that the programme of provider support will enable this to happen.

We are only just starting on this journey and we will not even have completed the implementation until the end of 2010.

However, as Martin Luther King said, 'You don't have to see the whole staircase, just take the first step'.

For us, 2008 will be that first step, and a really big one.

By the coming summer, we will have a much clearer picture of the way forward on everything from the funding of unitised vocational qualifications to whether and how Sector Skills Councils should approve them.

And we should also be much clearer about the future of the Qualifications and Credit Framework.

But I know that change can create uncertainty and confusion in the short term, even when it aims to make a system much less confusing and more user-friendly.

So I'd like to finish with a plug for our new Vocational Qualification Reform website, which we are launching today. You will find the url on the back of the small blue programme flyer. The website will feature today's presentations and answers the questions that you have asked, as well as much more information.

I hope you all have a good trip home.

Thank you.