David Lammy - Soft Skills Deliver Hard Results
PwC, Embankment Place - 29 April 2008

Check against delivery

I would like to begin by thanking LEAP for two decades of work to support young people who are disadvantaged and socially excluded. Government values the work of LEAP and other professional partners that develop 'soft skills' because we are concerned with the broader welfare of young people, not just their academic attainment.

Today we are here to reinforce the importance of attitude and motivation amongst candidates for employers and to launch LEAP's new short programme.

But we must never lose sight of the fact that this strand of work aims to foster not just socialisation but also social justice.

If I think of some of my contemporaries that I went to primary school with in Tottenham, some of them ended up in jail, some of them ended up mentally ill, too many of them ended up unemployed or unemployable.

My school report in year 11 said: 'Your son is a model pupil, unfortunately not a working model' but I know that in many ways the things that got me out of that situation were what would be defined as 'soft skills' - a way with words, confidence and the desire to mediate. I was lucky to have an older brother who was a magistrate to imbue these in me. But many young people have no such guidance or role model.

We start learning the sorts of skills I'm talking about virtually from the moment we're born, from our parents. As a new father I can tell you that the learning process which begins when a baby comes into the house isn't all one way, either. As we start to grow, our experience of other people and how we should relate to them starts to widen.

Soft Skills in Schools

Learning soft skills is part of a process of coming to terms with the world around us, which continues through nursery school, primary and secondary school and into adult life. Indeed, how to relate to and communicate with other people is something we never stop learning.

And it's never too late to re-evaluate our skills - the probation officers who help offenders get back into work know that.

In schools, the 'Social and Emotional Aspects of Learning' programme that we have rolled out encourages young people to look at conflict resolution and peacekeeping strategies to learn how to work well as a team and to win and lose gracefully. It teaches hard-edged skills, like recovering from disappointments and setbacks, managing anger and frustration, and standing up for your rights and those of others.

There's nothing soft about that.

Soft Skills Deliver Hard Results

In the workplace, employers are looking for bright, able individuals, who are passionate about what they do. Who, as well as having a good understanding of the job, can work in a team, find creative solutions to problems, and treat others with respect.

CBI say that businesses consistently rank this as one of their most enduring problems. Who can blame them? We have all been irritated with those who lack soft skills: the autocratic boss who can't motivate his staff, the team member who is always late or the pupil who always answers back. And perhaps it is even us doing the irritating.

More seriously, in terms of our productivity we lag behind our European competitors - this largely results a skills gap that includes soft skills.

Here in London, for example, young people are competing against people from the Home Counties, from other cities, from Eastern Europe - young people who have enough get-up-and-go to come to our capital. They are hungry for work and ready to learn.

In business these skills are often broken down into: influencing, communication and team management; delegating, appraising and presenting. Today we have heard from speakers from the private sector on how they implement these skills in their organisation.

I think we have a lot to learn from business. And we can so more to develop a workforce that they find more fit for purpose. I would like to take a few minutes to tell you what we are doing to achieve this:

We have made real and significant progress over the last decade. This includes record UK employment levels, with 2.9 million more people in work than in 1997 with 1 million fewer people on out-of-work benefits than in 1997.

But we cannot stop there. To get ahead in the global skills race and meet our 80% employment aspiration, Britain needs to unlock the talent of everyone.

We want to allow employers to recruit staff with ready-to-work skills and ready-to-work attitudes.

We want the right people are recruited into the right jobs; and once in work we want staff to get the support they need to realise their potential.

That's why my department - the Department for Innovation, Universities and Skills - is working with the Department for Work and Pensions to shape a joined up employment and skills system around the needs of its customers - employers and learners.

We set out key features of the new service in World Class Skills. They include Skills Health Checks to help careers advisors prescribe the most effective action to help people to progress and achieve their ambitions; providing better integrated financial support for learning for those with the lowest skills and qualifications; and greater use of online and telephone support, as appropriate to individuals needs and circumstances.

Beyond that, supporting the delivery of Skills Accounts - which will give individuals greater ownership and choice over their learning, motivating them to gain skills and achieve qualifications, enter work and progress in employment.

We will provide at least £50m of new funding for the advancement and careers service and skills accounts from 2010-11.

The QCA have developed a framework of 'personal learning and thinking skills' that are designed to apply to all ages of learner, and which incorporate the need for soft skills. These will be embedded into the curriculum and into qualifications. The assessment of personal learning and thinking skills is being integrated within the curriculum for Diplomas, Apprenticeships and the Foundation Learning Tier.

This is important because DWP research shows that overall, employers are less demanding of technical skills, considering them trainable, if candidates exhibit employability, soft skills, and positive attributes.

It is clear from that research that employers want people who already possess soft skills.

Our aim is to ensure that everyone turning up to an interview has the necessary skills, including soft skills, to do that job.

We want employers to fill more of their vacancies with people who are too often overlooked in the labour market and recognise the importance of ensuring more of these people have the soft skills employers are looking for.

In return, employers can expect a central role in driving the changes you need, and unparalleled support in recruiting and training the workforce of the future.

We are giving employers an unparalleled opportunity to shape our recruitment and skills services and to access simplified and demand-led support to recruit and train their workforce.

Through Local Employment Partnerships, participating employers have the right to advise Jobcentre Plus on the kind of pre-employment support and training that will work for them and will help them fill there vacancies.

Ultimately, soft skills deliver hard results. I believe if we can get this new service right, we will be able to improve the lives of millions of people in this country whilst helping employers to source savvy staff that are and job-ready. Thanks for listening.