DEPARTMENT FOR
INNOVATION, UNIVERSITIES AND SKILLS News Release (003/2009) issued
by COI News Distribution Service. 12 January 2009
£83 million to
offer around 75,000 people high quality training places to help
them back into work over the next two years was announced today by
Skills Secretary John Denham as part of the Government's new
support package for people out of work.
Combined with the new money already announced to help those
facing redundancy as a result of the downturn, the additional help
will support people who have been out of work for more than six
months. Overall the investment will mean that 100,000 people will
be given support to help them back into work.
The proposals will see 75,000 new training places in colleges and
other training providers and are part of a radical shake-up of
further education (FE). This will allow people to train while they
are looking for a job and carry on with their course once they get
into work. The changes also mean that FE colleges will be paid to
get people into work.
John Denham said:
"We will not make the mistakes of the past and just leave
people abandoned on the dole, or push them onto sickness benefit.
"We will do everything we can to help people through this
tough time and help them prepare for the economic upturn when it comes.
"We know that people whose skills are up to date are much
more likely to find a good job, and that employers with well
trained staff survive a recession much better than firms which
don't invest in skills.
"This is an investment in the long-term future of our people
and our economy. In the future there will be far fewer jobs for
people with no skills but the number of high-skilled jobs will
grow. Britain will need skilled workers if it is going to compete."
While the Government cannot guarantee existing jobs in any
economic climate, the new measures will help people get the skills
and qualifications that will boost their prospects of getting a
new job.
Today's package aims to give people confidence
that if they lose their jobs, there will be real help available so
they can improve their skills or gain new ones so that they are
fit for the jobs of the future.
The Government's primary aim is to keep the time people
spend out of work keep to a minimum while making the return to
work a stepping stone to a more skilled future. This will ensure
that a period of unemployment can be an opportunity for people to
gain the skills they will need to get on in work in the future,
and take advantage of likely expansion areas as the economy improves.
The Government is initially offering 75,000 new training places
in colleges and other training providers for job-seekers who reach
the 6 month point on Job Seekers Allowance.
This will be flexible, job-focused training to equip them with
economically valuable skills, helping them to secure new
employment. It will be supported by a training allowance to enable
a period of full-time training where that is needed.
The new training support for unemployed people will have the
following key features:
* Training programmes while
participants are unemployed will be employment-focused, offering a
range of opportunities to gain skills. Building on previous
announcements, we will be offering both programmes to prepare for
job entry, and more specific training in new skills that equip
people for new jobs.
* Colleges and other training providers
will offer flexible courses that will not conflict with
availability for work or delay entry to the job market. So people
who enrol on training courses will not be put in the position of
having to choose between a job or completing their training. They
will be able to combine the training with active job search, take
a new job as soon as they are able to find one, and, with their
new employer's agreement, be supported to complete the
training part-time in work after they have started their new
job.
* Colleges and training providers will have incentives to
use the work-based Train to Gain programme, to support those who
gain new jobs to pursue further progression towards accredited
qualifications of known value in the labour market. Qualifying
providers will demonstrate strong links through to Train to Gain
thereby ensuring a seamless journey for the individual and real
value for the employer.
* Payments to colleges and training
providers will relate to the training delivered, but with a clear
performance objective to help customers gain sustainable
employment. We want providers to have incentives to get customers
back into work as quickly as possible, testing a combination of
rewards that ensures providers aim for sustainable employment and
completion of training, in line with our integrated welfare and
skills approach. This is an important part of our wider approach
to focussing further education on flexible delivery of training
that has real economic value for learners and employers.
The Learning and Skills Council, Jobcentre Plus, Regional
Development Agencies and Sector Skills Councils are working
together in each region and nationally to identify where
recruitment levels remain stronger, and where, even in the
downturn, there remain job vacancies and skills shortages. Using
that intelligence, they will work closely together to deliver the
joint regional response we have previously announced. This is part
of the transformation of the Further Education sector with a
stronger focus on employment outcomes and delivering the
productivity-enhancing provision that employers seek.
Research shows that the best way of helping people gain
sustainable employment is through a support package that combines
active search for a new job with effective work-related training.
It is vital that this training helps people quickly back into
sustainable employment and does not detach them from the labour
market, while also enabling people to gain skills that have real
value for employers.
Notes to editors
1. The Government has already announced
£158million in additional skills funding to help those affected by
redundancy, boosting the provision of shorter training programmes
focussed on preparing for job-entry. Building on that, this
additional targeted activity for people at the 6 month gateway
will broaden the support available, bringing the total number of
new training places to over 100,000.
2. Through the Learning and Skills Council, we will invite
colleges and training providers to put forward proposals for
offering the additional places, on the conditions described above,
up to an initial total of 75,000 new places. Additional funding of
£83million will be allocated for those places. We will be looking
particularly to work with colleges and training providers that are
already successfully working with employers, and who demonstrate
the greatest flexibility and responsiveness in helping
participants boost their prospects of sustainable employment.
3. Today's announcement has been announced jointly with the
Department for Work and Pensions at a Job Summit hosted by the
Prime Minister at the Science Museum in London.
4. To view the DWP's press notice visit http://www.dwp.gov.uk