The ‘scale of the task’ and potential economic impact
This project analyses progress in the West Midlands region against the targets set out in the 2006 Leitch Review of Skills. The project has been split into various stages of work, with completed reports available to download from the Project Outputs page.
The vision of the Leitch Review of Skills commissioned by the government in 2006 is that:
"in the 21st Century our natural resource is our people – and their potential is both untapped and vast. Skills will unlock that potential. The prize for our country will be enormous – higher productivity, the creation of wealth and social justice…. Skills is the most important level within our control to create wealth and to reduce social deprivation."
However, it is recognised that while the UK’s skills base has improved significantly over the last decade with rising school standards and growth in graduate numbers, it remains weak by international standards.
Despite substantial investment and reform plans already in place, by 2020 we will only have managed to 'run to stand still' and on our current trajectory the UK’s comparative position will not have improved significantly.
The Review starts with the ambitious vision of the UK becoming a world leader in skills, benchmarked against the upper quartile of the OECD. Stretching objectives for 2020 include:
1. 95% of adults to achieve the basic skills of functional literacy (at least level 1) and functional numeracy (at least level 3), an increase from levels of 85% for literacy and 79% for numeracy in 2005 – equating to an additional 7.4 million attainments over the period. An intermediate target of 89% of adults with functional literacy and 81% of adults with functional numeracy has been set for 2011.
2. More than 90% of adults qualified to at least a full level 2, an increase from 69% in 2005 – equating to an additional 5.7 million attainments over the period at a rate of 449,000 attainments per annum. An intermediate target of 79% of adults qualified to this level has been set for 2011.
3. 1.9 million additional full level 3 attainments over the period, at a rate of 213,000 per annum. An intermediate target of 56% of adults qualified to this level has been set for 2011.
4. 40% of adults qualified to level 4 and above, up from 29% in 2005 – equating to an additional 5.5 million attainments over the period. An intermediate target of 36% of adults qualified to this level has been set for 2014.