* Legal right for employees to request time to train
* Legislation to expand and strengthen apprenticeships
Radical moves to increase the number of people who can gain new skills, become more productive and develop better careers were announced today in the Government's draft legislative programme.
For the first time, employees will be given the legal right to request time to train from their employers, and apprenticeships will receive a boost under new legislation to unlock the potential of individuals and businesses.
The Government will consult on how workers can be legally empowered to request time to undertake training that will benefit them and their employer. The practical arrangements which employers would follow would be modelled on the existing right to request flexible working.
By introducing a new right to ask for time for training, employees will be able to talk to employers about their training needs, and employers will become more aware of the public funds available to support training.
Employers will be legally obliged to seriously consider requests for training they receive but could refuse a request where there was a good business reason to do so. Employers will not be obliged to meet the salary or training costs to enable a request for time to train but we would expect many to choose to do so, recognising the opportunity to invest in their business.
The plans, announced by the Prime Minister to Parliament today, will apply to 22 million employees in England. An Education and Skills Bill will underpin the Prime Minister's drive to extend opportunity, improve national competitiveness and raise aspirations throughout society.
In 2004, 3.2 million unqualified adults were in work but current trends suggest that this will fall to 600,000 by 2020. Nearly three quarters of the 2020 workforce has already completed compulsory education.
Secretary of State for Innovation, Universities and Skills John Denham said:
"If the job prospects of our workforce are to improve and the country is to succeed internationally, we have to ensure that everyone has the opportunity to rise as far as their abilities can take them.
"Learning starts before school and it should not stop when you leave. While it is right that we consult on this proposal, I believe that skills development has to become an integral part of working life for everyone. A right to request training will help ensure this becomes a reality.
"It will allow millions of employees to start a conversation with their employer about how they can become a more productive member of staff and in turn will encourage employers to better tap into some of the major Government supported training programmes available to them."
The right will be backed by ongoing Government investment in skills and training which will rise to £5.3 billion per year by 2010-11. In particular, employers will be encouraged to take advantage of the Train to Gain service, which helps businesses identify and address skills needs, further supported by Government funding rising to over £1 billion a year by 2010/11.
Equally, the established network of over 19,000 union learning representatives, skills accounts, with resources tailored to the individual, and the new adult careers and advancement service - both of which will begin operating across the country from 2010 - will help people to maximise the benefits of the new right for them.
The new Education and Skills Bill will also set out measures to further establish apprenticeships as a key route to unlocking talent and improving the national skills base.
The Government wants to make sure that far more young people, and older workers, can start high quality apprenticeships. A new National Apprenticeship Service will lead the drive for more high quality apprenticeships, backed up by a new legal definition of an apprenticeship and a new right for suitably qualified young people to get an apprenticeship.
The Bill will build on the draft Apprenticeships Bill to be published this summer, and will strengthen and help to expand apprenticeships by:
* For the first time, establishing a statutory basis for the apprenticeships programme, clarifying the legal status of apprentices and ensuring apprenticeships agreements are in place between employers and learners;
* Creating a National Apprenticeship Service to provide new, focused leadership for the Apprenticeships programme, bringing together a wide range of services and operations currently dispersed among a range of agencies;
* Providing a statutory entitlement to an apprenticeships place for all suitably qualified young people who want one; and
* Ensuring that schools provide comprehensive information about apprenticeships.
Mr Denham added:
"This Government has rescued and rebuilt the apprenticeship programme and our ambition is to make it an option of choice for as many people as possible. Today's proposals will underpin that ambition.
"Taken together, this draft legislative programme is a real boost to skills and is further evidence of this Government's determination to help people get in to work and get on at work. We must secure a prosperous future for our economy and a just one for our society. "
