Post-16 skills : ninth report of session 2006-07, Vol. 1: Report, together with formal minutes

This inquiry into post-16 skills, "Post-16 Skills (HC 333-I)", considers the following areas: the underpinning principles of the Government's Skills Strategy; the recommendations of the Leitch report (ISBN 0118404865, available below); supply issues - the experiences of those looking for skills training; and the development of a so-called 'demand-led' system for skills.

Although the Committee commends the Government for its focus on skills it has a number of concerns about the direction of some of the policy.

These include questions about whether increasing the stock of qualifications is an accurate indicator of the stock of skills and that more attention needs to be paid to the employer's requirement for bite-sized learning.The current infrastructure for delivering skills is overly complicated and much needs to be done to eliminate overlaps and reduce inefficiency.

The Government has set store on a demand-led system and the 'Train to Gain' programme.

However there are worries about the quality of some of the brokerage and it could be that, some of the time, they act simply as an extra layer of bureaucracy. Sector Skills Councils are another 'demand-led' mechanism but they face problems in representing the views of diverse sectors and of small and medium sized enterprises.

However one of the key issues is raising, rather than simply responding to, demand from employers and individuals.