Chancellor's investment in skills welcomed

Cogent - The Sector Skills Council for Chemicals and Pharmaceuticals, Nuclear, Oil and Gas, Petroleum and Polymers

Education and Qualifications

Gold Standard

Members and Partners

Competence Assurance

Chancellor's investment in skills welcomed

29 Mar 2007

Cogent has welcomed Chancellor Gordon Brown’s support for education and skills. Brown has announced a further long-term increase in spending on education in the Budget.

Other departments will have to wait until the autumn for the government's comprehensive spending review, with the chancellor unveiling the Department for Education's spending settlement for the 2008 -11 period of five per cent in cash terms.

Spending on education will rise from 4.5 per cent of national income inherited in 1997 to 5.6 per cent by 2010. This will take the annual education budget in England from £60bn this year to £74bn by 2010.
Brown said this would allow the government to:

Do more to double apprenticeship numbers to 500,000.
Increase higher education student numbers to 1.2 million.
Enable every school to be an extended community school.
Enable full-time education or training for all 17- and 18-year-olds.

The move supports the network of Sector Skills Councils - including Cogent the Sector Skills Council (SSC) for the chemicals and pharmaceuticals, oil and gas, nuclear, petroleum and polymer Industries.

The Chancellor said the development of economically valuable skills was vital if Britain was to increase productivity in the UKâ€™s business sectors and public services. Identifying the fostering of a world class skills base as one of his principles of welfare reform, the Chancellor set the agenda to equip workers with the means to find, retain and progress in work through an integrated education and skills drive.

Joanna Woolf, Chief Executive of Cogent said: “For the Cogent sector to be economically competitive, it is vital that the education and training system is simplified, streamlined and more responsive to employer needs.

“Skills gaps and shortages are the biggest challenge facing the industries in the Cogent industries. Employers are now competing on quality and innovation and that means improving the skills base has become an imperative in our science-based footprint.”

Dr John Beacham, Cogentâ€™s Chair added: “Through SSCs like Cogent, employers are presenting unified voice to affect a real and lasting change in the education system, change that will help them to meet the skills challenges they face.