Lord Whitty (Lab)

My Lords, as the last speaker, and having only three minutes, although I would dearly love to contend with what the noble Lord has just said, I will not do so. I also will not comment on the many speeches that have been made, many of which I agree with. For far too long, one’s educational qualifications at 18—or lack of them—have determined not only what happens to you when you join the workforce but how your whole career develops. We need to alter that. I will not comment in detail on the various speeches that have been made, and I have dropped my own detailed points. I just make this point, which is as much of a problem for the Prime Minister and the Treasury as it is for Education Ministers and those in the education system. Employment is not seen as one of the key strategies for government, either in the Treasury or Whitehall. We have a department of employment that is to some extent lost within a department that is largely concerned with the details and expenditure of welfare. We need a proper department of employment that covers training skills for the future, as well as the education system, further education and the interface with higher education. Until we get that, we are not going to get delivery of a proper strategy. We will get details we can improve, but the strategy needs to be accepted by senior Ministers in this and future Governments. For a long time, employment has not been one of the top priorities and has become a poor relation, despite the incredible efforts by many in the education and training system to improve the situation. As Alan Milburn’s report points out, we have not been short of interventions by government over the past few years. There has been scheme after scheme to improve the situation, and we are going to get a few more. What has been lacking is a strategy and a priority. The lead for that can come only from the top. The machinery of government needs to reflect that, and only then will we gain the respect for all aspects of employment and training that is needed. I do not see the signs, as yet, that we, as the present Government, have fully addressed this. We have the opportunity to do so, and I think the priority is there and has been laid out in many interventions today. It is time that we ensured that the machinery of government reflects the centrality of employment in defining our lives, the quality of our lives and the sense of self which applies to so many people. Until that happens, we are going to have this debate time and again.