Memorandum 121
Submission from Lord Leitch
FUNDING FOR
EQUIVALENT OR
LOWER LEVEL
QUALIFICATIONS
I write following your letter of 24 January
and my email of 5 February.
As I mentioned in an earlier letter to your
Committee, since the publication of my Review 15 months ago, I
have "drawn back" from the various responses and implementation
issues on the Skills agenda. Consequently, I fear that I do not
have sufficient current knowledge to answer your specific questions
on ELQs adequately.
However, I offer a few comments.
I set out clearly in my Review's recommendations
that the UK urgently needs to increase the investment and achievement
in HE Skills.
Higher level skills are critical to the future
of the UK economy. We need to increase the number of people gaining
these skills and effectively support people to retrain and learn
flexibly, including alongside work. We need to increase investment
in HE across the board: from employers, individuals and the Government.
Clearly, public funds are limited and we must
prioritise investment. But any changes in funding streams and
mechanisms must be effectively managed so that the excellent work
that institutions such as the Open University do is not undermined.
I did not define any approach on ELQs as I believed
that this was more of a tactical, implementation issue. As you
know, I recommended the creation of the Commission of Employment
and Skills to oversee such issues.
I am sorry that I cannot provide a more definitive
answer and I trust that you will understand why.
February 2008
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