Labour on collision course in education shake-up

Ed Miliband will use his annual party conference speech in Manchester this afternoon to unveil plans for a new ‘Tech-Bacc’ qualification for schools and colleges, targeting the “forgotten 50 per cent” of young people who do not go to university.

Labour said the new European-style qualification would offer a “clear passport” for 14-year-olds who do not wish to follow a traditional academic path. The Technical Baccalaureates would involve vocational training and work experience alongside basic English and maths up to the age of 18, and lead directly to an apprenticeship with a private employer.

At the same time, the party said it will hand the Government’s entire £1bn skills and funding budget directly to private companies – allowing them to design and establish their own training courses.

The pledge will delight private industry, but risks placing Mr Miliband on a collision course with Labour-led councils as it flies in the face of the hard-won “City Deal” devolution packages signed off earlier this month.

Both the Leeds and Sheffield City Region deals involve the transfer of tens of millions of pounds from the National Skills Agency to local authorities across West, South and North Yorkshire.

The councils – almost all Labour-led – have spent months drawing up plans to use newly-devolved funding to tackle skills gaps in their areas. Similar deals to devolve skills funding have been struck with other cities across England including Greater Manchester, Birmingham, Newcastle and Bristol.

But Mr Miliband will say today: “We need a new deal with British business. As you have long asked for, you get control of the money for training. As you have long requested, you set the standards. Sector by sector, we’re going to give business the power and responsibility to make sure the training happens.”

Senior Labour sources were unequivocal that money being devolved to local authorities should be passed straight to private employers. “We are planning to devolve that money to business,” an aide said. “We’re not devolving it to another arm of government.”

Asked whether plans for new council-led apprenticeship hubs in Yorkshire would therefore need to be abolished, the source added: “We’re being very clear we’re putting business in the driving seat. I’m sure businesses will work with local government and national government.”

Mr Miliband will use his address to paint a personal picture of his upbringing, amid concern within Labour that he is neither well-known nor well-liked by the wider public. The Doncaster North MP will draw on his own education at a London comprehensive school to insist the current system fails many young people who are not academically-minded.

He will admit that for too long, Labour has focused mainly on getting young people into university, rather than “the forgotten 50 per cent” who do not.

But the personal challenge he faces is illustrated by a ComRes poll that shows only two out of 10 people believe he has what it takes to be a good prime minister.

The poll for The Independent also showsLabour trailing the Conservatives on economic trust. Labour’s seven-point lead in the last ComRes survey has dropped to just three points at 38 per cent (down four points on last month), with the Conservatives on 35 per cent. These figures would give Labour a majority of 24 at a general election fought on the existing constituency boundaries.

Firms challenged on apprenticeships

FIRMS that bid for Government contracts will be required to offer apprenticeships to young people under plans to be announced by Ed Miliband today.

The Labour leader, who warned of a “youth unemployment emergency” at the weekend, will highlight the fact that only one in three large employers currently offers apprenticeships at all.

He will also attack firms that “poach” newly-trained employees from rivals rather than offering apprenticeships themselves, and suggest tough measures may be required to prevent the practice and ensure the guilty companies are not given a “free ride”.