Peter Jackson

Dec 14 2006 By Peter Jackson, The Journal

Those of you who have been worrying about the UK's skills gap can rest easy - former CBI head Sir Digby Jones has been appointed "skills tsar".

For we all know that the Government's appointment of a "tsar" to tackle a problem leads to that problem's solution, as night follows day.

In this case Sir Digby already has the solution and it lies in our hands, the hands of business, that is.

Business must fill the skills gap by training its workers and if it does not, it must face the Chancellor's great clunking fist.

To be fair to Sir Digby, he is issuing a warning, not a threat, merely pointing out that if business does not solve the problem, then Government will have to do so, by means of compulsion, regulation and more red tape.

This is a bit rich on a number of counts. First, the kind of skills lacking are those of basic numeracy and literacy in which the Government has failed to provide adequate training through the State education system, despite extracting large and ever-growing sums in taxes on the promise that it would do so.

Second, what leads the Chancellor - who has made such a great clunking fist of our pension provision - to think the Government can succeed through regulation in the workplace when it failed through regulation in schools.

It is interesting to note that in the same week we learned about these plans, we were also told that only half those on apprenticeships in England finish them.

According to the chief inspector of adult education, only 51% of learners in England completed their apprenticeships in 2005/6 and he partly blamed this on lack of continuity in the skills training sector, calling on government to avoid quick fixes and think harder before bringing in reforms.

So it hardly seems the most auspicious time to be imposing new training regulations on business, does it?

But what makes it particularly ironic is that this announcement comes shortly after the Prime Minister announced a Government pledge to cut red tape by a quarter by 2010.

The announcement was made at the CBI's annual conference, but it seems nobody thought to tell Sir Digby.

Was this what they meant by joined-up government?