World Class Skills: Implementing the Leitch Review of Skills in England sets out how government intends to lead a ‘revolution' in attitude towards education and skills. It aims to make England a world class leader in skills by 2020, to sustain and improve the country’s position in the global economy.

Targets for 2020 are:

• 95 per cent of adults to have the basic skills of functional literacy and numeracy
• more than 90 per cent of adults to have gained at least a level 2 qualification (equivalent to 5 GCSEs at A*-C grade)
• shift the balance of intermediate skills from level 2 to level 3 (equivalent to 2 A levels), with 1.9 million more people achieving level 3 by 2020
• deliver England’s share of the UK ambition to have 500,000 people a year in apprenticeships
• more than 40 per cent of all adults to have a higher education qualification (at level 44 and above).

Proposals for giving employers greater leadership of the skills and employment system include creating more National Skills Academies (NSAs). NSAs are employer-led centres of excellence for skills training. They provide hands-on involvement by employers in designing and delivering learning, so that training is tailored to the specific needs of their sector. Government aims to have 12 NSAs in place by the end of 2008.

The Creative and Cultural NSA is preparing to launch, and a new NSA for Sport and Active Leisure is in the business planning stage.

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