London, July 2005 - Lifelong Learning UK (LLUK) will play an essential role in raising skills levels among young people and adults, said Bill Rammell, the Minister for Lifelong Learning, Further and Higher Education, speaking at the official launch of LLUK at the House of Commons.
Lifelong Learning UK is one of 23 sector skills councils in the Skills for Business network of employers, which aims to reduce skills shortages and increase opportunities for learning throughout the economy. LLUK represents employers in further and higher education, work-based learning, community learning and development, libraries, archives, and information services.
Rammell described the new sector skills council as a crucial partner in delivering a package of government initiatives to boost opportunities for education and training among learners of all ages.
"By bringing together many organisations and over a million multi-talented people, the new sector skills council will be a key partner in delivering our Success for All and Further Education reform, enabling every individual to achieve their potential. It will help deliver the Skills Strategy together with reforms to 14 -19 education and teacher training improvements in the learning and skills sector. "
Giving a strong voice to the lifelong learning sector will help create a truly demand-led system that will enable colleges, universities, and other learning providers to offer employers the training they want, added the Minister. "With a strong, diverse workforce, LLUK will have the vision and ideas to help secure the right skills for the economy and close skills gaps in the years ahead.-
John Hedger, the organisation's chairman, told the launch that LLUK would raise skills levels among all learning professionals and thus support employers across the UK who rely on learning providers to develop staff members' skills.
-œIt is right that employers in the lifelong learning sector should have their own voice in the Skills for Business network as they have an important part to play in economic development and social progress across the UK,- he said.
LLUK chief executive David Hunter stressed that it will meet the needs and priorities of learning providers in all four countries of the UK. -œWe will support them by developing better information on workforce supply as well as developing a framework of standards-based qualifications that will maximize opportunities for progression and mobility.- Tasks facing LLUK include the development of sector-wide occupational standards and the production of labour market intelligence.
