Transcripts
Gordon Brown
The world we are living in is changing fast, affecting the lives of every one of us.
In the past those who had the raw materials and the infrastructure were the ones with the competitive advantage.
Today, what matters most is who has the ideas, the insights and the creativity.
And in the future it will no longer be the shortage of jobs but the shortage of skills that will be the biggest barrier to full employment.
So britain's long-term prosperity depends more than ever on developing the talents and potential of all our people to the full – and to help achieve that goal we have today set out the latest steps we are taking to integrate our employment, welfare and skills services:
Steps that will ensure that when people sign on for benefits they sign up for skills as well;
That will give everyone access to a personal skills account as well as better advice, support and information about the training they are entitled to;
And that will give people greater freedom to personalise employment and skills services to make them better suited to their needs.
Government can set the framework, but we rely on the hard work and commitment of employers and of all our delivery partners to ensure that businesses can recruit and retain the people with the skills they need to continue to compete in the workplace of tomorrow
– so I urge all of you to join me in working towards a more high-skilled britain where the talents of each of us contribute to the well-being and prosperity of all us.
