Written evidence to be reported to the House
Education and Skills Bill
12:00 pm
Susan Anderson: We know that, from an employer perspective, employers’ biggest concerns are with the low number of young people—sorry, our concern is literacy and numeracy. We are not getting enough people coming out of schools with the right literacy and numeracy skills. That is employers’ No. 1 concern. They also feel that we need to improve those employability skills that I have already mentioned—those soft, generic skills around team working, business awareness, customer awareness, as well as literacy and numeracy.
In terms of what employers can contribute, we certainly as employers have a role to play—whether through work experience or other means—to ensure that young people recognise the benefits of those employability skills. I think that that is where we think we can play a role. Certainly when it comes to apprenticeships and, indeed, diplomas, delivering numeracy and literacy skills or helping people appreciate the appliance of those skills is very important.
There are things that employers can do. But why do we think that this is the right thing to do? What we want to achieve is improved literacy and numeracy. If this is something that is necessary to achieve that, then I think that our members believe that it is the right thing to do.