Ambition 2020 – World Class Skills & Jobs for the UK

Small Business News

Ambition 2020 is a major report that has been a year in the making, published today by the UK Commission for Employment and Skills

Ambition 2020 is an agenda for effective action over the next five years in regards to Employment and Employment Skills. It is based around the notion that our strategy must focus not only on how survive the recession but on how to achieve world-class standing in employment, productivity and skills in the years ahead.

It will require a serious and sustained effort and bring together the resources and expertise of the public, private and voluntary sectors. It will require joint investment and development by organisations responsible for economic industrial strategy, for jobs and employment services, for education and skills provision. We believe that this action agenda has five major priorities that should drive UK policy and practice and will underpin the UK Commission’s own work.

1. Create a clear and integrated strategy for economic transformation and renewal, aligning policies and practices in industrial strategy, employment and skills;
2. Support effective economic development in cities and local communities
3. Develop more agile and responsive skills and employment provision, capable of anticipating employers’ evolving requirements;
4. Transform individual aspiration, maximising motivation and opportunity for everyone to develop and exploit their talents;
5. Build employer ambition and capacity to be world-class, capable of competing globally in the knowledge economy.

Why it is needed

Whilst Britain’s productivity has improved relative to other nations, our employment has deteriorated. Recession aside, if we do not take strong and immediate action, by 2020 we are likely to rank 23rd on low-level skills, 21st on intermediate skills and 10th on high level skills. Currently, we are 11th in productivity and 10th in employment. We fare even less well on skills: we are in 17th place on low-level skills, 18th on intermediate and 12th on high skills.

We believe we must reach the upper quartile of the OECD countries – that is, be in the top eight performing nations in the world – by 2020.