The training and skills of older people must become a priority, argues Age Concern ahead of a debate in Westminster Hall on 8 February 2007.

The Government’s target of helping 3.6 million people gain level 2 skills  before 2010 and 90% of all adults by 2020 will be unachievable unless older people are targeted. At present, current skills strategies have resulted in almost no increase in the share of people over 40 with level 2 qualifications. A quarter of the 2020 workforce is already over 40, and a third of this group are without level 2 skills.

The Westminster Hall debate comes ahead of this summer’s Comprehensive Spending Review, which the Government had said will respond to the demographic challenges facing the UK.

Age Concern argues that the Comprehensive Spending Review will present an opportunity to ‘age proof’ the raft of existing skills policy initiatives.

Gordon Lishman, Director General of Age Concern, said:

“The separate debates on skills and demographic change are both welcome, but they need to be combined to meet the 2020 challenge and to prepare the UK’s economy for the future.

”Older workers need increasingly to become the focus of education and training to redress the present imbalance and meet the targets for the future.”

Age Concern is also calling on the Government to broaden the debate to include education unrelated to work. Continuing education for those over 65 has a strong and positive impact on independence and health – and a further knock-on effect for health and social care budgets.

Yet there was a 26% fall in the number of over 60s in education and budget safeguards represent a cut in previous spending on non-vocational training.

Gordon Lishman said: “This massive reduction in the number of older people accessing non-vocational education is proving devastating to older people and will have a significant impact on future health and social care budgets. The trend cannot be allowed to continue.”

Source Age Concern 8th Feb 2007

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Copyright (C) 2007 Alain Georgette / Copyright (C) 2006 Frantisek Hliva. All rights reserved.