§ Mr. EvansTo ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what Government schemes and initiatives have been enacted to retain the skills base in the United Kingdom following manufacturing job losses. [156984]
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§ Mr. TimmsThe Government's Manufacturing Strategy, which we developed in partnership with industry, trade unions and other stakeholders, aims to create a high-value manufacturing sector in the UK with a highly skilled and well paid workforce, moving away from competing on the basis of low skill and low wages. We are continuing to develop a range of initiatives under the Skills Strategy such as employer training pilots, modern apprenticeships, the growing network of Sector Skills Councils and other measures to better deploy and retain skills to improve business performance.
Where there are significant redundancies in the manufacturing sector, the Rapid Response Service works to move people quickly into new jobs, preventing them from becoming detached from the labour market. Although a trend to declining manufacturing employment has been a feature of advanced economies over the last 30 years, new jobs are still being created all the time. Around 250,000 manufacturing vacancies were reported to Jobcentre plus in the last year. Overall the UK labour market is performing well, with total employment rising by nearly 1.7 million since spring 1997, and unemployment falling in every region in Britain over the past year.