Liberal Democrats Working For Success Policies for Employment and Training Full Employability The Liberal Democrat approach to employment centres around five themes: Championing full employment: managing economic policy, and in particular the mix between fiscal and monetary tools, in a way that minimises the effects of the business cycle to maintain full employment. Promoting employability: investing in education and training to ensure that everyone is skilled and adaptable enough not to become permanently and involuntarily excluded from the workforce through lack of skills. Boosting employment: stimulating the capacity of the economy to create additional jobs, by investing in Britain's neglected social and economic infrastructure, regenerating regional and local economies and assisting small firms to grow and compete. Investing in Training: creating a positive policy framework for employers to invest in skills and training. Enabling employees to exercise their full potential: creating a framework of mutual rights and obligations within which everyone who works and managers will benefit. Championing Full Employment Liberal Democrats aim to create full employment based on an employment rate of 80% and unemployment on the International Labour Organisation (ILO) measure of 4% or less. We would: * Manage the macro-economy to minimize the effects of the economic cycle and promote full employment in good times and bad. * Create a new Benefits and Jobs Agency which will administer a new Flexible Guarantee for Jobseekers to replace the New Deal. This will be based on a job search and placement service, and equality of access to services both to unemployed jobseekers and groups who do not need actively to seek work but who want a job. * Abolish the existing benefit sanctions that were specifically brought in under the New Deal, ensuring that the new Agency does not extend benefit sanctions to groups who do not need actively to seek work, and imposing a moratorium on extending benefit sanctions linked to active labour market policy pending research into the effects of existing benefit sanction regimes. Promoting Employability Liberal Democrats aim to enhance the employability of individuals through: * Providing the funding to allow any adult the chance to acquire a Level 2 qualification. We will fund those aged 16-24 up to Level 3. In the long term our goal is to extend this further entitlement to every adult. All those on these courses would be entitled to a student loan to cover maintenance, depending on their income. * Giving every 16-19 year old an entitlement to the equivalent of two days per week study leave, and every 20-24 year old an entitlement to the equivalent of one day per week study leave, with pay from their employer where the training relates to the employer's business needs, while ensuring the involvement of small businesses in the successful implementation of this entitlement. * The creation of a Learning Council (England) to allocate tuition funding made available through the Learning and Skills Council and the Higher Education Funding Council England. * In the long term, giving every citizen an Individual Learning Account from cradle to the grave, to act as the repository for all publicly funded tuition and maintenance for post-16 further education and training, and higher education, taking the form of grant-in-aid to funding councils, income contingent loans and non-repayable bursaries. Investing in Training Liberal Democrats would create a positive policy framework for employers to invest in skills and training by: * Introducing tax incentives for Small and Medium-sized enterprises which are either: working towards Investors in People, or introducing a company training plan under the Skills for Small Businesses programme, or training an employee to master trainer level. * Requiring all registered companies to report on staff training and development and associated expenditure in their Annual Report and Accounts. * Empowering National Training Organisations to conduct a ballot of members employers to enable industries to introduce a training levy where there is support to do so. * Reforming the National Vocational Qualifications system to make assessment less bureaucratic and permit unit-based qualifications. Boosting Employment We would: * Support small and medium-sized businesses by introducing a business rate allowance. In the long term we will replace the Uniform Business Rate with a new tax based on the development value of land. We would encourage the banks to develop new sources of private finance and provide new sources of 'seed-corn' capital. * Boost regional and local economies encouraging regionally-based development agencies to build new partnerships between small businesses, local Councils, Business Links, TECs and local Chambers of Commerce and enabling Councils to raise capital for local infrastructure investment, where they work in partnership with the private sector. * Invest in innovation by increasing the science budget to create scientific capabilities for the 21st century. We would shift government funds away from supporting arms exports towards research with an emphasis on sustainability; and improve specialist research facilities for industry. Building New Partnerships At Work We would: * Reform industrial relations, through guaranteeing employee rights of access to participation in decision making, profit sharing and profit-related pay, and employee share ownership. * Encourage greater flexibility in working patterns, including family friendly hours, improved provision for care of children, home-working, and the introduction of a flexible decade of retirement. Policies stated in this briefing represent policy passed by the conference of the Liberal Democrats. A fully costed manifesto containing our priorities for government is published at each general election. This briefing contains extracts from the Policy Paper 42 Working For Success and the Policy Review Paper, Moving Ahead - Towards a Citizens' Britain. February 2001 Produced by the Policy Unit. Printed by Liberal Democrats, 4 Cowley Street, London SW1P 3NB Published and Promoted by Chris Rennard, 4 Cowley Street, London SW1P 3NB Working for Change