Government Employment Strategy

No, absolutely not. There are two issues. I do not know whether the hon. Gentleman was present when I talked about what Professor Ashton said earlier, but I said that I am not sure whether it is right for an employer to pick up the tab for what a school did not do—either under my Government or under this Government. That is what I am saying, quite bluntly. Frankly, the employee has a right—a duty from society—to be taught to read and count. It should have happened at school, but if it has not, we cannot ignore it and pretend that it has. There should be a right to it from the public purse. I am very wary of loading the cost on to employers, who could reasonably say, ““Why have I been paying corporation tax all these years to the Treasury to fund schools, when I have employees turning up who cannot read or count?”” On the issue of training that is useful to that employer, however, I am with the hon. Gentleman, because if the employer is going to benefit and profit from his business, it is right that he should pick up some of the tab.