Leitch Report

In 2004 the Government (Labour) commissioned Sandy Leitch to undertake an independent review of the UK's long-term skills needs.

An interim report called the "Skills in the UK: the long-term challenge" was published in December 2005, with the final report called 'Prosperity for all in the global economy - world class skills' being published a year later in December 2006.

Leitch, S. (2006) Leitch Review of Skills. Prosperity for all in the global economy - world class skills. Final report', HMSO
The Review identified that the UK needed to "urgently raise achievements at all levels of skills", recommending that it become a world leader in skills by 2020.

To achieve this target the UK skill base would need to double in 14 years, which would be a considerable achievement for any country.

By 2022 this had still not been achieved, even with further reviews such as The Richard Review of Apprenticeships (2012), which proposed improvements in the quality of apprenticeships, with more emphasis on employer needs and the Sainsbury Review ‘Post-16 skills plan and independent report on technical education’ (2016), which proposed the introduction of technical level qualifications, and these have been implemented as T Levels from 2020.

Richard review
Sainsbury Review