It is more than ten years since ministers turned their attention in earnest to the country’s 388 further education colleges. “Lucky FE colleges,” many people might respond; but the White Paper, Further Education: Raising Skills, Improving Life Chances, published yesterday, is necessary. Often treated like the pre-ball Cinderella of the education system, FE colleges play a largely uncherished but important role in the lives of six million trainees, learners and self- improvers. As such they perform a useful social role. Increasingly, that is not enough.

The starting point for government thinking lies with two studies that paint an alarming picture of the nation’s skills gap. Sir Andrew Foster, the former head of the Audit Commission, concluded that Britain’s competitiveness required FE colleges to adopt a “crystal-clear” focus on skills. Lord Leitch, chairman of the National Employment Panel given the task by Gordon Brown to review the skills needs of the 2020 British workforce, said that the challenge was “daunting” and “urgent” when compared with tomorrow’s Chinese and Indian workers. Even achieving all the Government’s current targets for raising skills would still leave Britain no better than mediocre in the international rankings 15 years hence.

The record of FE colleges since 1997 looks good on paper. The number attending has increased by half to six million. Investment in colleges is up by 48 per cent. But it is the wider view that causes concern. More than a third of working-age adults lack a basic school-leaving qualification. One in six lacks the literacy skills expected of an eleven-year-old. Britain ranks 24th out of 29 developed nations regarding the proportion of young people remaining in school or training post-16. An expanding public sector apart, it is no wonder that UK productivity trails so many competitors.

The plethora of fascinating courses offered by the average FE college is impressive. And allowing reflective fifty-somethings to attend classes on critical thinking, healthy eating and flower arranging, heavily subsidised by the State, may be a mark of a generous nation. But faced with the economic challenges of the coming decades, such a level of generosity looks misguided. Furthermore, unless Britain hones its competitive edge, such generosity will become increasingly difficult to fund.

The thrust of the White Paper — that FE colleges should replace the “pleasure and leisure” approach with a “core economic mission” — is strategically correct. There are areas, though, in which it could be improved. Focusing narrowly on 19 to 25-year-olds will exclude many deserving of help. The fortysomething shift worker in a dead- end job who wants to improve himself for the sake of the economy and, most importantly, his family will face a doubling of fees. Ministers should also consider giving the private sector a bigger role. The raising of the school leaving age from 16 is also a legitimate subject for debate. The loss of some courses and higher charges for others may reduce the pleasure but will ensure that fewer young people are condemned to a lifetime of enforced leisure.