A new report published by the DTI's Information Age Partnership urges Government, industry and education to work more closely together to help ensure the long term global competitiveness of the UK. The report, published to complement the European Commission’s i2010 report, stresses that the UK must foster a culture of continuous improvement in order to compete on the global stage.

Gordon Frazer, Managing Director, Microsoft Ltd and a member of the e-skills UK's IT & Telecoms Industry Board said:

"Skills are a vital component of personal and professional development. However, millions of people are still leaving school without the necessary skills to enter the workforce. Business, academia and government need to act now, or we will fail not just the current generation of school and university leavers but we will fail to provide the UK economy with the potential to attract and retain high-skill businesses in a fiercely competitive global market."

e-skills UK is a member of the Information Age Partnership and contributed to the report.

For further information or a copy of the report, 'Delivering i2010: Ensuring the Right Conditions for an Innovative, Inclusive and Competitive UK Knowledge Economy', please go to www.iapuk.org