“We are all educationists now,” she said. “We are creating a new welfare state stretching from the cradle to the grave.”

The Education Secretary said there were far too many National Training Organisations - 73 - and they had failed to impose themselves on business. Sector Skills Councils, created by business and for business, would replace them. These new councils will identify and close skills gaps. The 20 to 25 councils will be overseen by a new skills development agency.

The government was not going to be prescriptive, the Education Secretary said. But she did not expect every employment sector to have a council. Some would cover more than one sector.

“The time has come when skills development can no longer be optional, and training for skills should not be the first thing to go when a business is in difficulty. Every business, when it looks at its balance sheet, should look at how much has been invested in the workforce, and what productivity there has been as a result.”

Garry Hawkes, chairman of the NTO National Council, welcomed the changes. But he criticised the decision to name advanced vocational qualifications “vocational A-levels” because it pandered to middle class prejudice: “These courses should not be for the disaffected or the disadvantaged. Everybody should take something vocational. There should not be a separate route. We need people to take a mix of qualifications.”

David Sherlock, of the Adult Learning Inspectorate, said the streamlining was necessary. “The capability gap between the best and the worst NTOs has been too wide to give industry a consistently strong voice in learning. The flagship Modern Apprenticeship schemes have suffered as a result. The Sector Skills Development Agency will give a real boost to trainer training, the weakness at the root of under-performance in work-based training.”