There are ambitious plans to advance the Sussex workforce to a place among the most skilled in the world.

This is the plan of the man heading the newly-formed Learning and Skills Council (LSC) in Brighton.

Dr Norman Boyland, LSC executive chairman, said failure to improve training would mean Sussex firms would not be able to compete with other regions or countries.

By 2004, the LSC aims to raise the proportion of 16-year-olds staying on at school until 18 by five per cent to 80 per cent.

The longer-term aim is to ensure by 2010 England has a workforce matching the best for knowledge and productivity.

In its first corporate plan, the LSC, with a budget of £116 million in Sussex for the current financial year, will also improve the reading, writing and maths skills of thousands of adults.

Across the UK, seven million adults are said to be functionally illiterate.

Dr Boyland, who formerly headed the board of Sussex Enterprise, said turning the situation around would be no easy task.

He said: "We are working with schools and colleges to improve the range and quality of post-16 education. But I want to be clear targets alone will not get us to where we need to be."

"To achieve results, we need to work together with people from all sections of society in a systematic way to deliver at a national, local and sectoral level.

"There has to be a change in the mind-set of employers, adults and young people.

"The evidence is clear: Productive learning changes lives and keeps economies buoyant.

"If, as a nation, we fail to meet these targets we will not be able to compete internationally.That is why we are taking action now.

"Our ultimate goal is, by 2010 young people and adults in Sussex will have the knowledge and productive skills matching the best in the world."

Education and Skills Secretary Estelle Morris said the LSC's targets were tough but realistic. She said: "The challenge is huge. We need to encourage more young people to stay in learning, increase demand for learning among adults and improve the skills of our workforce."

Her comments followed a report from the Adult Learning Inspectorate (ALI) which criticised the lack of co-ordination between schools, colleges and training providers.

Poor communication between the organisations meant there was an ever-renewing core of 150,000 who stopped learning and became jobless aged 16.