Leading education policy makers are to face questions from Bradford's business community on a range of topics including the poor levels of numeracy and literacy among school leavers.

The Learning and Skills Council (LSC) is hosting a Question Time-style debate on the skill levels of workers nationwide.

James Naughtie, presenter of the Radio 4 Today programme, will host the debate at the Abundant Life Centre in the city.

Among those facing questions next Monday from 1pm are Margaret Coleman and David Way of the LSC and Yorkshire Forward chief executive Tom Riordan.

Poor literacy and numeracy among school leavers will top the list of questions from Bradford's business community.

Richard Wightman, president of the Bradford Chamber, said: "This event can help convey what the LSC is doing to meet its responsibilities for raising skill levels and meeting business needs.

"Members have commented on how the LSC sometimes struggles to communicate with business, while the business community also has a role to play in articulating what we want the organisation to do. The event can be seen as a step towards that happening.

"Requirements in business, as elsewhere, vary depending on several factors including the sector, but basic numeracy and literacy, presentation and communication in the workplace - the so-called soft skills - and ICT are most frequently cited."

School leavers' poor skills were also flagged up as a concern by the Federation of Small Businesses.

Chris Glen, policy chairman in Yorkshire, said: "The biggest problem small business have is that quite often we have people coming out of school and full-time education who do not have the basic English and maths skills that are needed.

"For some small businesses, sending staff away for training is very difficult. If you only employ three people and need to send one away for a class then that is a third of the workforce.

"We would like to see more skills training done locally so staff are away from work for a couple of hours rather than a couple of days."

e-mail: mark.casci@bradford.newsquest.co.uk