The House of Commons Innovation, Universities, Science and Skills select committee report said that those it spoke to described the current training system as complex and hard to understand, despite the pledges of Gordon Brown following the 2006 Leitch Review to improve the way training is handled.

The report claimed the system of interlinked public bodies, funding sources and rules is too complicated for most businesses to understand saying that practitioners had called for simplification.

Lord Leitch's original review of skills, published in 2006, recommended that firms sign a voluntary pledge to train their staff to Level 2 – the equivalent of five GCSEs at grades A-C.

At the time, the government called for a "skills revolution", recommending that individuals and employers take more responsibility for improving their own skill sets and qualifications, working through Sector Skills Councils (SSCs).

And in November last year, the government committed £1bn to the flagship Train to Gain initiative – an impartial training advice service accessed through the Learning and Skills Council (LSC).

The intention was to increase apprenticeships with employers expected to go through their SSC, which would broker the funding.

However the current report brands the system too complex: "We heard pleas from practitioners for simplification. We challenge the government to recognise that no-one's interests are accommodated if users cannot use the system because they do not understand it.

"The current economic situation has raised the stakes: skills policy could be the key factor which determines how and when the UK economy recovers and grows."

Terry Watts, chief executive of Proskills, said; "It's the role of the SSCs to help employers within their industry to simplify the process of accessing training funding. 

"Indeed, it's our job to guide businesses within our sector through this process to make the existing system deliver against employer needs, enabling them to benefit from the £4bn a year that the current government is committing to adult skills training. 

"SSCs are part of the solution to the issues of complexity and inaccessibility being raised by the MPs. We are the door that companies should be knocking on in order to access the right training provision and the available funding."

Ruth Exelby, head of BPIF training, said: "There are mixed opinions on Train to Gain depending on which sector you talk to. Print is difficult to deal with because there are a large number of small employers as opposed to a few companies to convince.

"Proskills was setup to champion skills in the sector, employers should go there for guidance."

However, Technoprint managing director Mark Snee, said that the government had "screwed up" on its pledges.

He said: "We had a great apprenticeship programme running at Technoprint until, in 2003, the Learning and Skills Council West Yorkshire, decided it would only work with training providers who had 50 or more learners.

"How does Brown think he can improve the country's skills levels when his quangos won't even talk to SMEs? They want to be able to do big deals with Sainsbury's and Tesco and McDonald's to create 10,000 apprenticeships in one big bang."