The Scottish Government last night welcomed the so-called "McJobs" approach to qualifications now being adopted in England, pointing out that an in-house means of acquiring tailored skills and training had been the policy among Scotland's employers for years.

As part of the UK Government's drive to increase the employability of people, Gordon Brown yesterday set out a three-pronged approach to expanding the workforce: increasing the number of apprenticeships, introducing a skills test for the unemployed and allowing companies such as McDonald's, Flybe and Network Rail to introduce their own qualifications.

The Qualifications and Curriculum Authority, the exams watchdog in England, said all three firms had been given "awarding body status", equivalent to A-levels.

The Prime Minister denied what has been described as "A-levels in Big Mac management" as dumbing down qualifications. He said: "If McDonald's do it, it's not that the standard is going to fall. In fact, it's going to be a tough course but once you have got a qualification in management, you can probably go anywhere."

He added: "That is the important thing: companies prepared to train people up which they weren't doing before in the way that we want them to do in a far greater number, so that people have the qualifications for the future."

However, Mike Haggerty of the Scottish Qualifications Authority (SQA) told The Herald it was "business as usual" for Scotland in providing such in-house qualifications. He pointed out that the Scottish Credit and Qualifications Framework (SCQF), under which in-house qualifications are rated to an SQA level, had been operating for four years and provided a "robustness", bringing standards up to a national level, which employers and employees could have confidence in.

Mr Haggerty said such in-house qualifications covered many areas of work, from the North Sea oil and gas companies to tourism and legal services.

Last night, a spokeswoman for the Scottish Government also stressed that the approach now being adopted in England had been up and running north of the border for some time. "We in Scotland have been taking this type of approach for a number of years and some employers have already taken advantage of the opportunity. As such, we would actively encourage McDonald's, Flybe, and Network Rail to make contact with the SCQF."

She explained how the framework was now embedded in Scottish education and training and covered thousands of SQA and Higher Education qualifications. It already allocated credit for learning and supported the transfer of this credit to other learning programmes.

Employers who have already placed their in-house training programmes under the framework standard include South Lanarkshire Council, the Scottish Prison Service College, the Scottish Fire Services College, the Chartered Management Institute, and the Chartered Institute of Bankers Scotland. Non-traditional learning awards on offer in schools and colleges have also been placed within the SCQF, including Youth Scotland's Youth Achievement Awards and the European Computer Driving Licence.

"The Scottish Government is working with the SQA, the SCQF Partnership, and the network of Sector Skills Councils in Scotland to ensure that the SCQF is responsive to employer needs," added the spokeswoman.

Earlier, in a speech to a business conference in London, Mr Brown signalled his determination to use businesses and volunteers alongside state agencies as part of a "carrot and stick" approach to tackling unemployment. To stop benefits becoming a way of life, would-be claimants would be forced to have a skills test and then either matched with a job or offered retraining.

He explained how there was now a global "skills race" and the number of unskilled jobs in the UK would plummet. Consequently, to prevent young people moving on to welfare, one in five under-21s should be undertaking an apprenticeship within a decade.

He also signalled a tougher regime of sanctions against the unemployed if they refused help to improve their skills.