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Companies should pay for immigrant workers to learn English, Hazel Blears said yesterday.
The Communities Secretary told MPs that legislation may be considered if negotiations with organisations benefiting from overseas labour failed to reach agreement on voluntary contributions toward lessons.
Language skills have been made a central plank of the Government's immigration policy, with anyone intending to stay more than a short time expected to learn English.
But there is a big demand on the present £300 million budget for teaching English as a second language, Miss Blears said.
"I feel quite strongly that employers should be taking a significantly bigger role in helping to fund some of the essential English language classes," she said.
"The Department for Innovation, Universities and Skills [DIUS] are very keen to say to employers: 'Look, you are getting the benefit of some of these people coming in and doing the jobs, working hard, making you more productive; you have got a responsibility to make a contribution to the costs of learning English and to do much more of it on site, in a more flexible way'.
"I think that's the way forward."
Asked if companies could be made to pay, she said: "DIUS are currently in dialogue with employers and they hope they will get a positive response. I don't think they have ruled out the possibility of legislation if absolutely necessary."
Employers' groups said they would "strongly oppose" plans to force companies to pay for language training.
Susan Anderson, the director of HR policy at the CBI, said: "Forcing firms to pay for language lessons for migrant workers would be strongly opposed as this would not recognise employers' individual circumstances and would not necessarily be the best use of their resources.
"Migrant workers have brought many benefits to the UK and employers are committed to helping them integrate and thrive in the workplace. Many employers help with the costs of English classes and see the advantages of doing so, particularly on morale, staff turnover and productivity."
Sally Low, the director of policy at the British Chambers of Commerce, said: "Legislation that forces businesses to fund migrants' language lessons seems extremely unfair.
"Migrants have protected the economy from the more damaging effects of a skills shortage and the majority of businesses have only used them because of the inherent failings of the UK's education system."
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