Nearly a quarter (23%) of UK firms say they are dissatisfied with the numeracy and literacy of school leavers, according to the CBI annual survey of employment trends published on September 6.
UK companies invest about £23.5bn a year on training, with much of this spent on remedial work to make up for deficiencies in state education. Skills shortages are having a “significant” or “severe” impact on business, according to nearly a third (30%) of firms, with the worst hit sectors being construction and professional services such as accountancy and legal consultancy. The CBI research, covering 940 companies employing around 3.5m people, shows that demand for well-qualified people is set to grow, with nearly half (47%) of firms expecting to take on more graduates. Nearly a third (29%) say they will recruit fewer unqualified people over the next three years. Interesting to note is the appointment of CBI director general, Digby Jones, to the Learning and Skills Council, the government funded agency responsible for all post-16 education and training outside universities chaired by Bryan Sanderson, former group managing director of BP. Contact Roger Davidson, CBI, on 020 7395 8091 (http://www.cbi.org.uk)
UK employers in the construction and manufacturing sectors are to become more involved in tackling their industries’ skills shortage, following the establishment of two new sector skills councils in these areas. There are currently five national SSCs. Replacing the network of national training organisations, these are independent, business-led organisations that cover areas as diverse as audio-visual and land-based industries to the retail and petrochemical sectors. The two new councils were announced at the opening of the national headquarters of the co-ordinating body, the Sector Skills Development Agency, on September 25. Contact Tom Bewick, SSDA, on 01709 765437 (http://www.ssda.org.uk)
Skill shortage vacancies in professional occupations have increased since 1999, with over one in five employers now reporting an internal skills gap. The construction, health and social care sectors face a particular shortage of qualified workers. The figures, published in the latest Employers’ Skill Survey on September 18, coincide with the start of a government-backed tour to promote employer involvement in tackling regional skill shortages. The results of the tour will form part of a national skills strategy and delivery plan to be published by the government in the spring.
Meanwhile, a separate study – the London Skills Survey 2001, published on August 15 – reveals that nine out of ten workers in the capital are employed in the service sector, compared to about seven out of ten in the country as a whole. Contact DfES on 0870 000 2288 (http://www.dfes.gov.uk); Mike Fenton, Learning & Skills Council, on 0845 019 4144 (http://www.lsc.gov.uk)
Women are to get help to return to science, engineering and technology jobs after taking time out to have children. Announced on September 13, the new programme will offer businessbased training and work experience, as part of a wider government-funded initiative that enables business to access the skills and resources of high quality graduates through knowledge transfer projects. Known as TCS, the scheme has already brokered hundreds of partnerships, such as those between Corus and the University of Manchester Science and Technology, and the Hydro Group and Aberdeen University. Contact TCS on 01367 245 200 (http://www.tcsonline.org.uk)
The Prince’s Trust is to invest £5m in a new three-year programme which will focus on young people leaving school with poor academic qualifications. The youth charity plans to extend its network of school clubs, offering a personal development curriculum to students facing difficulties at school, thereby hoping to double the number of young people it assists to 12,000 per year in 600 schools by 2005.
Other plans announced on August 20 include hosting SkillCity, a four-day event in Manchester this November. The event aims to inform young people about vocational skills and training options. The Royal Bank of Scotland is the Trust’s principal commercial sponsor, providing a three year £3.7m package of support for projects such as Route 14/25, which offers a one-stop shop for young people who lack opportunity. Contact Clare Winterton, Prince’s Trust, on 020 7543 1348 (http://www.princes-trust.org.uk)
COMMENT:
Yet another attempt is being made by government to involve business in training schemes to tackle the continuing national skills shortage scandal. Will this one work any better than the last?
With the launch of sector skills councils (SSCs), the final pieces of the new national training framework are being put in place. This represents the present government’s rewriting of the skills shortage route map, having abolished the previous government’s efforts – which, for all their faults, did try to rope in business through training and enterprise councils (TECs) and national training organisations (NTOs). Despite the rhetoric that learning and skills councils (LSCs) and SSCs are “business-led”, in reality it is a centrally directed solution, but without trusting the mainstream civil service in government departments to get on with the job. Hence, the alphabet soup of quangos.
Community affairs and corporate social responsibility managers can be forgiven for being utterly bemused, if not downright confused.
What should the socially responsible company do? First, continue to invest (huge sums, as the CBI survey shows) in the skills of its own employees, both for the immediate job and for their long term ’employability’. Second, in response to the nation’s on-going educational failings, continue helping the next generation through partnerships with schools. That means driving up attainment overall – nearly half still fail to gain a GCSE grade C or better in English and maths – and helping stop a minority from falling out of the system completely, as the Prince’s Trust is doing.
Third, for the current generation of workers, try to support the LSCs: it remains a scandal that seven million adults in the UK cannot read and write to the standard expected of an 11 year old. And fourth – new for some – work within your industry: this is where the ‘rubber really hits the road’. Sectors such as construction, hotels and catering report difficulties in getting staff, while unemployment remains at historically high levels even in a region as apparently prosperous as London.
Community affairs departments usually take the lead on schools liaison, public affairs on government appeals for quango appointments, leaving HR to worry about the rest. Forward thinking companies should now have a joined-up strategy that can integrate all the elements.
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