Invest in skills or face a bleak future
01/07/2007
Invest in skills or face a bleak future; that was the warning from Lord Leitch in his government-backed review of skills in the UK last year. Said Lord Leitch: ‘Without increased skills, we could condemn ourselves to a lingering decline in competitiveness, diminishing economic growth and a bleaker future for all. The case for action is compelling and urgent.’
The Chamber has long recognised that skills are at the heart of making Bedfordshire and Luton truly competitive. Comments Richard Lacy, Chief Executive of the Chamber:
'Over the last decade there has been a huge emphasis on academic qualifications and getting as many young people into university as possible. That's fine but the downside is that vocational skills have effectively become the 'Cinderellas' of education. We are now seeing that this was a mistake as there are marked skills shortages among our indigenous workforce, while businesses are crying out for people with the skills they need.'
Adds Mr Lacy:
'As a Chamber we've highlighted this problem again and again, lobbying hard for vocational skills to be afforded greater status. But it's equally important that we are part of the solution and we are doing this through a number of schemes that we deliver alongside our partners.'
'Our highly experienced project team has been hard at work bidding for and winning contracts that will make a real difference to skills and business competitiveness in Bedfordshire, Luton and beyond.'
Skills that mean business: Small and medium sized enterprises are at the heart of a competitive local economy but few people are born with all the skills to be a successful entrepreneur. That's why the Chamber is involved in two schemes to help people start and run their own businesses. Active Entrepreneurs helps businesses gain the skills they need to increase their competitiveness. Business owners can benefit from free one-to-one advice with an experienced business advisor while they and their employees can attend free training courses on a variety of topics, from report writing to Excel. Meanwhile Inactive Entrepreneurs is aimed at those thinking of starting their own business. Open to anyone out of employment, in 6th form or further education, the scheme offers free one-one start-up advice and a series of workshops that cover all aspects of starting your own business.
Skills for sustainable communities: We all want to live in great places that effectively meet our needs but it takes a great deal of skill to create and develop these places. That's why this scheme has been devised to give individuals, in sectors as diverse as community work and business representation to architecture and planning, the key skills to build communities that genuinely work for everyone.
Skills to do the best job: Train to Gain helps businesses improve productivity and competitiveness by making sure employees have the right skills to do the best job.
Train to Gain's team of Skills Brokers offer an impartial, free and independent skills needs analysis to help identify the skills a business needs now and in the future. The brokers can help businesses to recognise where training needs occur in the business across a range of skills areas, from life skills (basic literacy and numeracy training) to job-specific training and more advanced skills. The Train to Gain Skills Brokers help businesses choose the best ways to pay for training, identifying any funding available and advising where a business might have to pay for training itself. Once training begins, the brokers continue to support businesses, evaluating the effectiveness of training and ensuring that businesses are getting best value.
Skills for the future: Creating a workforce of young people with the right skills is key to the economic success of UK Plc. Apprenticeships provide business with the opportunity to develop youngsters with exactly the skills their company needs. Meanwhile the young person earns while they learn, gaining skills that genuinely meet the needs of employers as they work towards NVQs.
Skills to take you anywhere: Pathways to Skills Transfer is a two-year project aimed at helping employers and employees in the construction sector across the European Union (EU) compare qualifications. With 50,000 houses to be built in Bedfordshire and Luton over the next decade and worrying skills gaps in the construction sector, there is an urgent need for qualified construction personnel. Pathways to Skills Transfer aims to enable construction employers to take on individuals from EU countries without concern about the status of their qualifications. The scheme will provide opportunities for UK construction workers who should be able to seamlessly transfer their construction qualifications to other EU states.
