Skills strategy 'has business growth at its heart'

Business and employment groups have welcomed the Government's new skills strategy, which pledges to "invest strategically", despite the cuts announced in the Spending Review.

According to the British Chambers of Commerce (BCC), the strategy "has business growth at its heart", and will improve SME access to the kind of workforce they need to drive the growth of the economy in coming years.

"Business has been crying out for more responsiveness - and for the Government to help fund leadership and management skills for small company owners, who often need this help in order to grow," BCC Director of Policy Dr Adam Marshall said.
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However, he added that the true test of the Government's policy will be whether the strategies "help local businesses in towns and cities across the UK".

And the British Retail Consortium hailed the strategy as reducing bureaucracy and giving businesses more control over their employees' skills, with greater support for in-house training.

According to Business Secretary Vince Cable, the strategy aims to stimulate sustainable growth by "addressing current failings in skills training".

Dr Cable acknowledged that "we are not in a position to throw money at the problem", though promised an expansion of the apprenticeship programme.

The skills reform pledges that 200,000 adults will be able to start an apprenticeship by 2014-15. This is 75,000 more than the plans put forward under Labour, the Government says. In addition, it promises to continue free courses for those who left school without basic reading, writing and mathematics skills.

The Government also says that the Train to Gain initiative - which gives vocational training to employees, primarily over the age of 25 - will be replaced by a programme focused on SMEs, allowing them to train low-skilled staff.

However, despite welcoming the strategy, the TUC warned of the potential damage done by cuts to training funding.

General Secretary Brendan Barber said: "At a time when UK employers are still putting far too little money into training their staff, cuts to the funding of courses which adults can currently access for free will force many more employees who want to get on at work to fund their own training."

Unemployment levels falling - for now
Meanwhile, figures released by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) this week show a slight fall in the unemployment level.

Falling by 9,000 over the three months to September, overall unemployment nevertheless remained at 2.45 million, according to the ONS.

Despite acknowledging that unemployment levels are likely to see "temporary" increases over the next 18 months as the impact from the Government's austerity measures take effect, BCC chief economist David Kern said the figures "do offer hope".

"The private sector is now creating new jobs," he added.

IMAGE Rui Vieira/PA Wire


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