Education and business – key to addressing the UK skills gap

Mar 20 2008 By The Journal

TRAINING workers in basic skills will help tackle global warming, terrorism and violent crime. These were the words of Lord Jones, Minister of State for Trade and Investment, who recently visited Newcastle College’s new £8.6m employer training centre to give an inspirational address focusing on the Government Skills Agenda.

The event collectively brought together industry leaders through an exclusive “Skills Forum” with Lord Jones and provided an opportunity for senior decision makers from private and public sector organisations to gain an insight into the UK skills agenda, which calls upon employers to drive the promotion of skills to ensure that the UK remains economically competitive.

Lord Jones told delegates that the skills crisis was the biggest barrier to the UK having a successful 21st Century and he made a stirring call for all employers to release staff to enable them to gain basic skills through the Government-funded Train to Gain programme.

“Training institutions and businesses are our future – you are our future. If we can make sure that there is not one employer in this country that has not bothered to train their staff to Level Two – the equivalent of five A to C grade GCSEs – then everything will flow from that,” he said. “This fabulous country will have a great 21st Century.”

The event, supported by partners NStar, Business Link, UK Trade and Investment and Newcastle Gateshead Initiative, was held in Newcastle College’s new Sandyford Building, which focuses on offering courses and bespoke training programmes to the business community as well providing real working environments for apprenticeships.

Lord Jones continued: “Sandyford Building is a fantastic example of what colleges are investing in to ensure that the UK Skills Agenda is being met for all ages, and levels of qualification.”

At the event, businesses also heard an address from Jamie Martin, chair of governors for Newcastle College and managing partner of Ward Hadaway, who talked about the new centre as a hub for knowledge transfer, business innovation and growth for clients regionally and nationally.

“Leading-edge facilities and services like this can become drivers of economic growth as employers increasingly recognise the sound human and financial arguments for investing in their people,” said Mr Martin.

He also talked about the college’s recent success in achieving the ‘New Standard’ introduced by the Learning and Skills Council. This voluntary assessment framework recognises and celebrates the best organisations delivering training and development solutions to employers.

In addition, Mr Martin informed guests of the host of training schemes available to them through the college. These include apprenticeships – where training is offered on-the-job and students typically attend training one day per week, and Train to Gain, which is part of a Government scheme of fully-funded on-the-job training.

This flexible scheme is designed to fit around shift patterns or other commitments and helps businesses to get ahead of the competition through investing in their staff to improve skills.

Sarah Green, regional director, CBI North East, also talked to delegates about the Skills Pledge. The CBI is working closely with the regional Learning and Skills Council to encourage employers to sign up to the Skills Pledge.

In doing so, businesses commit to support all employees to develop their basic skills, including literacy and numeracy, and work towards relevant, valuable qualifications.

Newcastle College has already lent it its support by signing the pledge and is encouraging other companies and organisations to do so.

Gary Whitehead, director of business services at Newcastle College, said: “Newcastle College is committed to working with employers to develop the skill level of their employees in line with the Government’s Skills Agenda.

“We were delighted to host Lord Jones and gain first-hand knowledge of this important Government issue.

“We hope our guests found the Skills Forum interesting and informative and it left them inspired to take advantage of the opportunities that are available to them through the Skills Pledge.”

He added: “Our clients and partners are best placed to understand the skills that they need to develop in order to grow their businesses. Our approach is to help them close such ‘skill gaps’ in ways that are both effective and convenient for their business.

“In many cases we can help clients access funding to underpin their investment in staff development – a great example of this is the Government’s Train to Gain initiative, designed to help businesses grow their bottom line by growing their staff.

“This flexible scheme is designed to fit around shift patterns or other commitments and helps businesses to get ahead of the competition through investing in their staff to improve skills.

“Indeed as an organisation, we are keen to genuinely engage with employers and businesses, understanding what your needs are and building our development programmes and facilities around those needs.

“This includes looking at growth areas and new partnership opportunities which will allow us to compete and help employers develop their staff to world class standards.”

For more information about the training on offer at Newcastle College, call (0191) 200-4000.