A question of skills

You may or may not be among those who find Mr Brown's government trying, but you would be hard put to suggest that on the matter of Britain's infamous skills gaps, and the filling thereof, that it wasn't trying hard to help. That's not to say, of course, that it's meeting with total approbation from the manufacturing community itself nor from those charged with delivering and administrating the systems and infrastructure that define the aid effort. There remain, for example, concerns about the complexity of the skills system. Chris Humphries, chairman of the UK Commission for Employment & Skills told HR magazine last month: "... it worries the hell out of me. Most would agree that too many admin and funding organisations come between those who provide skills help and the employers who need it most ...at the last count there were 17 separate overseeing organisations in the further education sector alone. There is a real sense they don't add the value the public would hope for. Anyone looking in from outside must rightly be wondering - because I am - what do these layers cost, and what is finally spent on the ground." Humphries says that any nation designing a skills advisory and funding service, would not build one like the UK has now. He continues: "The biggest problem with this country is that all of these bodies are desperate to give a new name to an old problem as the way of solving it. All the skills bodies seem frantic to come up with a 'skills diagnostic' or a 'skills audit' or a 'skills map'. Even the 25 sector skills councils do their own versions of it. Business doesn't care about this. It just wants to know where they can get the skills training they need." The complexity conundrum is one that Skills Minister David Lammy sees as being largely addressed by the government's flagship Train to Gain service. "Just one call to the Train to Gain helpline gives employers access to an impartial and independent skills broker to help them identify their skills needs," he counters, adding that this straightforward route leads to the availability of training from a range of services, including local education institutions and publicly or privately funded training providers. This could mean a formal certified training programme or, for others, a coach or mentor to help businesses improve the way they manage staff. However, Lammy admits that not everyone has got the message. "We have still not persuaded every employer of the importance of skills," he concedes. "A third still don't train their staff. In other organisations training does not involve everyone. The employers who do not train run real risks with their businesses. We need to find new ways to bring the drive for skills into every workplace and to every worker which is why we are consulting on a new right for workers to request time to train, which could benefit some 300,000 workers. Managers should see this as an opportunity to ingrain a culture of learning, in which staff are empowered to - and expected to - explore ways in which they can improve performance at work." To help spread the word and "encourage every business to start talking to its workers about the benefits to be gained through training to improve their skills", the Minister points to a new document published jointly with the CBI, TUC and DBERR. Called It's Time to Talk Training, it shows how a number of large and small employers, across a range of sectors, have used a variety of methods to engage with their workers about investing in skills. "We want to use the publication, and our proposals on 'time to train' to inspire employers and employees alike to new achievements," he explains. And that may well be so, although Pablo Lloyd, deputy chief executive of the Train to Gain scheme's largest provider, Learn Direct, the over expansion of skills providers - and the creation of courses that do not equip staff with what business really needs - is one of the areas where government skills money is being wasted. "So far, the government's £3 billion investment in skills has not been sufficient to test just how much dead wood there is in the provision of courses," he told HR last month. "There are 20,000 different qualifications in the skills world, but there is not enough checking of them. The less visibility there is for employers to make informed, educated choices about the standard of courses out there, the less likely they are able to see which are the quality ones." David Lammy would appear not to agree, and quotes plenty of statistics to back up his case. "Employers who have engaged with the Train to Gain service since it was rolled out nationally in 2006 have reported a range of benefits from their engagement with the service, which provides high quality, responsive vocational skills training for employers," he says. His figures tell him that 83% of employers who have engaged with Train to Gain cited improved self-confidence of trainees, 64% cited improved long-term competitiveness, 51% reported some increase in staff productivity, and 42% reported an impact on the bottom line. Employers want training services that are flexible enough to be used when and where they want them," Lammy says. "In expanding Train to Gain, we've listened closely to the business community to ensure we've met their needs - in particular in designing an enhanced management training service. I hope that employers will respond by making full use of the opportunity to improve their staff leadership credentials, and to get their staff trained up to deliver real growth." And he adds: "To really succeed in an increasingly competitive climate, every business needs to get the best from their employees; highly skilled employees, who are encouraged to innovate, are good for the bottom line. Despite the financial pressures they face, no business manager can afford to cut corners on training - either for their employees, or themselves." That's why, he says, the government is projected to spend a total of £5.3 billion by 2010-11 in making adult learning a priority through schemes like Train to Gain and through apprenticeships. By way of example, Lammy points to the £65 million being allocated to help science, engineering and manufacturing technologies, and £62 million for the processing industries. In return for this funding, the sector skills councils Semta and Proskills will use their sector understanding to encourage employers to take advantage of the government initiatives and to offer more apprenticeships. Lammy explains that government support will be tailored to meet employers' specific skills needs. Part of the Train to Gain budget will now be available specifically to train those employees who already hold GCSE or A-level equivalent qualifications (Level 2 and Level 3) but who need more specific, or more up-to-date, business qualifications. There will also be more funding for specialist skills training, marketing and recruitment. "As part of the shake-up, we are also talking to business leaders to discuss what more can be done to ensure the supply of skilled labour matches the emerging skills gaps in key sectors of tomorrow's economy," he says. "Overall, we've hugely increased funding for Train to Gain to support employers of all sizes and in all sectors to improve the skills of their employees as a route to improving their business performance. This massive extension of the scheme, rising to £1 billion in 2010/11, will enable all employers to access specialist skills brokerage to identify and then meet their training needs."