News: Performance Management
Training needed for 'British jobs for British people'
15 November 2007
Gordon Brown wishes to provide "British jobs for British people", but a shortage of workforce skills could hinder this.
In fact, if in-house customer service training, contract law training, and other kinds of training are not carried out, the UK could fall behind.
Now the Confederation of British Industry (CBI) has warned that British people need to be made more employable if they are to have jobs. It said that people on sickness benefit need to be offered support, and that those with low skill levels need training.
John Cridland, the group's deputy director general, said: "The success of the prime minister's exhortations to employ Britons is dependent on action to make them more employable.
"If the quality isn't high enough then no business can or should be expected to choose second best."
Recommendations put forward by the CBI include seven-year contracts for welfare-to-work providers, to allow for more staff development; and for the Department for Work and Pensions to improve its commercial capacity and equip its staff with the necessary procurement and contract management skills.
