State of the Region: Leaders tackle skills agenda

RETAINING talented graduates and providing training to meet local employers’ needs, are key to future success of the regional economy, business leaders say.

Skills issues are consistently one of the major concerns for businesses and was again in TheBusinessDesk.com’s annual State of the Region survey as one of respondents’ challenges for 2014.

Damian Waters, regional director of CBI in the North West said: “The region is very successful in exporting graduates, but the challenge is to create the opportunities here for them, rather than seeing them move to London, or anywhere else.

“It is important too to match skills to the talent pool, and some parts of the region, such as Cumbria, really do struggle.”

Barry Nightingale, chief financial officer of betting giant BetFred Group said there are skills issues within Greater Manchester.

“Our company’s technical team based in Wigan does struggle to recruit, whereas down the road in Manchester, where we have 40 graduates developing mobile apps has no such problems, so much so, that we are thinking of moving the team to Manchester.”

Mike Blackburn, regional director at BT and chairman of the Greater Manchester Local Enterprise Partnership, said Manchester was looking to set its own agenda on skills to meet the needs of employers in future growth sectors for the next 20 years.

He said while a local approach is important to determine how the £2bn which gets spent in Greater Manchester in the best way, businesses have a responsibility to reach out to children in schools and showcase opportunities.

“People think about construction as labouring, digging and plastering, not about design, sales and marketing, in the same way that they think that Marks & Spencer is about stacking shelves, not buying, merchandising and recruiting people.

“While business organisations have a role to play in working with colleges to make sure there are the right courses for the skills we need – it’s up to businesses to do more with schools, and to change the language they use to engage with kids.”

Dr Martin Ashcroft from Tata Chemicals Europe, said while at the graduate end of recruitment there are challenges as many science graduates are being wooed by careers in accounting, the law and other professions, apprenticeships are becoming more popular.

“I have been really impressed by the quality of the young people we have had through our apprenticeship programme, and also over the years we’ve been running it, I’ve noticed attitudes changing too as it is seen as a credible alternative to university, rather than a poorer option.”

Mike Burns, employment partner at DLA Piper, sponsor of the State of the Region Survey said: “The recent surge in job creation across the region has left many employers struggling to fill roles with suitable candidates.

“Both the creative and construction sectors in the North West have been hit by the skills shortages and this is set to continue into 2014. Add to this the increase ‘brain drain’ of young qualified UK professionals moving abroad to work and the concerns about future skills shortages are increasingly prevalent.”