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25 March 2019

Co-operation and co-ordination between education providers and businesses was the topic of disucssion at the recent Wirral Chamber of Commerce 'In Business' event hosted at Birkenhead School.

Birkenhead School recently hosted the Wirral Chamber of Commerce 'In Business' event.  Attended by over 80 leading business people, the event featured presentations targeting areas of concern in addressing the Skills Gap within the region.

Mark Basnett (Liverpool City Region LEP) identified that for businesses across the region the skills gap is one of the biggest barriers to growth, and that being unable to effectively recruit has negative impacts on growth, customer service and emotional wellbeing of existing workers. “Students are struggling with the transition from education to employment and this is reflected in low employment rates for 16 – 24 years olds. The question we need to ask is how do we improve on that? Our response is crucial to the future economic success of the region and our workforce.”

Joining the discussion, Mr Vicarsspoke of the School's commitment to open up a broader avenue of access to further education and the need to change perceptions of the apprenticeship programme. “Modern apprenticeships have changed greatly and provide a direct route into the widest range of careers, including areas such as law, accountancy and engineering. What perhaps is missing from the apprenticeship equation is a centralised one-stop shop to coordinate and administrate employers and applicants.”

This view was echoed by Damian Burdin (Progress to Excellence Ltd) who focused on the Apprenticeship Levy, he said, “The Apprenticeship Levy raises around £2.5bn annually to be spent on training apprentices and also allows contributors to share their funds with smaller businesses in their supply chain. By re-utilising levy underspend we can build a better skilled workforce and keep those workers employed locally to the benefit of the economy. Any business that feels they have unspent funds and want to find out more can contact Wirral Chamber of Commerce to discuss methods of gifting levy underspend.”  

Chris Finn of Liverpool John Moores University explained how the university is building partnerships with industry that will work for both students and employers. Employers can contribute to course design and to create students who are better skilled and more ready for the workplace.

Joanne Finnerty (JF Recruitment) agreed, saying that many CVs received do not contain details of any work experience, emphasising that this can be a differentiator between candidates with similar academic qualifications, “Work experience on a CV is important, many candidates have excellent academic records and commendable results but employers want to see that work experience that shows candidates have relevant life skills and work ethic to ease them into a job role.”

Clearly the issues raised highlight the importance of a co-ordinated and centralised approach to the way forward and it is key that we must focus joint efforts on a structured and targeted focus in taking positive actions and closing the skills gap.

The full article can be viewed on the Wirral Chamber of Commerce website at: http://www.wirralchamber.co.uk/Press-and-PR/Chamber-Blog/How-do-we-plug-the-Skills-Gap---full-report-1/