inform
SOUTH WEST BUSINESS NEWS
Skills shortage hampers region’s business growth
Skills shortages are one of the most frequently reported barriers to business growth in the West of England, according to the West of England Local Enterprise Partnership. This statement is backed by
Firm is building charity links
Bristol-based Kellaway Building Supplies has continued its support of community improvement charity Bristol Noise. The Noise is committed to serving in urban estate communities in Bristol by partnering with community members, workers, organisations, and churches, to help meet real and local needs. 2018 sees the projects
expanding into different areas of Bristol including Knowle West, Hartcliffe, Whitchurch, Stockwood, Brislington, Hengrove and Bedminster and also further into east Bristol to include Kingswood, St George and Longwell Green. Chris Richardson from
Bristol Noise said: “Kellaway have been a big supporter of ours over the past few years and generously provide materials enabling us to make a real difference to community. Without the support of local business, such as Kellaway, we wouldn’t be able to achieve the amount that we have, we are so grateful for the support.” Alex Priddle, marketing manager at Kellaway Building Supplies, said: “We are delighted to support the excellent work that Bristol Noise organise to better the communities across Bristol. Bristol is our home city and our staff and customers benefit from the work that the Noise complete, and moreover, it helps the city of Bristol be a great place to live and work.”
10 insight JULY/AUGUST 2018
results from Business West’s 2017 Business Skills and Training Survey, with 52% of businesses who tried to recruit in the previous 12 months finding it difficult to fill vacancies and 68.5% blaming a low number of applicants with the required skills and qualifications. In order for the economy to grow, skills within our workforce need to be drastically improved at a regional and national level. “The skills shortage is prevalent across the country and this, coupled with our low unemployment rate in the West of England, can mean businesses really struggle to recruit the right staff for now and in the future,” explained Nicky Williams, head of skills at Business West. “We need to make sure businesses understand all of the recruitment and training options available to them and make an effort to work with education providers to ensure future training provision is relevant to their needs.”
exactly what specific challenges businesses are facing in each of their sectors and as a whole.” With this in mind, Business West
Apprenticeships can be a great
‘Apprenticeships can be a great solution to help
skills gaps in your business’
solution to help skills gaps in your business with various types available, but with over 50% of businesses claiming they had no knowledge of the Apprenticeship Levy, 64.9% saying they had never used an apprentice in their business and lack of time being cited as the main reason for not doing so, there still seems to be a long way to go in educating businesses about the funding and options available. Nicky continued:
“The aim of the Skills West programme is to help
close the skills gaps and challenges in the region by providing a collaborative platform for business and training providers to work together. We want to ensure workforce skill levels are fit for the challenges of the future and the starting point for this is knowing
has recently launched its 2018 Business Skills and Training Survey which gives businesses across the West of England an unprecedented opportunity to help shape the upcoming skills agenda of the region, enabling them to overcome longstanding recruitment issues and plan for the future. The survey, which only takes 10 minutes to complete, delves deeper into the skills, training and recruitment needs of all sizes of businesses, gathering intelligence that will help feed into the overall West of England Skills Strategy and ensure that education and training provision in the region is relevant to business needs. It is open to businesses in the
Bristol, Bath & North East Somerset, North Somerset and South Gloucestershire areas and is easily completed online by visiting
www.smartsurvey.co.uk/s/insight18 As part of Business West, Skills
West provides impartial skills advice to businesses across the West of England. A team of business skills advisers can offer advice on a range of topics from apprenticeships and funding to where to find the most relevant training for your staff.
Visit:
www.businesswest.co.uk/skills ... so invest in future workforce
With skills shortages so prevalent, it makes sense to invest in the future workforce to try and alleviate this problem in years to come. Businesses across the West of England have been getting involved in trying to overcome this issue by pledging to support the future of skills in the region through Business West’s Skills West programme. “People entering the workplace often lack the skills
they need to be successful”, explained Julia Gurr, employability coordinator at Business West. “This can sometimes come down to a lack of knowledge of the
sector or too little experience of the core skills needed to work within a busy team. By encouraging businesses to invest in their staff as well as other future workers, we hope to tackle skills gaps and help companies recruit and retain the right people.” So far local businesses have taken part in careers
talks, hired apprentices or held work placements but there’s many ways to get involved if you are interested.
For more information visit:
www.businesswest.co.uk/skillspledges
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