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Unite the Union responds to a statement from the Skills Secretary John Denham

3 April 2008

Graham Goddard Unite's Deputy General Secretary welcomed a statement from Skills Secretary John Denham which urges more business to sign up to the government's skills pledge. The Government is targeting its' own suppliers to take up the skills agenda and sign a pledge to carry out education initiatives with their workers and this should also apply to all employers in all sectors of industry.

Graham Goddard said: "It is great that the Secretary of State is encouraging employers to adopt a proactive learning agenda. Unite already plays an active part in tackling further education in the workplace and outside the workplace. We believe that education continues through your life time and opportunities should be offered by employers to their workforce.

"The Labour Government has been very influential in workers education by offering funds to enable useful education projects to be set up. Unite has taken full advantage of this but still finds resistance from employers. John Denham's statement will bring pressure on employers to get involved and it is our experience that businesses that embrace a learning agenda benefit hugely in terms of their development productivity and in terms of staff loyalty and morale.

"Unite is particularly encouraged that the Minister has suggested the government may consider legislating to ensure that every business provides a minimum standard of training for their workforce because only a highly skilled and highly motivated UK workforce will ensure that we can compete effectively in the global economy."

Contacts Brian Gallagher on 07957995947 and Tom Beattie on 0208 462 7755, mobile 07778164400

Notes

Denham urges government departments to ensure suppliers sign skills pledge
02 April 2008 15:27

Skills secretary John Denham will today tell all government departments to ensure their suppliers sign the skills pledge.

Denham will tell delegates at the Civil Service Live event in Westminster that the move is essential to achieving the aims set out in the Leitch Review.

Leitch warned that if not enough organisations had signed the pledge to train all their employees to Level 2 by 2010, such training should be made compulsory.

Denham will say: "All central government departments have signed the skills pledge, but that is not enough. Private companies with good training records look beyond their own workforce and understand that their suppliers are as important to their success as their own staff.

"The public sector employs one-quarter of this country's workforce. Add those who supply the public sector and we are talking about a real opportunity to build the skills base."