CBI/ Tata Consultancy Services report Delivering Skills for the New Economy
“The 5% Club supports the CBI’s recommendation for Government to work with companies and further education providers to create digital skills training to meet the business needs of today. We agree that the Government must encourage apprenticeships as a key route to filling digital roles and inspiring young people to take them up.
“Businesses from almost all sectors are concerned about the digital skills gap; as technology advances, the workforce requires more frequent skills training. In a survey of our members in November 2018, less than 2% of them were fully confident that their employees were well placed to take advantage of the rising use of technology, necessary for businesses to thrive.
“Membership of The 5% Club has grown, as more businesses commit to on-the-job training through ‘earn and learn’ schemes. Two thirds of the members we surveyed (67%) believed that earn and learn schemes, such as apprenticeships, are critical for upskilling an ageing workforce; over half (54%) believed they can help businesses embed and embrace digitalisation and technological change in particular.
“It is vital that further education is able to provide the right training to support employers Colleges must work with businesses and each other to ensure quality skills training is available, where it is needed throughout the UK. We support the CBI recommendations for the Government to facilitate this, to enable a strong and prosperous UK, with opportunity for all.”
