Employment and welfare reform minister Tony McNulty has called on the public sector to hire more long-term unemployed people and apprentices to fight rising jobless figures. Speaking exclusively to Personnel Today , he said state employers neede  More...
28 November 2008 10:19

Tesco, Royal Mail and Centrica are among the employers helping Gordon Brown to set up the National Employment Partnership (NEP) scheme, announced in the government's  Pre-Budget Report . Chief executives from private and public sector organisati  More...
28 November 2008 10:14

A government immigration adviser has told firms concerned about labour shortages when the new immigration system takes over this week to push up wages. David Metcalf, chair of the Migration Advisory Committee, which drew up the migrant worker shorta  More...
24 November 2008 07:04

The British Hospitality Association (BHA) has warned employers worried about the UK losing its Working Time Directive opt-out not to exploit young people working cheaply or for free to fill gaps. Luxury hotel chain the Lancaster Landmark Hotel   More...
21 November 2008 08:08

The UK will "struggle" to meet the skills targets set out in the Leitch Review, a senior figure has admitted. Jean Llewellyn, chair of the employer-led National Skills Academy Strategic Network, said she was not confident that the huge mission wou  More...
05 November 2008 08:00

The government is to channel £27m of EU cash to help people improve their skills and stay in work or find a new job. Organisations are being urged to submit plans for regional projects to develop ways of boosting people's employment opportunities.  More...
04 November 2008 12:57

People are looking to careers in teaching to help them through the economic crisis, official figures show. Sector skills council Lifelong Learning UK saw enquiries about teacher training courses soar by 41% in a month. The body polled more than 2,0  More...
03 November 2008 13:24

UK skills supremo Chris Humphries has warned that the UK could soon be going backwards in its efforts to ramp up skill levels to compete in the globalised economy. Humphries, chief executive of government body the UK Commission for Employment a  More...
24 October 2008 10:09

Industry leaders have called on UK employers to commit to training their employees in spite of the deteriorating economy. In an open letter published in many national daily newspapers, senior figures including CBI director-general Richard Lambert an  More...
23 October 2008 13:35

Nearly a sixth of all trainee teachers failed literacy tests last year, statistics show. More than 11,000 applicants were unsuccessful in online tests by the Training and Development Agency for Schools (TDA), which can be taken as many times as ne  More...
22 October 2008 07:19

Employers in the housing, facilities management, fashion and textiles sectors are to benefit from a £93m government investment in training. New skills minister Lord Young said the money would be earmarked to tackle current and future skills shorta  More...
17 October 2008 08:19

Campaigners have officially filed for a second judicial review against the government's handling of changes to the Highly Skilled Migrant Programme (HSMP). The HSMP Forum claimed the government did not go far enough in its actions to implement a High  More...
15 October 2008 07:01

David Lammy signed off as skills minister last week with a warning to employers that they could yet be slapped with a skills tax. Lammy, who was promoted to higher education and intellectual property minister in the government reshuffle earlier thi  More...
13 October 2008 08:12

Hoteliers may struggle to find home-grown labour to replace low-skilled migrant workers when the new immigration system takes hold, HR directors have warned. By the end of November, Tier 2 of the government's points-based system will launch coverin  More...
10 October 2008 08:49

Outgoing skills minister David Lammy has insisted that he leaves with the UK on course to hit the ambitious skills targets set out in the Leitch review. Lammy was promoted to become minister for higher education and intellectual property in l  More...
09 October 2008 08:59

Axed Lehman Brothers' staff do not need career coaching or CV surgeries, the administrator has insisted. PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) last week announced that 750 fixed-income and personal investment management jobs would be cut at the bankrupt inv  More...
03 October 2008 08:42

The UK faces a slowdown in the supply of both skilled and unskilled labour in the next few years if there is not a significant increase in migrant workers. A report from professional services firm KPMG warns that as baby boomers (typically born betwe  More...
01 October 2008 09:31

Nursing representatives have warned that staffing problems threaten the quality of maternity care in the UK. The Royal College of Midwives (RCM) said there is a shortage of midwives to deal with the current baby boom. And the Royal College of Nursing  More...
22 September 2008 10:26

Universities must play a key role in giving students the skills that make them suitable for the workforce, the CBI has warned. Cambridge University vice-chancellor Alison Richard last week said the institution was not there to be "handmaidens of ind  More...
12 September 2008 09:01

Growing pressure on employers to be environmentally friendly from government and consumers will lead to a 'green' skills gap in the UK, a report has warned. The survey of 575 senior executives, conducted by engineering consultant Royal Haskoning, rev  More...
12 September 2008 08:45