Joined up thinking to tackle capital’s skills shortages

A
scheme has been developed to help fight London’s skills shortages.

The
London Framework for Regional Employment and Skills Action will work across a
variety of sectors, including health, construction and teaching, to address the
need for staff.

The
group, launched by the new umbrella body for the capital’s skills, London
Skills Commission (LSC), will introduce recruitment, training and retention
programmes to the NHS so it can recruit and retain the extra 45,000 staff
needed in the capital over the next five years.

It
also aims fill the 10,000 construction jobs in London by training the city’s
residents in basic construction skills and acting as an employment agency to
help them get jobs.

The
body will also offer teacher training and skills development for London’s
280,000 refugees.

Ken
Coello, joint chair of the LSC, said: "London has two choices: It can
either continue with its many disparate initiatives to improve the knowledge
bass of its population, or it can allow the key agencies to come together to ensure
resources are exploited to fully develop people’s talents and abilities. If
London fails in this challenge it will fail to maintain its position as a world
city."

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The
LSC includes the CBI, TUC, London Learning and Skills Council and the London
Voluntary Sector Training Consortium.

By Paul Nelson