The first meeting of the dealership sub-group of the MG Rover Task Force was held at the CBI yesterday (19 April).
The group was established by the Department of Trade and Industry to consider the impact of the car maker’s collapse on Rover dealerships and is chaired by CBI director-general Sir Digby Jones.
He said: “The issue of the dealerships’ future viability is in many ways the most wide-ranging to emerge from the MG Rover collapse. It impacts on the jobs of about 8,000 people around the UK, more than were employed at Longbridge itself.
“Most of these employees are highly skilled and some 2,000 are trainees, with about 500 in the government’s Apprenticeship scheme.”
He added that the issue was now firmly on the government’s radar and the meeting identified a need to find a secure future for the trainees within these businesses.
The group is due to meet again next week.
