Skills for the future
Skills for the future
Keywords Employees, Funding, Skills shortages, Training
The 1998 Road Haulage Skills Survey, titled Skills for the Future, reveals that five key issues which the industry must face over the next few years are:
- 1.
skills shortages (especially of drivers);
- 2.
skills gaps;
- 3.
standards;
- 4.
training-related issues; and
- 5.
perceptions of skills and training by those inside and outside the industry.
Some 1,000 companies were surveyed from all subsectors of the industry making it the largest of the recent skills surveys undertaken in any sector of the UK economy.
At a press conference,held at the Road Haulage Association's (RHS's) Westminster offices to present the findings of the Survey, Ian Hetherington from the Road Haulage and Distribution Training Council (RHDTC) commented: "These key issues will need to be addressed by everyone who is involved with this industry including employers and employees, employers' associations, trades unions, training providers and others including those who monitor and set the occupational standards for the industry.
"We have undertaken this Survey not so much to tell us what has happened, but, rather, to enable us to plan for the future and find the solutions to the two key problems which, the Survey reveals, beset this industry.
"Clearly, there is a serious driver shortage especially in some regions of the country. However, the Survey reveals that this is only one aspect of a major skills shortage throughout the industry. Employers have expressed serious concerns about the skills levels of their existing employees."
According to Keith Pye, of consultants Pye Tait which conducted the Survey on behalf of the RHDTC: "The Survey has demonstrated that employers perceive existing workers in the industry as not meeting today's required standards in such skills as information technology, marketing and customer care, literacy, man-management and financial skills."
Ian Hetherington commented: "the other key issue is that there are major problems to be overcome in making the industry attractive to would-be recruits.
"As an industry, we need to take action to improve our industry's image especially with young people about to enter the world of work. And, as the industry's National Training Organisation, we will be considering bold action to alleviate skills gaps; further promote occupational standards and training; and also address the issue of generating tangible help from TECs, LECs and other government departments to encourage training and development programmes especially those for young people within our industry."
The Survey also found that employers are concerned at the relative difficulty of attracting help from TECs and LECs for funding the training of young people over the age of 18.
Further information is available from Ian Hetherington, RHDTC, 14 Warren Yard, Warren Farm Office Village, Stratford Road, Milton Keynes MK12 5NW, UK. Tel: 01908 313360; Fax:01908 313006.
