WEST MIDLANDS who want to create a worldclass workforce and beat off global competitors as the economy starts to recover can take advantage of a free business breakfast this month.

Businesses in the UK’s £67bn polymers, chemicals and pharmaceutical sectors, which together employ 28,000 people in the West Midlands, are facing skills challenges that threaten their very survival, according to skills body the National Skills Academy Process Industries.

The Academy’s board chairman Chris Horton, also Director and Vice President of £500m-plus business LINPAC Packaging, which employs 4,000 staff, will be outlining the skills strategy needed to support the process industries over the next decade at the event on Wednesday, February 10.

He is urging employers to start by signing up to the Skills Pledge:  “The stark truth is that businesses which don’t have a well thought out skills development framework in place are unlikely to survive over the next 10 years.

“As the economy starts to recover, we need to enlist all the support we can get in order to upskill our current workforce and attract more young people into the industries, especially if we are to meet the challenges posed by overseas competitors.

“China and India are steaming ahead while up and coming manufacturing economies in countries in the Eastern Bloc, such as Poland, are benefiting from the extra financial support offered to new EC members. 

“In the UK there are also new opportunities in sectors like advanced composites, which will benefit from the increase in wind turbine production and other green initiatives.

“If we can’t compete with overseas competitors in areas such as labour costs, we must put ourselves in a strong position where we can out-skill them, and with the continuing emphasis on budgets, that means accessing all the funding and practical support available to us.   

“We want to use this event to get the message across loud and clear to employers – there is help out there but if we don’t act, and quickly, we will see ourselves left behind in both the UK and the global markets.”

The breakfast event will also include presentations from Business Link speakers, who will outline the regional support and funding packages available to employers.

For more details and to book a free place at the breakfast, call Lisa Maw on 0845 607 0140, or email:  industry@process.nsacademy.co.uk.

DIARY NOTE/DETAILS:

Date:  Wednesday 10th February 2010
Time:  8am to 10am
Place:  Business Link offices, Quinton, West Midlands
Event:  Skills for the New Decade
Organisers:  National Skills Academy Process Industries, and Business Link