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Businesses could be forced to give staff time off for skills training |
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Monday, 28 January 2008 |
Scottish firms could see staff being given rights to time off to develop their skills if the country adopts a system already in place south of the border, STUC general secretary Grahame Smith told Holyrood.
In England, if employers don’t meet the pledge to train all of the
workforce up to level 2 (broadly equivalent to 5 GCSEs at grades A* –
C) by 2010, then the Government will give every worker the right to
time off to train and qualify up to that level.
Smith, who is on the UK Employment and Skills Commission to be launched
this April, said that the move was a "good first step" and that the big
failing of Scotland’s Skills Strategy, and of almost all skills policy
over the last number of years, has been the reliance on voluntarism.
"The strategy rightly challenges employers to upskill their workforce
and provide more training opportunities for workers, but there’s
nothing to say what the Government’s response should be should that not
happen. What sanctions can be brought to bear to address that failure?"
Smith will have a major role in monitoring how far English employers
meet the pledge to train all workers to Level 2, and said that Scotland
needs to address how it approaches the issue. He has already met with
Cabinet Secretary for Education and Skills Fiona Hyslop, but said he
didn’t think Hyslop had been convinced thus far of the "need to
incentivise employers".
Businesses also seemed unconvinced by the idea of having to train all
employees up to Level 2. The CBI said that such a move was to "be
avoided".
Policy executive Iain Ferguson said: "Rights to time-off are not an
effective way to raise skills… They do not address individuals’
motivation to train, nor will they deliver the employer and employee
commitment necessary. Such rights increase bureaucracy and focus on
input factors such as the number of days off work for training, rather
than on the impact of training on the business and the employee.
"The imperative for the Government must be to put in place the
conditions to ensure the voluntary system continues to be successful
and not be distracted by unhelpful calls for compulsion."
He also said that in the case of Scotland, any decision on a similar
pledge would have to take into consideration the fact that employment
rights are reserved.
Andrew Watson, spokesman for the Federation of Small Businesses in
Scotland, said that not only was the UK Government's 'skills pledge'
attempting to force businesses to pick up the pieces of a failing
school system south of the border, but that it also seemed to be a
one-size-fits-all solution seeking a problem.
"Scottish business benefits from the education system, which is
generally considered to be better than the system south of the border.
But despite having well educated people entering the workplace, and
spending more per head on training than England, Scotland’s productivity lags behind our competitors in the UK and
further afield, and therefore it would seem more appropriate to
concentrate on the skills agenda which will create more opportunities
for Scottish workers."
He also said it raised a fundamental question about basic education and basic skills. "An employee may lack educational qualifications but is still able to make
a valuable contribution to the workplace. Some of Scotland’s most
successful entrepreneurs will openly admit that they left school with
barely a handful of O-levels to rub together, yet had the skills and
the talent to develop and grow very successful businesses.
"Therefore we really have to question whether training in its broadest
sense should be formal or informal, on-the-job or off-the-job, and
whether it should focus on the skills necessary to make a more valuable
contribution, or on allowing workers to work towards
an education qualification.
"This should be a negotiation between employer and employee."
No one has commented on this article.
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Last Updated ( Monday, 28 January 2008 )
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