News Stories: Woodside

Sundial Group among the First to Make Skills Pledge

14 Jun 2007

More than 150 Employers Sign Skills Pledge for 1.7 Million Workers

14 June 2007 -; Sundial Group today joined more than 150 leading employers from across England will today meet with Ministers in Central London to make a public Skills Pledge to train all their staff. This will be a major public event heralding the fact that more than 1.7 million private and public sector employees will be covered by a Skills Pledge.

The Chancellor of the Exchequer, Gordon Brown; the Secretary of State for Education and Skills, Alan Johnson; the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, John Hutton; the Director General of the CBI, Richard Lambert; TUC General Secretary, Brendan Barber, and other Ministers from across Government will be joined by private and public sector employers at an event hosted by the Skills Envoy, Sir Digby Jones, to mark the official launch of the Skills Pledge and to announce the Chair of a new UK Commission for Employment & Skills.

The attending employers, including Lucy McGibbon, Sundial Group's Human Resources Director, will be the first to make a public and voluntary commitment to support all their employees to develop basic skills, including numeracy and literacy, and work towards relevant, valuable qualifications to at least Level 2 (the equivalent of five GCSEs at A - C grade).

The Leitch Review of Skills, published in December 2006, warned that the UK must ‘raise its game' on skills at all levels if it is to sustain and improve its position in the global economy. The Skills Pledge fulfils a key recommendation made in the review, at the heart of a new ‘deal' where employers will be able to shape the skills system to meet their needs, in return for prioritising skills training at all levels.

Alan Johnson, Secretary of State for Education and Skills, said:
"Skills are vitally important for individuals, for their future employability and for the success of businesses throughout the UK. 

"That is why I am so pleased to see so many companies making the Skills Pledge today. I hope others will follow their lead, helping the UK to meet the challenges set out in Lord Leitch's Review of Skills.

"We have made record investments in education and training over the past ten years, and we are reaping the benefits with dramatic improvements in attainment. But there are many people who have left school without qualifications and have been in the workplace for many years without acquiring basic skills. As the demand for unskilled jobs continues to decline at a significant rate it is essential that government and employers do all we can to ensure those people are receiving the skills training they will need to be able to compete for jobs in the future."

Employers that make a commitment to the Skills Pledge will have access to a Skills Broker, part of the Learning and Skills Council's Train to Gain service, through whom they can access free literacy and numeracy and first full Level 2 qualification courses. The Skills Broker can assess the company's training needs and help the employer produce an action plan that will set out contributions from the state, the employer and the individual.

Sir Digby Jones, UK Skills Envoy, said:
"I warmly congratulate all employers who have led the way by making the Skills Pledge today.  By taking this step, you are showing other employers that, by investing in the skills of your people, you are investing in your business. At the same time, you are helping the UK seize the opportunity that globalisation presents, enabling us to compete in the brutally competitive world economy of the future 

For more information on the Skills Pledge, please visit traintogain.gov.uk or call 0800 015 5545.