Driving Hull forward

Above: Cllr Andy Sloan addresses a gathering of more than 60 representatives from small to medium-sized businesses at the launch of the Skills Fund.

A skills fund designed to update people's professional training will provide businesses with the workforce they need.

Nationally, 29 per cent of adults have no qualifications at all; in Hull, that figure stands at 42 per cent.
It's a gap that Hull City Council is closing by introducing a skills fund.
The fund amounts to £400,000 per year, to help small to medium-sized private businesses to pay for the cost of extra training for their employees.
The fund pays for training in basic English and maths, and higher-level management and professional training.
"We've got to broaden our skills and support people as they go through their professional life," says Cllr Andy Sloan, cabinet member for economy.
"As more and more jobs are created in the city, it's important that residents are equipped to compete for them.
"The fund is aimed at small to medium-sized firms, where I know it may be hard for employer and employee to find money and time to pay for higher skills training. Often, this is where the need is greatest," he continues.
Basic literacy and numeracy skills training are free to the employer and the employee. And once people reach the higher skills training, it can be financed in one of two ways: by sharing the costs equally between the employer and the skills fund, or by splitting the costs three ways between employer, skills fund and the employee.
"We all benefit, because individuals can move up the ladder and feel more fulfilled, and economically, businesses become more productive and competitive," adds Cllr Sloan.
"Hull is moving forward, and to keep doing so, our workforce must keep up with the ever-changing skills in the rest of the UK, never mind in the rest of the world.

Members of Hull's business community gather at the launch, which was held at the Octagon Centre, Walker Street.

Achieving potential

More than 300 companies are expected to benefit from the fund.
The Mobile Point is a good example. A telecommunications company in Hull Business Centre, Guildhall Road, Queen's Gardens, the business has recently applied to the fund after doubling its workforce to almost 40 staff when it won a contract to provide mobile phones for the NHS.
"We want to put staff through levels 1 and 2 training in maths and English to help them to deliver the new contract," says managing director Martin Lauer.
"We also want other staff to complete levels 5 and 6 management competencies to help them to cope with the scaling-up operation.
"Receiving money from the fund will help us to consolidate the skills we have and assist our growth plans. It's a fantastic opportunity for businesses to keep skills developing in the city."

More and better jobs for Hull

"Investing in employees gives companies a competitive advantage," says Lee Creamer, co-director of Construction Works, an organisation that puts companies in touch with the skills fund.
"Plus, employees feel loyalty to a company that invests in them. But from a city-wide perspective, investing in the workforce gives Hull residents the skills to compete for the thousands of jobs becoming available in the city during the next five years."
Those jobs include more than 5,000 new positions in the St Stephen's and Quay West shopping centres.
Other office, retail and residential developments, such as the Humber Quays and Boom projects and those in the Humber Street fruit market area and Albion Street, will create a further 5,000 jobs.