John Denham MP, Secretary of State at the Department for Innovation, Universities and Skills (DIUS), has said that the College of North East London (CONEL) is one of the top providers of employment skills in the country.

"There are 18000 Union Learning Representatives in the country and at least 1800 of them - over ten per cent - have been trained at CONEL" he said. "The challenge here in Tottenham is about creating better chances for people to get work and seeing employers recruiting from the local community, because it is equipped with the skills they need."

This week the College hosted two ministerial briefings with employers and trade unionists. John Denham MP met with employers, the Director of Unionlearn, Liz Smith and Union Learning Representatives from Sainsbury's Barking and Dagenham and Enfield councils and Metroline. The meeting on January 21st focused on trade union and employer co-operation on workplace learning. His junior minister, the Tottenham MP, David Lammy, Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Skills, met with employers from the construction industry on January 25th.

The aim of DIUS is to develop the highly skilled workforce that is needed to create a competitive economy, which will be able to hold its own in world markets. This means achieving a significant increase in workforce skills over the next ten years.

"We can't do this just by providing funding for training" John Denham said. "Employers know the benefits from investing time and money in training their workforce; talking about skills makes sense to businesses. We are creating a culture of learning and we're working with CONEL to promote this. The challenge to colleges is to change. CONEL is ahead on this, working with Train to Gain and having developed strong partnerships with employers. Colleges that are slow to change will get less funding," he warned.

The Secretary of State emphasised the success of trade unions in encouraging their members to acquire new skills through training. "If you can persuade an individual that learning is for them, it is life-changing," he said. "Trade unions achieve results with people that others can't reach - the trust is there to get their members to listen. Unionlearn is a particularly important part of this process. Union Learning Representatives are 18000 best friends across the country, there to support employees to train and improve their skills and career prospects."

CONEL's Principal and Chief Executive, Paul Head, said, "As a college, we've been demand-led and responsive to employers for a very long time. When you get employers and unions working together with a first-rate college like CONEL, it's a recipe for success. Demand is huge for new skills for the workforce. Our top priority is to respond flexibly to that demand and provide training of the highest quality."

Bus company, Metroline, operates 88 London routes from 11 garages and has 3700 employees. Its Head of Recruitment and Training, Neil Colston, and Unite union learning representative, Tom O'Callaghan, described the growth of the company's Learning on the Move initiative. Initially, it kitted out a bus with 11 CONEL computers to take skills to staff but the company has now established three learning centres. The initiative is a partnership between Metroline, two million-strong trade union, Unite, the TUC and CONEL. "The quality of teaching and support that we have from CONEL cannot be praised highly enough" said Neil Colston. "CONEL's tutors have had a huge impact and our staff are more skilled for their efforts. The College has been a very active partner, along with Unite and the TUC. Training has definitely helped to reduce the turnover of staff within the company."

DIUS Skills Minister, David Lammy MP, met with employers in the construction sector to talk about the importance of getting people to take up apprenticeships, which are funded through the Train to Gain initiative.

"The Government is committed to upskilling through Train to Gain and the apprenticeship model is key - passing on expertise, mentoring and acquiring a skill" he said. David Lammy encouraged employers to avail of government-funded apprenticeships. He added that it was "a scandal that there are only 5000 apprentices in London, when so many opportunities exist for skilled workers." He said that when young Londoners leave school, "They compete for jobs with people from Hertfordshire, Berkshire and Essex, Australia and New Zealand, Poland, Romania and Lithuania. Many jobs are available but there is still 33 per cent worklessness, so apprenticeships are a vital route to acquiring the skills to compete for a place in the workforce."