L-R: Chris Banks (Chair, LSC), Paul Head (Principal, CONEL), John Denham MP 

The College of North East London has participated in the UK’s biggest business breakfast, one of over 30 that took place around the country on November 13th, as part of a packed programme of Colleges Week events.

The Rt Hon John Denham MP, Secretary of State for the Department of Innovation, Universities and Skills (DIUS), met around 150 employers from a range of different sectors at a breakfast meeting of the College’s Employers' Forum. He discussed with employers the importance of having a skilled workforce in a challenging economic climate.

The Secretary of State said, “Colleges like CONEL play a very important part in their local communities, working with businesses and employers. CONEL has a very strong track record of engaging with employers, working with them through Train to Gain and Apprenticeships to give them the skills they need. This approach has also worked with people who are out of work – to give them the skills that employers need. We need more colleges to take a strong and proactive role, especially in challenging times.”

He prevailed upon employers not to reduce their training budgets because of the economic climate. “Skills are more important than ever and in the last recession, businesses that trained their staff were 2.5 times more likely to survive than those that did not,” he added. “We must tackle the problems of today and prepare for the opportunities of the future.”

Mr Denham also said that £350 million investment for small and medium-sized employers will have a real impact in removing barriers to training. A further £100 million will be invested in helping newly redundant workers, or those facing redundancy, to retrain and get new jobs.

CONEL leads the North London Train to Gain Consortium. Over 1,500 learners and their employers were involved in Train to Gain at CONEL in 2007/08. In line with the Government’s priority to upskill the workforce, CONEL will have over 4,000 learners in 2008/09. Apprenticeships are a vital element of the national strategy and London employers could lead the way in offering places and demonstrating the economic case for apprenticeships in building a strong labour market.

David Woods is Corporate Director for Customer Services at Barking and Dagenham Council. The authority established Frizlands Learning Centre in 2003 and works closely with CONEL in training and assessing its staff. He describes the Centre’s origins in the need to bring basic skills to a very large in-house workforce. “Our borough has quite low levels of literacy and numeracy, which limits people’s ability to do their job but also, it limits their ability to develop a career. We have trained all of our workforce to Level 2 and this makes people much more confident – they know their own value. Our work with CONEL in designing and validating training has enabled us to develop our workforce but also to transform people’s life chances.”

Nick Purchase runs Ashness Care Ltd, which owns two homes in Haringey and has worked with CONEL for three years. It provides care in small residential units for adults with long-term mental health difficulties. “I have employed young people directly from university but the most important quality for working with our client group is life experience,” Nick said. “CONEL provides us with many mature students who have a wealth of life experience. Their skills are transferable - which they don’t always realise. It’s important for us to recruit people locally, as our clients are from the local community and reflect its demographic. Our staff also reflect the people who make up this community.”

Chris Banks, Chair of the Learning and Skills Council (LSC), said, “It is important to celebrate the unique role that colleges play in transforming the lives of learners. There has never been a more important time to put investment in your people.” He cited research from the Association of Colleges, which shows that three quarters of company directors agree on the importance of investing in training during a recession.

CONEL is among the first colleges to receive the new Training Quality Standard, awarded by the LSC and presented to Paul Head and the College’s Director of Vocational Skills, Phil Gowan, at the Business Breakfast. It assures employers working with CONEL that they can be confident of receiving first rate training to enhance and update their employees’ skills.

Paul Head, CONEL’s Principal and Chief Executive, said, “We took part in the UK’s biggest business breakfast to celebrate Colleges Week and show how colleges can help businesses succeed. Here in CONEL we know that the lifeblood of any successful vocational college must be close partnership with employers and employees. This will stand us all in good stead as we rise to the challenge of a difficult global and national economic situation.”

Paul highlighted the example of an employee trained by CONEL and asked by a visiting Ofsted inspector last week about the impact that training had on her career. “She spoke of the difference made to her life by gaining qualifications in literacy and numeracy. This gave her the confidence to seek promotion at the school where she works and her earnings jumped from £8000 per year to £16000. She is now a powerful advocate for parents, encouraging them to take up learning in literacy and numeracy.”

• DIUS
• North London Train to Gain Consortium
• Colleges Week