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Skills and education

8 Mar 2018

As an organisation representing businesses in the corridors of power Solihull Chamber of Commerce needs to know what problems companies are facing. We do this by holding a quarterly survey of our members.

This quarter the Chamber is asking additional questions on recruitment difficulties and the barriers businesses face when hiring apprentices. We want to understand how we and local and national stakeholders can do more to help businesses find the right talent and invest in training and upskilling staff.

Upskilling people is now a key priority after the West Midlands region remained the worst in the UK for unemployment, following the latest unemployment figures, which showed that our region has the highest unemployment rate in the UK at 5.4 per cent.

Solihull Chamber is already helping to close the gap locally, by developing a good working relationship with Solihull College. Not only is the Chamber based at the College, but we hold meetings and events in the education establishment, which brings our member businesses in contact with our educationalists.

Upskilling people is now a key priority"