Press Release

Government skills action plan lacks strength in depth

20 July 2007 – Responding to the Government’s plans for implementing the Leitch Review of Skills, Mary Chapman, chief executive of the Chartered Management Institute, states that the report does not go far enough to address the UK’s long-term needs for higher-level skills.

She says: “The Government’s response clearly indicates that leadership and management skills have a vital role to play in increasing productivity and prosperity across the economy, so it is disappointing that management skills barely feature in the detail of the report’s recommendations.

“The report states that the majority of Government funding for adult education will be focused on the lowest skill level and least qualified individuals.  Yet, at the same time it is important not to neglect the management population, a significant proportion of which is under-qualified.”

According to Leitch’s interim report, 41 per cent of managers are not qualified up to Level 2.  Furthermore, Labour Force Survey data indicates that just 38.5 per cent of managers are qualified to NVQ level 4 or above compared to 80.9 per cent of those in other professional occupations.

Chapman comments: “Such a low level of management skills is untenable, given the expected growth in professional and managerial occupations and the UK’s ambition to grow its high skills, high added-value economy.

“It is also a concern that the Government intends to pilot the development of new qualifications on offer from employers and private training providers.  Employers already find the number and range of qualifications confusing and individuals need a simple framework with qualifications that are easily transferable.  We should, therefore, be focusing on achieving more qualified employees, rather than a greater number of different qualifications.”
Moving forward, it will be important that the Sector Qualifications Strategy for Management and Leadership, developed by the Management Standards Centre and SSCs, provides a framework to ensure that all management qualifications are accessible, portable and credible among managers and their organisations.

Mary Chapman concludes: “It is, after all, the skills and abilities of those individuals who are leading organisations that determine how people are employed and whether resources are invested effectively.  Despite a move in the right direction, unless Government prioritises management skills for current and future leaders, there is a real danger that we will not be able to make the right management decisions to advance the UK's international competitiveness. “

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