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Government launches guide on promoting skills through public procurement

New guidance to help government departments encourage contractors to provide skills training and apprenticeships in all publicly let contracts was launched today by skills secretary John Denham and exchequer secretary to the Treasury Angela Eagle.

The guide, published by the Office of Government Commerce (OGC), offers advice to those responsible for letting publicly funded contracts on how to embed skills training and apprenticeships in all aspects and stages of the procurement process. It covers a range of public contracts for products and services, from facilities management and IT to construction.

According to the OGC the public sector, including government departments, agencies and local government, spends £175 billion annually on the procurement of products and services. The government says this offers a unique opportunity to invest in the nation's skills and build a more productive workforce better able to respond to technological changes.

The guide offers advice to those responsible for procurement on how they can work within UK and EU regulations to include skills and apprenticeship requirements in public procurement processes, and how they can promote skills and apprenticeships at each stage of the procurement process, from the initial identification stage right through to the contract management stage.

The guide also includes a number of case studies exploring how authorities have embedded skills and training opportunities in their procurements.

Skills secretary John Denham said: "In tough times like these it is vital that we continue to invest in our nation's skills. We want to play a leading role by making greater use of the £175 billion a year government spends procuring goods and services to promote skills and training opportunities.

"We have already made good progress by making sure that public construction projects include apprenticeships and training, going some way to ensuring that vital skills are built up.

"It is only right that the significant investment in new schools, colleges and hospitals does more than provide new buildings for world-class public services.

Exchequer secretary to the Treasury Angela Eagle said: "The publication of this pamphlet is a vital step in making the most out of the £175 billion a year that government spends on public sector procurement. In helping to support and promote vital skills, training and apprenticeships, government is ensuring that individuals and businesses have the tools they need to deal with the global economic downturn."

John Cridland, CBI deputy director-general, said: "Developing people's skills will help our economy to emerge from the recession in the best possible shape. It's right that the government continues to play its part by using public procurement to enhance the UK's skills base. The guidance and case studies in the OGC report will help ensure that central government and the wider public sector can improve the way they use their purchasing power to drive this critical investment in skills."

TUC general secretary Brendan Barber said: "During the recession it is vital that the nation's investment in skills, and particularly apprenticeships, is maintained and indeed grows. Good employers will recognise that is crucial both to survive now and prosper in the future when the economy recovers.

"Public procurement is a key route to driving that investment, ensuring young people and adults have access to the skills and training opportunities they deserve. The TUC supports this new guidance which will help public authorities lead the way in driving investment in the skills of the workforce."

The guidance follows last summer's commitment that all employees working on central government contracts should have access to basic literacy and numeracy skills training if they needed it.

In last November's Pre-Budget Report, ministers committed to consider the inclusion of relevant skills and apprenticeship requirements in the procurement of publicly funded construction projects.

In 2008 the Department for Innovation Universities and Skills introduced a requirement that all building colleges for the future projects have a formal training plan in place designed to maximise access to apprenticeships for their workforce.

The Department for Children Schools and Families recently announced that it expected 1000 extra apprenticeship places to be made available as part of its Building Schools for the Future programme. In addition the Olympic Delivery Authority is including a condition in new contracts that three per cent of the workforce working at the Olympic Park site are apprentices, which it expects will create an extra 250 places.

The Homes and Communities Agency is also committing today to maximising employment, training and apprenticeship opportunities across its annual investment budget of more than £5 billion. The HCA will be looking to include skills and training requirements in the next round of bids for the National Affordable Housing Programme and for Property and Regeneration work. It says it will also be working with partners on a voluntary basis to explore the scope for providing skills and apprenticeship opportunities on existing housing development and regeneration projects.

The government says ministers are now looking at how to extend the commitment beyond construction projects. In the coming weeks ministers will be holding a roundtable with the IT industry about how skills training opportunities can be embedded in public IT projects.

External links

For more information about the OGC guide 'Promoting Skills Through Public Procurement', visit: www.dius.gov.uk/skillsprocurement

Training Reference is not responsible for the content of external Internet sites.

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