The voice of business in Coventry and Warwickshire put forward key recommendations to government on improving employability skills of young people during a visit from a senior minister.
Louise Bennett, chief executive of Coventry and Warwickshire Chamber of Commerce, set out the proposals to Nicky Morgan MP, the Secretary of State for Education and Minister for Women and Equalities, at the latest Business is Good for Women event.
The Midlands MP had been invited to address the Chamber’s networking event for businesswomen held at Ansty Hall, near Coventry, to speak about her role as a senior minister and a woman in politics.
Louise told the packed audience that education and skills, and more specifically employability skills, were frequently cited by local business leaders as being a barrier to growth.
She said: “The Chamber network is putting forward a number of recommendations to government ahead of the general election that we believe could help overcome the barriers around education and skills.”
They include the assessment of secondary schools on employment outcomes, a business governor in every school, higher quality and universal work experience in all schools, and promoting enterprise modules for college and university students.
Louise added: “We also want an absolute commitment to the apprenticeship programme.
“One of the jewels in our crown is that we are the largest apprenticeship deliverer in Coventry and Warwickshire, delivering about 1,000 apprenticeship opportunities.”
In her address to the meeting, the Secretary of State spoke of the importance of business leaders as role models for the next generation and in particular, the power that businesswomen have in raising the aspirations of girls in the world of work.
She said: “We have asked the Women’s Business Council to look at how we can raise the aspirations of girls, and how we help women to progress and stay in the workplace and help women to set up businesses.
“We have also asked them this year to focus on the gender pay gap, careers advice and promoting women’s enterprise, particularly through export and trade.”
The Women’s Business Council, set up by the government to identify ways to maximise women’s contribution to economic growth, has found that gains of 10 per cent could be made to the GDP by 2030 by equalising the labour market.
The Secretary of State added: “Women are vital to rebuilding our economy. Compared to 2010, we have three-quarters of a million more women in work, the number of SMEs led by women has gone from 14 to 20 per cent and there are 30,000 more women working as directors, managers and senior officials.
“It is important that we get women higher up the career ladder and that means growing our pool of female talent and pipeline. We have made good progress and a great deal of that is down to female leaders such as yourselves.
“We cannot afford as a country to miss out on the talents and experiences of half of our population so I am committed to supporting women in business.”