Skill Needs of Business and Professional Services in Objective 2 Areas of the West Midlands
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Skill Needs of Business and Professional Services in Objective 2 Areas of the West Midlands University of Birmingham Skill Needs of Business and Professional Services in Objective 2 Areas of the West Midlands FINAL REPORT P W Daniels and J R Bryson Services and Enterprise Research Unit School of Geography, Earth and Environmental Sciences March 2006 Copies available online at: http://www.gees.bham.ac.uk/research/seru/BPSskillsneeds/index.htm Skill Needs of Business and Professional Services in Objective 2 Areas of the West Midlands Acknowledgements The preparation of this report has benefited from the inputs of numerous individuals, representative organizations, and firms. In addition to all those who have given up valuable time to participate in a region-wide telephone survey of BPS firms, the depth interviews and the focus groups, the inputs of the following are gratefully acknowledged: Simon Murphy, Chief Executive, Birmingham Forward Richard Johnson, Executive Director, Birmingham Professional DiverCity Helen Bradley, Birmingham and Solihull LSC Kim Gilman, Telford Business Partnership Sid Stephenson, Head of Adult Strategy, Shropshire LSC Tracey Brown, Workforce Development Coordinator, Coventry and Warwickshire LSC Sue French, Sector Manager, Staffordshire LSC Ian McLauchlin, Project Manager, finest Network North Staffordshire Frances Roberts, Skills and Partnership Manager, Hereford and Worcester LSC Katherine Campbell, Coventry First Simon Tulitt, Partnership Manager, Specialist Business and Professional Services, Birmingham and Solihull Chamber of Commerce We have also benefited enormously from the guidance, insightful comments, and support provided via the auspices of the regular meetings of the Project Steering Group: Alan Martin, Marilyn McHugh, Simon Tulitt, Peter Shearer, Claire Holden, Sue French, Helen Bradley (until December 2005), Lyndsey Allen We would also like to thank Mary Costello and the team of bookers, telephone, and field interviewers at BMG Research who have made it possible to compile the quantitative and qualitative information for this report. We are indebted to Bob Ford, School of Geography, Earth and Environmental Sciences for assistance with the analysis of the telephone survey data. The project has also benefited from invaluable administrative and technical assistance provided by Claire Clarke, Lynn Ford, Kevin Burkhill, and Lynne Pearce, all at the School of Geography, Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of Birmingham. This Report has been co-financed by the European Social Fund and commissioned and managed by the Learning and Skills Council (Contract 042003WM2). About the Authors Peter Daniels ([email protected]) and John Bryson ([email protected]) are attached to the Services and Enterprise Research Unit (SERU), School of Geography, Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of Birmingham, Edgbaston, Birmingham B15 2TT. SERU has an established international reputation for: • Exploring the contribution made by service activities to regional, national and international economic and enterprise development. • Advancing knowledge and understanding of the role played by services industries and enterprise functions in shaping new economic geographies. • Raising awareness of the wider implications for society of the move to service dominated economies. Full details and contacts at: http://www.gees.bham.ac.uk/research/seru/index.htm SERU, University of Birmingham Page 2 Skill Needs of Business and Professional Services in Objective 2 Areas of the West Midlands LIST OF CONTENTS Acknowledgements 2 List of Contents, Tables, Figures 3 Executive Summary 9 1. Introduction 30 1. Objectives of the study 30 2. Structure of the report 32 3. Business and Professional Services and the West Midlands economy 32 2. The Survey of BPS Firms: Profiles and Attributes 35 1. Business activities of the survey firms 35 2. Legal Status of firms 35 3. Organizational type 35 4. Employment 35 5. Years at present site 38 6. Annual turnover 39 7. Regional variations in business and services 41 3. Skill needs of Business and Professional Services (BPS): The Context 47 1. National setting 47 2. Skills in the West Midlands 48 3. Occupation demand forecasts 50 4. BPS local networks 51 4. Recruitment and hard to fill vacancies in BPS 56 1. Incidence of job vacancies 56 2. Occupations in which firms had vacancies 56 3. Vacancies that are hard to fill 59 4. Occupations where vacancies are hart to fill 59 5. Reasons why vacancies are hard to fill 59 6. Views about skills that applicants lack 61 5. Evidence for a BPS skills gap 63 1. Staff proficiency 63 2. Skill gaps 63 3. Causes of staff lacking full proficiency 63 4. Skills needing improvement 66 5. Skill deficiencies and threats to competitiveness 71 6. Effects on the firm of all staff not being fully skilled 71 6. Workforce training and development by BPS 73 1. Strategic planning 73 2. Training conducted during the past 12 months 73 3. Training provided for different occupations 75 4. Types of training 76 5. Delivery of training 78 6. Preferred mode of training for new recruits and existing workforce 78 7. Formal qualifications achieved 79 8. NVQ training 79 SERU, University of Birmingham Page 3 Skill Needs of Business and Professional Services in Objective 2 Areas of the West Midlands 9. Off the job training providers 81 10. Off the job training 84 11. Influence of external providers on type of training provided 84 12. Satisfaction levels with off the job training 84 13. Reasons why firms use particular external providers 84 14. Reasons why training not provided from local FE colleges 87 15. Difficulties experienced with local sources of training 90 16. Barriers in the firm to linking training to nationally recognised qualifications 90 17. Barriers which limit provision of training and development for staff 90 7. Variations in Skill Needs of BPS between LSC Regions? 94 1. Birmingham and Solihull LSC Region 94 In-depth interviews 98 Location 99 Skills shortages 101 Training 102 Further Education Colleges 104 Recruitment 105 Competitive advantage 106 Focus group 108 Policy issues 109 2. Black Country LSC Region 110 In-depth interviews 115 Location 115 Skill shortages 116 Training 117 Recruitment 118 Competitive advantage 119 Focus Group 121 Policy issues 122 3. Coventry and Warwickshire LSC Region 123 In-depth interviews 128 Innovative organizational forms 128 Skills shortages 128 Absence of support staff 128 Training 129 Recruitment 129 Competitive advantage 130 Focus Group 131 Policy issues 132 4. Hereford and Worcestershire LSC Region 133 In-depth interviews 138 Location 138 Organizational forms 138 Skills shortages 139 Training 139 Recruitment 141 Competitive advantage 141 Focus Group 143 Policy issues 144 5. Shropshire LSC Region 145 In-depth interviews 150 Recruitment 150 Generalist firms 150 Absence of support staff 150 Training 150 Location 151 Competitive advantage 151 Focus Group 151 SERU, University of Birmingham Page 4 Skill Needs of Business and Professional Services in Objective 2 Areas of the West Midlands Policy issues 152 6. Staffordshire LSC Region 154 In-depth interviews 159 Location 159 Organizational forms 159 Skills shortages 159 Training 160 Recruitment 161 Competitive advantage 162 Focus Group 164 7. Overview and Synthesis 166 8. BPS Skill Needs at Sub-Sector Level 172 1. Real estate activities 172 2. Legal accounting business consultancy etc 177 3. Architectural & engineering activities 182 4. Labour recruitment 187 9. Policies for the Skill Needs of BPS Firms 192 1. Overview 192 BPS firms 192 Diversity of the sector 192 Recruitment 193 Training 194 Further Education Colleges 194 Succession and small firms 195 2. Policy Issues For Addressing Skill Needs In The West Midlands Bps 195 Community Generic issues 195 Local and regional issues 196 FE-related issues 197 Other policy issues 198 Appendices (Separate Document) 199 A1. Study methodology implementation and limitations: 202 Survey population 202 Survey sample 202 Target sectors and survey sample 202 Telephone survey 203 Depth interviews 203 Focus groups 204 A2. Telephone survey instrument 211 A3. Depth-interview survey instrument 227 Profile of organizations willing to take part in qualitative aspects of the survey 231 Depth interview booking script 233 A4. Depth Interviews: final transcript distribution: by LSC, firm size, and BPS activity 236 A5. Focus Groups: setup procedure and Facilitator guidance 240 Focus Group booking script 242 Focus Group facilitator guidance 245 SERU, University of Birmingham Page 5 Skill Needs of Business and Professional Services in Objective 2 Areas of the West Midlands LIST OF TABLES Table ES.1 Structure of telephone and depth interviews: by main business activity and 11 SIC division Table ES.2 Extent to which firms have ensured strategic support for training programmes 14 Table ES.3 Comparative synthesis of key skill needs and issues: quantitative and 18 qualitative survey sources, by LSC region, West Midlands Tabl1 1.1 Counties, West Midlands: Employee jobs (%) in service industries, 2003 32 Table 1.2 Counties, West Midlands: employment structure (%) by occupation, 2004 33 Table 1.3 Projected employment growth and regional share, UK regions, 2002-2012 34 Table 2.1 Survey firms, by activity (SIC groups) 36 Table 2.2 Legal status of firms 37 Table 2.3 Organisational type of firms 37 Table 2.4 Numbers employees on site, in the West Midlands and the UK 39 Table 2.5 Years spent at present site 40 Table 2.6 Selected summary measures of size of workforce