§ Dr. StoateTo ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what measures her Department is taking to address the construction industry's skills gap; and if she will make a statement. [88732]
§ Mr. WilsonIn order to recruit and retain people with the necessary skills at all levels, the construction industry needs to address the underlying issues which prevent it being seen as a career of first choice. Rethinking Construction and the Construction Best Practice Programme, which DTI supports, are working to tackle these issues. DTI is also working with the Strategic Forum for Construction which intends to develop and implement strategies to enable the industry to recruit and retain the 300,000 qualified people that CITB estimate are required by the end of 2006, and result in a 50 per cent. increase in suitable applications to build environment, higher and further education courses by 2007.
The DTI also works closely with the Construction Industry Training Board (CITB—the statutory industry training board) and other industry bodies to ensure that workers in construction receive the training they need. For example, DTI gives support to "National Construction Week", a major national event showcasing career opportunities for the industry; the "Making Connections" initiative, which aims to attract and retain higher quality graduates in greater numbers; and a "language skills audit" to assess the perceived need for language skills in construction, where the first language of significant numbers of workers is not English.
The DTI, together with the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP), and the Department for Education and Skills (DIES), is taking forward a pan-industry skills and workforce development agenda that is relevant to the construction sector. The DTI 244WS recognises the particular importance of high quality leadership and management, and has just published a Government response to the final report of the Council for Excellence in Management and Leadership (CEML).