This in from Andrew Turner’s office, in their own words, Ed
The first meeting of a new Industry Group, set up by the Island’s MP, Andrew Turner, was held at Inflight Peripherals offices in Calbourne recently.
Eleven Island electronics and advanced manufacturing companies were represented at the meeting, which concentrated on education, training and employment issues. The majority of companies reported difficulties in employing local staff due to the lack of suitably qualified or trained applicants for jobs.
Serious concerns for Island youngsters
The responses to this situation ranged from situations left unfilled or staff employed from the mainland.
Mr Turner said, “It is apparent there are serious concerns that Island youngsters are not properly prepared for some of the job opportunities available – that is certainly not their fault but we need to make sure it is put right. It does bear out what some companies had already told me. Leading training providers were also present at the meeting and will now be looking at ways in which they can address these some of these issues.
“We also discussed ways in which the companies can engage with local people, especially youngsters, to encourage them to prepare themselves for the opportunities that exist. Youth unemployment is high and we must do all we can to make sure jobs available on the Island can be filled by local youngsters.
Productive meeting
The group Chairman, Geoff Underwood commented, “The meeting was very productive and I was very happy with the level of attendance. It is clear from this meeting that, by pooling our resources and working together, there is a lot we can do as a group to resolve the skills and training issues that we face on the Island.
“There is such a diversity of engineering companies on the Island doing quite amazing things and we need to get the word out that this can be an exciting and rewarding career path.”
The group will meet regularly and anyone interested in taking part should contact Andrew Turner’s office on 01983 530808 or email: [email protected].
