Memorandum submitted by the Federation
of Small Businesses
The Federation of Small Businesses (FSB) welcomes
the opportunity to respond to the above named consultation.
The FSB is the UK's leading business organisation.
It exists to protect and promote the interests of the self-employed
and all those who run their own business. The FSB is non-party
political, and with 213,000 members, it is also the largest
organisation representing small and medium-sized businesses in
the UK.
Small businesses make up 99.3% of all businesses
in the UK, and make a huge contribution to the UK economy. They
contribute 51% of the GDP and employ 58% of the private sector
workforce.
The FSB was extremely disappointed by the announcement
in the Government's Skills Strategy in November to remove funding
for bite-sized learning within the Train to Gain offer. Of the
£1 billion budget that goes into Train to Gain, only
£350 million is ring fenced for small and medium-sized
enterprises—yet 95% of all businesses are categorised as
a micro business. The FSB is keen to see greater value given to
smaller, informal and bite-sized chunks of learning and urges
the Skills Funding Agency to heed this call.
Small businesses do train their workforce and
are prepared to pay for training relevant to the job (mainly through
learning by doing, on the job training and private training providers)—as
opposed to providing the basic skills deficiencies which should
have been provided within the education system.
We need to find a way for small businesses to
get the unaccredited training accredited—something which
has not been possible under the LSC.
The FSB feels that the Skills Funding Agency
must use its new status to better signpost businesses to the funding
that is on offer so that it is easier for small businesses to
understand the training system and take advantage of what is on
offer. A national awareness campaign needs to be undertaken by
the SFA, highlighting the incentives on offer to small businesses
for training an apprentice and the benefits it will bring during
the recession.
From a recent FSB Survey,[29]
only 21% of businesses were aware of a contribution to wage costs
to cover the cost of time off to train. Many of our members are
unaware of the "wage contribution" policy but there
is also the problem in getting payment for those businesses that
do engage with the policy. With cash flow being such a problem
for small businesses it is vital they are not made to wait months
before they receive payment.
We trust that you will find our comments helpful
and that they will be taken into consideration. I would welcome
a meeting to discuss our skills issues.
8 January 2010
29 FSB Research into Train to Gain-May 2009-300 member
responses. Back
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