UK News

Interesting to read today of a plan by The Co-operative Group to create more apprenticeships. With public funding for so many areas under threat in Britain’s austerity drive – including skills and education – what will others in the private sector do to ensure Britain has the workforce it needs to compete in the 21st century?

The Co-Op’s plan – which includes a promise to create 2,000 new co-operative apprenticeships, as well as investments in areas such as schooling – is also interesting for the approach it takes to young people.

At an event earlier this month, Steve Bell, Head of Policy for the Communications Workers Union, warned a conference I attended that future tension over austerity cuts “wouldn’t necessarily come from the trade unions” and pointed to the youth riots of the 1980s as a potential indication of what might happen in the UK when public spending cuts start to bite.

The Co-operative, perhaps aware of the potential problems that could be posed by a disaffected ‘lost generation’, is investing 2 million pounds in a programme called Truth About Youth – to challenge what it calls the widespread negative perception of young people.

The question has to be whether other bodies will follow suit. After all, one of the hopes for British growth is that private firms will mop up some of the public sector workers put out of work by government cutbacks, and provide services the government can no longer offer.

But the Co-op is not like other businesses. A mutual, it doesn’t have to answer to shareholders. It shares its profits with its 5 million plus members who drive company policy. Many large listed companies barely even listen to their shareholders, as recent attempts by investors to challenge executive payouts have shown.

To suggest that investing in training and education is simply a social good, though, misses the point. If Britain wants to emerge from its austerity drive with a workforce able and equipped to innovate, compete and succeed against rapidly developing economies like China, investment in areas like skills and training and the young is not nice to have, it’s crucial.

Picture Credit: A youth snowboards at Bradgate Park in Newtown Linford in this file picture. REUTERS/Darren Staples