by Ian Girling, chief executive, Dorset Chamber of Commerce and Industry

LAST week I had the pleasure of speaking at the January AFC Business breakfast event and had the opportunity to reflect on the events of 2017, as well as discuss priorities for business as we look to 2018.

It certainly was an eventful year as we saw the government trigger Article 50 and begin our divorce from the EU and then manage to lose its majority with a disastrous election result.

We also saw the first rise in interest rates in 10 years as the Bank of England began to implement measures to address rising inflation. Whilst the economy slowed down in terms of growth, in 2017 we had record employment levels and a common theme we have been hearing from businesses is the difficulties they face in terms of recruiting skilled employees, particularly at managerial levels.

The Quarter 4 2017 Quarterly Economic Survey by the British Chambers of Commerce, the largest regular business survey in the UK, continued to highlight the ongoing problems businesses face in recruiting skilled workers, director general Adam Marshall stating “labour and skills shortages are set to be the biggest potential drag anchor on business in 2018”.

A worrying 76 per cent of firms in the service sector in the South West reported recruitment difficulties with skills being the key issue.

Skills has been an issue for UK PLC for many years. However, never has there been a more important time for all businesses to recognise the need to invest in skills. It’s critical that we have the skilled employees we need to grow our economy, to ensure we have the skilled workforce we need both now and in the future to ensure we remain competitive at a national and global level.

It’s essential that education and business work hand in hand to understand the skills needs of businesses and align to address these needs. These partnerships need to start at an early stage and this is our ambition within the Young Chamber. It has been hugely encouraging to see the delivery of exciting and innovative programmes to help prepare young people for their future careers and I know from personal experience that our training providers, colleges and universities in Dorset all place huge emphasis on engaging and working with employers.

There are many examples of great businesses in Dorset working closely with education. However we need to see all businesses embrace the need for skills development. All business owners need to engage, all business owners have a responsibility to play an active role in the development of a skilled workforce for the future. In Dorset we have an excellent range of strong education establishments, all keen to work with businesses. It’s essential we work together in creating these partnerships to ensure that we have the skills we need to continue to grow our economy.