District acts to tackle skills crisis

It follows a report showing more than 60 per cent of Ryedale residents take home less pay than the national average – too little to afford a mortgage –and many are poorly-qualified academically.

Business, education and civic leaders are teaming up to tackle this, starting with a scheme this spring to find the right employment for schools leavers about to enter the jobs market.

Figures produced by Ryedale Council and Ryedale Work and Skills Partnership, following a skills survey, show 24 per cent of Ryedale's residents have poor numeracy skills – the second highest level in North Yorkshire

Other areas of concern are that 27 per cent have poor literacy skills – the worst in the county – while 23 per cent of local jobs are in low-paid "elementary occupations", which is the highest rate in the whole of the Yorkshire and Humber region.

Julian Rudd, the council's head of economy, said the district had a solid academic record. More than 60 per cent of students gain five A* to C GCSE passes, compared to 55 per cent in North Yorkshire overall.

He underlined that Ryedale was suffering a "brain drain" resulting in many youngsters leaving the area as soon as they completed secondary education.

The first step to stopping this would be the Employer Engagement Event to be held in a local secondary school.

Mr Rudd added: "The survey showed that local businesses are keen to engage more with young people to improve awareness of career opportunities available in Ryedale."

A key to regeneration could be encouraging students to start their own business. "Ryedale has a relatively low-wage economy with significant numbers of less skilled jobs," he added.

"This contributes to a major gap between the price of housing and what many local people can afford."

The new campaign will involve a partnership of voluntary, private and community sector organisations.

The aim will be to promote economic prosperity – not only by raising skill levels of Ryedale people but also by creating new jobs in high-technology sectors.

Council officials say some modernisation has taken place but the local economy has traditionally had a high dependency on agriculture, manufacturing and tourism, resulting in much unskilled work with low pay.

Potential solutions include town centre business property developments, plus improvements to cultural and creative industry facilities.

It is also hoped to build a large business centre under the Rural Enterprise Capital Programme, to foster innovation and technology-based companies.

Ryedale Council commissioned the Business Skills Survey, part funded by regional development agency Yorkshire Forward, from consultants to find out the needs of employers in the district.

The employment event was one of a number of initiatives which could take place straight away.

Other projects included employers offering more skill and training, and closer working with schools and colleges.

The report stressed that the way bosses tackle recruitment needed to be put on a strategic footing, and also called for a range of incentives to encourage employers to recruit and train young people.

Ryedale has a small number of large firms in the district. Some enterprises employ up to 1,300 people and represent a significant part of the jobs market.

The study concluded it was important to recognise that three quarters of businesses were small local companies, with fewer than 30 workers on the books, .