One of the key challenges facing businesses, and constraining economic growth, is skills shortages. This extends across all sectors and levels. In the tourism and hospitality sector with rural, and urban, premises having to limit opening hours due to lack of chefs and front of house staff, or life science businesses struggling to find the PhD and lab skills to develop and manufacture world leading drugs and vaccines.

The renewable energy and manufacturing sectors require engineers or welders in numbers far exceeding current availability. All sectors suffer from a lack of digital skills – not just in our leading edge AI, cyber and fintech businesses but across the broad swathe of small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) that need those skills to upgrade their technology and improve productivity.

Skills gaps limit the speed with which we can deliver the transition to net zero and support our house building aspirations with key constraints in the construction sector and installation supply chains. Our public services aren’t immune with our health and social care sectors in particular limited by the availability of doctors, nurses, carers and other professionals.

Some of this is due to a lack of working age people, I’ve written before about the damage Brexit and immigration constraints do to our economy. But much of it is also about how we align our skills system to support the current, and future, needs of our economy.

The Herald: Skills training is vitalSkills training is vital (Image: free)

More resources are always called for, but how we direct those resources is important. Our further, and higher, education system needs to be focused on producing the skills our businesses need, on a sector by sector basis, and in the numbers the sectors need. The implementation of the skills system review undertaken last year by James Withers for the Scottish Government goes someway to addressing this alignment.

Mid-career retraining is important. In the modern economy few can expect to be in the same job, or even the same industry, for their whole career. A great example was Code Clan, that provided a 12 week training course in digital coding skills for those seeking a career change. Its demise leaves a clear gap in that provision.

Apprenticeships are of critical importance. Their expansion is to be welcome. The mix of academic study and work experience provides a much more solid basis for acquiring skills that can be immediately used by businesses.

But simply knowing what opportunities exist is also a much overlooked and critical factor in this process. Young people are only aware of what they see around them – the experiences of family and friends. Widening horizons and raising aspirations is important. If you don’t know that the space technology business down the road can’t fill its six figure salary jobs because there aren’t the skilled staff available then you aren’t going to study the subjects and focus on getting the skills and experience to get one of those jobs in your future career.

Businesses engaging directly with schools – showing what kinds of jobs exist in the modern economy, and the fulfilling, and well paid careers that are available – is an excellent way to inspire young people. Many businesses already do this proactively, reaching out to their local schools. More should be encouraged to do so.

The Developing the Young Workforce (DYW) programme, operational in schools across the country helps with this work.

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The work of MCR Pathways also deserves special mention. This initiative was launched, with significant financial support from private individuals – business people keen to do what they can to support young people into what are known as ‘positive outcomes’ – finding a job or place in further or higher education after leaving school.

The programme has focused on supporting ‘care experienced’ young people – those whose family situation unfortunately means they don’t have that hugely important support at home to guide their choice of career and provide positive role models. MCR utilises volunteer mentors who spend one hour per week with the young person to give advice and support tailored to their specific needs. The programme started in Glasgow and has now been rolled out across the rest of the country.

Having taken part as a volunteer mentor, along with thousands of others, I can personally testify to its value. The results have been impressive with 90% of care experienced young people in the programme gaining qualifications at Nat 5 level, compared to 65% amongst those who aren’t.

This is a low cost intervention, relying mostly as it does on volunteers, but support staff, mentor training and safeguarding does require some funds. These are the kinds of interventions where a small investment delivers an enormous return for the economy, for society and for the young people supported.

Ivan McKee is a former Scottish Government Business minister