JEDDAH, 21 February 2005 — Drawing on examples and experience in UK business, Prince Andrew yesterday delivered a measured presentation of the benefits of investment in education and skills training. He contended that governments provided a framework for investment in people that is fundamental to business. “The need for government to provide the opportunity in excellence in learning and skill is probably the single best investment we can make for our nation’s future,” he said.

Stressing the importance of partnership between government and business, he said that governments could only provide the framework and emphasized that employers should provide opportunities for their employees. “Employers are then more likely to see their business grow and develop.”

Identifying the biggest economic challenge for any country as the need to maintain its position and prosperity in an increasingly competitive global marketplace, governments, he said, have to work hard to create the best environment for business success in their country and the consequent prosperity for their citizens.

Governments though face difficult choices: How exactly to introduce new skills for the developing economy; how to adapt to different national and international demands on business practice and the workforce; and how to lay strong foundations for future prosperity.

“There is recognition in the UK that the skills of employees will be of growing importance to business productivity and profitability,” said Prince Andrew, “and that the skills required are constantly changing.”

In the UK 75 percent of senior managers believe effective staff development will be vital or important to future productivity; only 30 percent put this at the top of their list when faced with competing priorities, such as new technology, knowledge of competitors and research and development. Companies are often reliant on the local education system to provide them with the right “raw material” in terms of staff resource. “Governments must think strategically and set priorities, aims and objectives, but they have to be done with a time frame of what it is going to be required in 25 years rather than in the next few.”

Government can tackle skills shortages through listening more to employers and investing in the education infrastructure and delivering those skills in the nearer term. “Employers need to have a mechanism to relay their needs and concerns to the government,” he said.

“Government, business and the education sector all working closely together will produce a workforce ready and suited for current and future business needs whether intellectual or industrial. This holistic approach is essential: Apprentice and skills education must, above all else, be rooted in current industrial practice and needs. It is important to remember that these can be modified or changed with much greater ease than changing the longer term priorities. I know that the Saudi government recognizes the need to create a deeper and wider skills pool, and is devoting considerable resources to developing a vocational training system.”

In what many took to be a oblique reference to the greater employment of women, Prince Andrew said that up to 75 percent of employers found family-friendly, flexible policies were often cost-free to introduce. If a business does not employ a diverse workforce, it may well miss out on valuable skills and experience.

“Most consider these practices to have been cost beneficial for their business.” Citing the example of British Telecom, he said that home-based workers proved to be 15 to 30 percent more productive.