Chris Huhne

Good Firms Will Not Cut Training Despite Downturn – Huhne

Eastleigh MP Chris Huhne presented the Eastleigh College Training Ambassador Awards to five leading local employers at a ceremony hosted by the College, and warned businesses to protect their future by continuing to train their staff.

The five firms are The Barker Dental Practice, Southern Electric Contracting, Abbey House nursing home, Fleming Park Leisure Centre, and Miller Homes Ltd. Mr Huhne paid tribute to their commitment in insisting on proper training.

“Cutting training is always a false economy, because we can only successfully compete on the basis of our skills not our low labour costs” the former business economist said, pictured here with prize-winners.

“The success of these awards in attracting more nominations than ever before shows that local firms understand that investing in people is just as key as investing in plant. Good people make better businesses. There is no other secret to success” said Mr Huhne.

The MP pointed out that we could not hope to have lower labour costs than countries like China and India, which meant that we could only successfully compete by using brain rather than brawn.

“Our future is in green technologies that save energy and create electricity from renewable sources like wind, tide and solar. And it is in high value added manufacturing. In both cases, businesses need new skills.

“The good news is that we are pushing the percentage of working age adults qualified to NVQ level 2 and above, and level 4 and above, higher than the South East average. That will eventually close the pay gap that has left our area lagging behind”.