Job Related Training
4.59 Participation in job-related training is similarly high in the South West. Figures for 2005 show 23.4% of working age adults were in receipt of job-related training in the last 13 weeks. The South West has the third highest level of participation amongst the English regions, above the national average of 21.3%.
4.60 Women and managerial and professional staff are most likely to undertake job-related training. The greater uptake by women has been linked to their greater likelihood of being employed in industries such as the public sector and occupations such as teaching where job-related training is most prevalent.
4.61 Within the region, the rates of participation in job-related training above the national average are seen in Bath and North East Somerset, Bournemouth, South Gloucestershire and Gloucestershire. Devon, Dorset and Somerset have the lowest rates of job-related training amongst adults.
4.62 Information available from the 2005 National Employers Skills Survey shows that public sector or voluntary organisations are more likely to provide training than those in the private sector. A significant proportion of this training is often driven by health and safety statutes or the need to induct new staff. On average, 29% of training, compared with 27% in England as a whole, was of one or other of these kinds.
4.63 Firm size is also important when it comes to the likelihood of providing training opportunities with the smallest establishments, of course, being the least likely to train staff.