CMI calls on the Chancellor to invest in management and leadership or risk ‘levelling up’ failure
#SR21 – Ahead of the Comprehensive Spending Review on 27th October, the Chartered Management Institute (@cmi_managers) is calling on the Government to commit to crucial investment in management and leadership as a central part of its ‘levelling up’ agenda.
Good management underpins our society and economy, but there is a market failure when it comes to developing this all-important management capability: without incentives, businesses simply do not invest in management training.
As a result, the UK has a chronic gap between the management skills required by employers and the management capability of the workforce.
To close this gap, management and leadership skills must be regarded as essential spending, if the Government is serious about levelling up all parts of the UK.
This is also crucial spending to build an economy that enables people and places to thrive.
CMI is urging the Government to prioritise investment in management and leadership skills through the Spending Review.
Our 5 key asks of the Government are to:
- Maintain current spending levels on higher education
- Protect apprenticeship funding, including at degree level
- Build management development into education, training, and sector policies
- Include four core skills (communication, problem-solving, teamwork, and digital competency) into all Government-funded training provision
- Require all Government procurement bids to include management and leadership development
CMI has also urged ministers to include mandatory reporting requirements on diversity and inclusion in all funded training programmes, to ensure that they reach individuals and communities across the UK.
Ann Francke, Chief Executive of the CMI, said:
“Levelling up has got to be about people as well as places, and its success is predicated on a rock-solid commitment to funding education and training.
“The Chancellor has a golden opportunity to demonstrate his personal passion for improved management by committing to long-term investment in training and leadership skills, and by putting improved management at the heart of every contract the Government enters into.
“Sustained funding for higher and further education must be at the heart of ‘levelling up’ and ‘building back better’. Ministers’ aspirations won’t become a reality unless we see a commitment to building Britain’s human capital at the very heart of this Spending Review..
“Our five asks aren’t just nice-to-haves — they’re absolutely vital if levelling up is to become a reality.”
As well as seeking firm commitments to the funding of higher education and apprenticeships, CMI is also calling on the Government to lead by example through embedding core skills in all funded education and training provision, and requiring a commitment to management and leadership development from potential suppliers as part of its procurement process.
“The Government, as an employer, could really show us all what ‘best practice’ looks like in training and development”, commented Daisy Hooper, Head of Policy at the CMI.
“With an annual procurement budget of almost £300billion a year there is a huge opportunity for the Government to drive private sector commitment to good management and leadership through making M&L training a mandatory requirement for any organisation tendering for a Government contract.”
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