Written question asked by Lord Foster of Bath (Liberal Democrat) on Tuesday, 25 March 2008, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Thursday, 27 March 2008. It was answered by David Lammy (Labour) on Monday, 21 April 2008 on behalf of the Department for Innovation, Universities and Skills.

Skilled Workers

Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Innovation, Universities and Skills with reference to the answer of 12 July 2007, Official Report, column 1624W, to the hon. Member for South Holland and The Deepings, on skilled workers, what his most recent estimate is of the number of skill shortage vacancies in (a) the construction sector and (b) the hospitality, leisure, travel and tourism sector.

Answer: The National Employer Skills Survey (NESS) 2005 for England has the most current publicly available data on skill shortages. The 2005 survey shows that 143,125 employers reported at least one skills shortage vacancy (SSV). Of these, construction accounted for 11,900 skill shortage vacancies. Forecast data by ConstructionSkills anticipates that to meet the demand for new workers, the construction industry in England will need to recruit 74,340 people per annum between 2008 to 2012. The NESS 2005 also shows that 12,900 vacancies in hospitality, leisure, travel and tourism arise as a result of a skills shortage. People 1st research indicates that chef and managerial vacancies are hardest to fill. Updated data on skill shortage vacancies will be available when the NESS 2007 is published after the end of March.

Secondary information