LINPAC vice-pesident in call to tackle skills crisis

May 11 2009 by Henryk Zientek, Huddersfield Daily Examiner

YORKSHIRE firms have been urged to face up to the skills crisis facing the region’s process industry.

Chris Horton, vice-president of West Yorkshire plastics maker LINPAC told industry leaders that the sector faced a demographic “timebomb” with 40% of its workforce aged 45 and over.

Speaking at a national skills summit in York, Mr Horton said: “Employers must continue to train their workforce despite the current economic pressures.

“We must take an active lead in ensuring we manage the skills agenda and we don’t just sit back and let the crisis happen.”

Mr Horton, whose firm employs 500 people, was addressing hundreds of delegates at the National Skills Academy Process Industries’ inaugural skills conference.

The academy was set up as part of a national network of academies designed to help employers in key sectors address urgent skills issues.Š

The process industries – including chemicals and plastics – employ 34,000 people across Yorkshire and contribute billions to the regional economy.

Yorkshire Forward has identified chemicals as one of the region’s priority industries in its Regional Economic Strategy.