Taken in part from the Express and Echo

Firms from across Devon have pledged to support their employees by offering them the right training to do their jobs properly. Exeter College is one of seven organisations to have publicly committed to signing the nationally-recognised Skills Pledge, which aims to make sure all employees have a certain level of qualifications.

The skills pledge is a public commitment by a company to support all its employees develop their basis skills – including literacy and numeracy – and work towards achieving relevant valuable qualifications to at least NVQ level 2, the equivalent of five GCSEs at grade A to C standard.

The agreement was signed yesterday by the College and other firms such as Stagecoach and First Bus at the official launch at Flybe’s Walker Hangar at Exeter International Airport.

The city-based airline was one of the first companies in the country to sign the pledge last summer when it was launched by the Government.

Flybe has already shown its determination to boost the skills of its staff by announcing it will build a new state-of-the-art training academy at the airport by 2009. The carrier has secured Exeter College as its lead academic partner for the venture.

Exeter College principal Richard Atkins said: “Our professional staff are trained but we employ people in all sorts of roles – cleaning, catering and security right through to administration staff.

“We are also the training partner with Flybe. We’re working closely with Flybe to provide a suite of opportunities for them. We are pleased that so many organisations are making a commitment to staff training by signing up to the Skills Pledge.”