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Opportunity Peterborough, the city’s economic development company, has revealed that 80% of Peterborough businesses recently surveyed would like young people aged between 14 and 19 to improve their employability skills.

The news is particularly timely as Opportunity Peterborough is set to launch a new brokerage programme to facilitate collaboration between city businesses, schools and colleges in delivering improved work-related learning for young people. The Peterborough Skills Service will be unveiled during the morning conference at the city’s Skills Summit on the 5th October.

The afternoon session of the event will see a skills debate between local businesses and senior staff from schools. This will provide a fantastic opportunity for businesses to voice their opinions on the challenges they have faced and identify areas for improvement.

When asked about their intentions for staff training and development over the next year, encouragingly, 45% of businesses surveyed said they plan to increase investment, with 51% stating they would maintain existing trends of commitment.

The survey, which ran from June to September, forms part of the city’s Skills Vision, an innovative programme with more than 270 members, launched last year to improve Peterborough’s future workforce.

The full set of findings will be presented for the fist time at the Skills Summit on the 5th October 2011 at the Marriott Hotel. Attendance to the event is free and open to all Peterborough businesses. Click here to see the full agenda and to book your place.