Letter: UK plc must address failure to invest in training

While we can empathise with any pain experienced by employers (“Deloitte and HSBC revoke foreigners’ job offers after visas shake-up”, “Business leaders warn Sunak that Tory migration policy threatens investment” and “Graduate visa effect on skills level not ‘compelling’”, Reports, May 16) the citation of orthodoxy has no semblance to reality.

However, UK plc is addressing a serious, historical problem. Small and medium-sized enterprises are not as productive as their foreign competitors, measured directly through gross domestic product per capita. Sadly, if business leaders prefer to recruit overseas foreign nationals rather than recruit indigenous UK staff, business leaders are in effect cutting off their proverbial nose to spite their face, while a failure to invest in training leads to the NHS preferring to recruit overseas nurses.

While the recruitment of overseas-trained staff may add to the UK’s GDP, hence explaining the attraction of such a policy, it merely leads to increased migration flows, without affecting the lack of commitment towards employer-financed training.

Rebecca Pidgeon
London SW1A, UK