Skills
Milton Keynes offers a workforce with a wide variety of skills. Easy access to these skills is a key reason for many businesses to relocate to Milton Keynes.
The table below provides a detailed profile of the occupations of the resident working population of Milton Keynes (at 2007) and compares it with the South East and with Great Britain as a whole.
Table 2 - Occupational Profile
| Milton Keynes (numbers) | Milton Keynes (%) | South East (%) | Great Britain (%) | |
| Managers and senior officials | 20,000 | 16.0 | 17.5 | 15.3 |
| Professional occupations | 15,900 | 12.7 | 14.5 | 13.0 |
| Associate professional & technical | 19,000 | 15.1 | 15.4 | 14.6 |
| Administrative & secretarial | 17,700 | 14.1 | 12.1 | 11.7 |
| Skilled trades occupations | 11,200 | 8.9 | 10.3 | 10.8 |
| Personal service occupations | 7,600 | 6.0 | 7.6 | 8.0 |
| Sales and customer service | 9,100 | 7.3 | 7.1 | 7.6 |
| Process plant & machine operatives | 8,400 | 6.7 | 5.2 | 7.2 |
| Elementary occupations | 16,400 | 13.1 | 10.2 | 11.4 |
| Source: Annual Population Survey 2007 (ONS). | ||||
A number of new initiatives in Milton Keynes will help further develop/improve the overall skill base of the workforce.
Initiatives include:
- University Centre Milton Keynes (UCMK) - a partnership involving a range of Higher Education providers in the sub-region and supported by Milton Keynes Partnership, Milton Keynes College, Milton Keynes Council, SEEDA and GOSE. The University focuses explicitly on meeting the needs of local employers and was founded in the heart of the city in 2008.
Alongside the University Centre, Milton Keynes Partnership is continuing to work with SEEDA, Milton Keynes Council and The Economy and Learning Partnership to develop the strategic direction of higher education in the city.
- Milton Keynes College - substantial investment in new infrastructure has seen the recent opening of a new campus at its Bletchley site and a new centre focused on the needs of the local construction industry. The latter is one of the College's five Centres of Vocational Excellence (CoVEs). The other four are: Information Communication Technology; Logistics and Freight Transport; Motorsport; Supervisory Management.
- CoVE status is awarded by Government in recognition of a centre of excellence in the provision of high quality, employer focused and flexible training programmes tailored to the needs of local employers within a specific occupational sector.
- Milton Keynes Secondary Schools are increasing their vocational focus with the majority now having 'Specialist College' or 'Academy' status. This provides centres of excellence in a wide range of areas including; Languages; Science; Maths and Computing; Business and Enterprise; Sport; Construction and the Built Environment.
Last reviewed June 2011
