Special Motorsports Event - MIA Welcomes Talent Retention Solution

London, August 17, 2011: At present, the demand for skilled engineers far exceeds supply. The new Talent Retention Solution (TRS) will complement existing commercial recruitment activity by, initially, creating a talent pool of skilled defence employees who need redeployment, says the British Government. This is a free service, to companies with fewer than 500 employees, created to retain highly skilled employees from defence, advanced manufacturing and engineering.

"This is excellent news for Motorsport Valley," said Chris Aylett, CEO of the Motorsport Industry Association (MIA) this week: "Many motorsport companies are growing so fast, yet are held back, as they can't find the high-quality engineering staff needed to meet global demand for their products. The UK's defence industry, facing significant cutbacks due to budget reductions, is host to some of the very best engineers in the world. I am sure they will add strength in depth to our world beating motorsport industry".

The easy-to-use website, Talent Retention Solution (TRS), at www.talentretention.biz/login.htm?rd=%2F helps match skilled employees facing redundancy, with UK companies in growing sectors, such as motorsport and high-performance engineering. TRS has government funding for set-up costs, and, from January 2012, will be fully funded by business subscriptions from larger companies.

Initially, it will connect highly-skilled engineers from the defence sector, who are seeking redeployment, with those engineering companies who are recruiting.

TRS will become fully operational by January 2012, when over 1500 employers across the UK are expected to have signed-up to the system, and it will provide live data broken down by skills and geography. The intention is to expand the scope of TRS to help redeploy skilled employees from across the UK's advanced engineering sectors, becoming a particularly important tool where large-scale redundancies are occurring. Rolls-Royce, BAE Systems, Nissan, Siemens, Airbus and EDF are already signed up to TRS.

Launching the Talent Retention Solution, Minister for Business & Enterprise Mark Prisk said: "The defence sector makes a substantial contribution to the country's skills economy through high-value jobs. The easily-accessible TRS system will play a vital role, ensuring these skills are not lost, by redeploying highly-skilled workers into fast growing sectors of advanced engineering".