A new era in the fight to end the skills shortage blighting the automotive industry dawned this week after the Government awarded Automotive Skills the licence to become the new sector skills council for the retail motor industry.

Speaking at the official announcement this week Charles Clarke, secretary of state for education and skills, said: “It is vitally important that we focus on this skills agenda and improve our performance across the board.”

Peter Johnson, chief executive of Inchcape and chairman of Automotive Skills, commented: “As an industry we can ensure excellence by attracting the highest calibre of recruits, in particular more graduates and more women into the sector.”