Businesses are being given the chance to influence on the job training in the UK.

Cumbria Chamber of Commerce is inviting businesses to give their feedback on how they would like workplace training to look for the over-25s.

Firms can complete a short survey on the chamber’s website, which will be fed into a national review of workforce training and development.

Chamber chief executive Rob Johnston said: “The British Chambers of Commerce has set up a commission to look into workplace training.

"It will make recommendations to remove barriers that prevent businesses from investing in their staff and it will suggest ways to incentivise them to do more.

“Technology is driving changes in consumer behaviour and old business models are under stress.

"It’s vital that businesses can adapt and have the capacity to upskill and retrain their staff.

“It’s especially important in Cumbria because our working-age population is shrinking.

"Many businesses here are already struggling to recruit the people they need.

"Getting more out of existing staff is crucial to our future prosperity.

“I’d encourage businesses to complete our survey.

"I know that time is precious but it takes only a few minutes and it’s vital that the commission understands the issues that Cumbrian businesses face.”

The British Chambers’ Workforce Training and Development Commission is due to publish an interim report in the spring taking the feedback into account.