In October 2006 we embarked on a new five-year Strategic Plan which is every bit as challenging as its predecessor. The overall aim is to continue to grow the organisation while reducing our dependency on public funding. We seek therefore to increase revenue from our international operations and from UK employers. We shall be developing new businesses but will be balancing a more commercial approach with initiatives that are firmly rooted in the purpose set out in our Royal Charter.

We were starkly reminded of the importance of diversification by new government funding priorities which have led to a cumulative reduction of some 1.5 million learners across the UK system. Despite this, City & Guilds’ qualifications and levels are still regarded as critical and we still achieved 3% growth which was a creditable performance given the circumstances. However, this fell short of the revenue targets that we had set. Prudent control over expenditure enabled us to achieve net incoming resources of £4.3 million, in line with our planned figure. 

The ILM performance was particularly strong with revenue growth of 21% and an increase in membership to over 25,000. The ILM team are to be congratulated on this achievement and I would like to pay particular tribute to Kim Parish who led ILM since June 2005 but has now stepped down in order to move abroad.

In order to build a closer relationship with the 1.5 million learners who graduate each year with a City & Guilds qualification we have established a new Association within the Institute that will seek to embrace as many of them as possible in membership. I am most grateful to Morton Neal, the President of the former City & Guilds Association, and to members of the committee who strongly supported this transition. Indeed the proposals were carried without a single vote being cast against them.

To mark the centenary of Imperial College, the Trustees agreed to provide £100,000 to fund scholarships over the next five years for students in the Faculty of Engineering. Similar support was also committed to the City & Guilds of London Art School.

During my first full year as Chairman I have been greatly assisted by the advice and support given by other members of Council. We were all delighted that the Lord Mayor and other ex-officio members attended the meeting of Council held in September at Grocers’ Hall.

I would like to thank Sir Peter Williams (Vice-President), Major-General Stuart Lee, Martin Thomas, Andreas Prindl and Elizabeth Nelson, all of whom all stood down from Council during the year – they have given most generously of their time over many years.

The Institute would not be able to function without the support of hundreds of other people who serve on committees or as examiners or verifiers.  They are the bedrock of City & Guilds and all that it stands for. I am most grateful for that support which so ably the extraordinary achievements of our employees (now over 1000 in number).

Finally, I wish to pay tribute to Chris Humphries who is leaving City & Guilds at the end of 2007 to take up his appointment as Chief Executive of the new UK Commission for Employment and Skills (UKCES). 

Chris has revolutionised City & Guilds during his nearly seven years as Director-General. He has a unique ability to combine strategic vision with attention to detail.  He oversaw the preparation of the 2001-2006 Strategic Plan which generated an extraordinary 86% growth in revenues over those five years. This growth was facilitated by a huge and welcome change in culture. People identify more closely with the objectives of the Institute and work together to achieve them. Chris’s humanity and humour, and his admirable lack of pretension, will be sorely missed. 

The UKCES was created in the wake of the Leitch Review. Chris has the challenging assignment of setting a new skills agenda for the United Kingdom as a whole. We look forward to working with him in his important new capacity in the years ahead.

Keith Brooker has been appointed to the position of Director-General on an interim basis while recruitment of Chris’s permanent successor is undertaken. Keith is enormously experienced in the skills arena, and we are grateful for the inclusive and empathetic leadership that he will provide during this period.

Michael Howell HonFCGI
Chairman