The claim by many Bradford companies that schools in the district are not producing enough potential employees of a sufficiently high calibre to meet their needs is deeply worrying.

Bradford is trying hard to attract new companies to establish here and persuade existing ones to stay here. Yet almost half of the district's key businesses say they are struggling to recruit staff. According to a new survey, they feel that the people who are available don't have the necessary skills for the workplace. And most of them put the blame for that squarely on the schools.

That appears to be a strong indictment of the situation which has developed over the past few years. Whether it has happened because of government policy or shortcomings in the system in Bradford itself is not made clear in the report, although the comment from the compiler of the survey that "one can only hope that national and local government take heed of these findings" suggests that both are under suspicion.

Clearly things have to change if Bradford is to make the most of the challenges that lie ahead. We need to be able to offer employers well-motivated and properly-educated staff who can help their businesses to thrive.

However, it could be that the survey is a judgement on the past rather than the present. Education Bradford is rightly able to point to recent initiatives like the Education Business Partnership and changes in emphasis towards teaching pupils to be more flexible and adaptable learners. When these measures have had a chance to take effect, hopefully a different picture will emerge.