More than half of today's businesses find it more difficult than five years ago to recruit employees with the skills they need, according to the results of a survey by the British Chambers of Commerce (BCC).

The director general of the BCC, David Frost says: "The current education and vocational training system is failing to provide workers with the skills that business need. If this is not effectively addressed UK business will be seriously disadvantaged."

The report found that only 18% of businesses believe that the sector skills councils effectively represent their needs. It found that 83% of businesses said they provided staff training and 77% offered staff professional appraisal and development.

The main barriers to providing staff with training were lack of staff to provide cover while colleagues were on courses and lack of money to pay for professional development.