The Recruitment and Employment Confederation (REC) has responded to Prime Minister Gordon Brown’s statement in which he has announced he will put housing, education and health at the heart of his Parliamentary programme for the coming year.

Commenting on the Prime Minister’s statement, Helen Reynolds, the REC’s acting chief executive said: “It’s great to see the Prime Minister’s strong support for business in his statement. For the recruitment industry this means simplification of some legislation coupled with much greater enforcement of the rules.

“This is what our industry has been crying out for.  REC members should not have to compete with rogue agencies that undercut them and give good recruiters a bad name. An industry that puts 1.2 million people out to work every week should be assisted, not hindered, by government.

“Recruiters will also welcome the focus on skills. Finding good candidates is a major problem for the industry. Initiatives on skills need to be speeded up and really start to deliver for business if we are going to have the competitive engaged workforce of tomorrow.”