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Investment in Qualityanyway and because already more educated and skilled workershave a stronger capacity to benefit from the formal courses on offer.In the light of the substantial factors which bias company trainingtowards the already more educated and skilled, the Councilrecommends that the National Training Advisory Committeeconsider ways that might influence companies to target the leastskilled members of their workforces for training. It alsorecommends that consideration be given to enabling small firms toco-operate, on a geographical or sectoral basis, in some form ofshared training resource for their employees. The work of the TaskForce on Life Long Learning should also be fully considered.8.9.7 Respecting diverse employment contractsLow-skilled workers seeking entry (or re-entry) to employmenttoday are those who most experience the diversity of employmentcontracts that have come to characterise the knowledge-basedeconomy and its services sector in particular. They are disproportionatelylikely to be offered work that is part-time, temporary orfixed contract, and featuring flexible hours or shift work. It isparticularly important for them, therefore, that employmentlegislation and social protection should no longer be based on theassumption that a “real” or “decent” job is full-time and permanent;the ultimate criterion of a decent job, justifying its full proportionateprotection, should simply be that it genuinely needs to be done.In this context, the Council regards the introduction of theProtection of Employees (Part-Time Work) Act 2001, as animportant milestone in extending improved protection to almost300,000 part time workers, many of whom are women. It recommendsthat attention be increased to studying the working hours ofnew and relatively low-skilled entrants to the workforce and to theirprogression in the employment contracts offered them. Forexample, it is aware of a great deal of debate about the role oftemporary work as a stepping stone to regular employment, withsome taking the view that training or placement in workplaces canovercome employers’ hesitancy to hire people who have been404