Management training will be squeezed in the coming year, according to a new survey of managers.

Research by the Chartered Management Institute (CMI) found that its members forecasted spending cuts in management training and business development in 2004.

Details of the survey of 2,400 managers were released following Chancellor Gordon Brown's pre-budget report.

It found that while managers' business confidence was high, many predicted they would be personally worse off due to tax increases.

It is these tax increases that the CMI blamed for the forecasted spending cuts in management training.

The CMI also welcomed the Government's financial boost for training, indicated in the pre-budget speech, but called for it to include higher skills education.

Mary Chapman, chief executive of the Chartered Management Institute said: 'We strongly endorse the Government's policies to date to encourage all adults in or out of work without basic skills to start the learning process, and we welcome his new deal for skills.

'However, all too often financial support and encouragement for intermediate and higher skills are left out in the cold,' she added.