Aerospace firms invest more time and money on training staff than all other sectors of the science and engineering industry, a new survey reveals.

They spend £380 training each employee, twice the average £190 training spend across the rest of industry. They also give staff 3.2 days for off the job training, compared with the average 2.2 days for the whole sector.

The figures are contained in the latest 2003-2004 People Skills Scoreboard, the bi-annual snap shot on training in science and engineering from the skills council SEMTA and the EEF, the manufacturers organisation.

The aerospace industry emerged as the sector’s highest spender on training followed by electronics firms and, thirdly, by makers of electrical equipment.

The survey covered 867 firms with more than 140,000 employees in the science, engineering and manufacturing technologies sector covered by SEMTA.

Bill Twigg, SEMTA’s head of research and standards, said aerospace was a pace setter when it came to firms investing in their employees.

“We hope that the latest Scoreboard inspires even more companies to use it to 'raise their game' as a lever for Improving investment in training,” he added.