The UK is leading the way in training practices, is training more staff and has embraced more innovative methods than any other European country, according to a survey.

The study was conducted by European training provider Cegos Group and questioned training managers from 1,000 companies across the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Italy and Spain. It found that UK organisations are quicker to embrace new practices such as elearning, blended learning and mobile learning.

The findings also reveal that UK companies offer training to 61% of employees, compared to Italy, France and Germany - where less than half of staff receive any form of training. Yet while the UK is training more people than any other country, tight funding and time constraints has seen an increase in UK organisations running shorter programmes and spending less on professional development than other European companies.

The survey found the average European Corporate spends Euros 580,000 on professional development, with France spending around three times more than UK corporations. Spain and Britain both spend around 40% less than the average European budget, reflecting in part their greater use of blended learning and elearning.

"It’s good to see so many UK training departments are leading the pack in accessibility, content delivery and accountability," said Jeremy Blain, joint managing director of Cegos’ UK operations.

"Technology is playing a crucial role in driving down the cost of training, speeding up learning and making training more accessible to a wider audience. This trend will continue to be driven by today’s time-pressured workplace and current economic conditions as companies strive to get more for less," he said.