3.16 Investors in People is the most widely recognised tool for organisations to plan for the current and future development of their staff to meet business aims. It also has a clear link with improved business performance. At the end of December 1997 there were 8,600 organisations recognised as Investors in People with a further 21,500 formally committed to the National Standard. Together they cover around 30 per cent of people employed in Britain.

3.17 We propose to consolidate the position of Investors in People as the general standard across the public and private sectors, and in large and small organisations. In particular we would like to see all our leading companies recognised as Investors in People, as well as using other tools for improving performance such as the Business Excellence model (the British version of the European Framework for Quality Management). Almost all of the top 50 UK companies have some part of their organisation committed to, or recognised as, Investors in People, but progress in many of these companies is far from complete. This is one priority for action by Investors in People UK, alongside improving access for small employers.

3.18 We will look at the best way of strengthening the links between adoption of Investors in People and Government business support. Good human resource practice among our contractors should improve their ability to meet our needs; we wish to encourage that. Our aim is that every Government Department should be an Investor in People by the year 2000.