International skills within UK companies such as linguistic abilities, overseas experience and cultural awareness are crucial to driving “the blueprint for sustainable economic growth”, business innovation & skills minister Vince Cable said on Thursday.

But he warned that to ensure that businesses can access such skills, the future UK workforce must become “more switched on to the realities of globalisation” in terms of their careers as much as they do in consumer terms. If not, the UK risks falling behind in its capability to conduct business on the international stage, Cable said in a speech to the British Council.

Cable suggested that the UK was currently “nowhere near” sufficiently equipped to successfully conduct business in the international arena at the necessary level. He went on to say: “In fact, businesses for whom trade with people from other cultures is all important are finding it hard to recruit staff.”

He urged UK companies “to think carefully” about ensuring they had people with the necessary international skills so that they could “do business abroad, to attract inward investment, to export goods and services. That is, in fact, the blueprint for sustainable economic growth”.