Competition: that's what we need!

For over a year now, we at Elite Learning Media have had a number of training courses developed to help improve the skills of security officers. We notified SITO of this and, subsequently, Skills for Security without managing to raise any interest.

The courses we have formulated are in line with the QCA's framework for achievement and, in essence, would render the security NVQ obsolete. They would also be more cost-effective for training providers, colleges and in-house security training concerns.

Only recently we received two comments on the courses direct from awarding bodies. John Sanders of the National Open College Network said: "It may well be that Elite Learning Media are way in front of anybody else", while Henry Elliott of Aberdeen Skills and Enterprise Training commented: "This is the best piece of literary work for a training manual I have ever seen."

We have offered to work in partnership with the leading organisations to benefit the security industry as a whole, so far without success. I would like to invite security companies to view our training materials and judge for themselves in relation to their quality and relevance to the security sector.

Your readers might well be asking themselves: "Who are Elite Learning Media?" We are a company formed by security officers that have risen through the ranks. That's right. A few short, sharp years ago we were all on patrol ourselves. We became NVQ assessors, and we could see where improvements were needed in respect of officer training. We did not listen to SITO, neither did we take any heed of our profit-driven college managers. What we did do was listen to the security officers themselves, and duly built up a SWAT analysis of them.

As of this moment I'm still awaiting a response from Skills for Security. To become a recognised lead skills body in the security industry that is truly independent, surely they should be actively encouraging us to make the training side of the industry far more open and competitive?

Paul Nuttall Director of Business Development Elite Learning Media