Skilling time

In several recent editions of Electrical and Mechanical Contractor, my fellow columnist Simon Bartley has given regular and expert briefing on the progress towards setting up SummitSkills, the proposed building services engineering Sector Skills Council. He is very closely involved in this, and is handling it with great expertise.

Simon came to the Joint Major Contractors Group (JMCG) of the ECA and the HVCA a few months ago to bring its members up to date. An excellent discussion on training and related issues followed, and continued over dinner afterwards. One very experienced senior staffer said that it was the best such discussion that they could remember at the JMCG over the last six years. That was high praise indeed, because we have had many very good ones, including meetings with former construction minister Nicholas Raynsford and other prominent personalities.

I found the discussion with Simon particularly helpful because I am heavily involved with the mechanical and electrical sectors, and with the wider construction sector in certain disciplines. Simon has rightly pointed out that the Government made it clear a year or so ago that it wanted to replace the previous 70-odd National Training Organisations (NTOs) with far fewer Sector Skills Councils (SSCs).

The ministers at the Department of Education and Skills had originally intended that there should only be one SSC for the entire construction sector, including building services engineering. That would have been a very radical step, because the building services contracting sector alone had three NTOs – for electrical (NET), mechanical (ESTTL) and plumbing (BPEC).

To achieve one SSC would have meant merging all three with the Construction Industry Training Board (CITB), which their trade associations left many years ago. In my capacity as chair of the JMCG, and chair of the Joint Industry Board for the Electrical Contracting Industry, I knew from several meetings of those bodies and from informal discussions with their members that there was no current intention for such a reunification with CITB, and that was the view both of the employers’ associations and the trade union (AEEU, now Amicus).

Last January, much to my surprise but pleasure, I was asked by the education and adult skills minister (following a public advertisement and a competitive interview procedure) to become chair of the CITB as from 1 April, following Hugh Try. Hugh had done a marvellous job over the previous six years as chair, working closely with chief executive Peter Lobban to ensure that the CITB really engaged with the leaders and members of all the trade organisations in levy scope with the board.

In my first meeting with the minister after my appointment was announced, I stressed that a single SSC for the whole construction sector could not be achieved, and explained why that was so. The minister accepted my advice – which he had also had from others – and sights were firmly set on a twin-track approach of two SSCs. However, we also agreed one requirement must be that the planners for the two SSCs should work very closely together to ensure that there is no overlap and all appropriate aspects are mutually covered.

The two Sector Skill Councils should work very closely together to ensure that there is no overlap and all aspects are covered

This has happened very well, with excellent co-operation between Simon Bartley and Sheila Hoile, the main drafter of the CITB’s document bidding for SSC status. This has continued in a very constructive and friendly atmosphere, with real professional attention to detail.

The current position as I write is that the CITB’s expression of interest was approved by the Sector Skills Development Agency in September, and the bid has since proceeded to the development stage. By the time that you read this, hopefully that will also have been the case with SummitSkills.

One particular requirement from the Government is that SSCs must embrace the whole United Kingdom. The CITB bid therefore includes the CITB (Northern Ireland), which is a separate statutory body with its own levy, and the Construction Industry Council (CIC), which represents all the professional institutions, and thereby also professional practices in their employer capacities.

There are some issues that require particular care and co-operation and will receive both. The CITB (Northern Ireland) has HVCA members in levy/grant scope, which is not the case in mainland Britain. Moreover, while the JIB’s overall writ does run in Northern Ireland, in practice it leaves most training and apprenticeship issues to the Electrical Training Trust (ETT), a local organisation that understands and works with local firms.

Another important link is professional education, which is extremely important to the CIC, and is a central issue for all SSCs. While the CITB has always taken a keen (and growing) interest in higher education, it has not in the past seen it as a core activity, because its main role has been with craft skills.