Time to get moving

There has been progress at last on the change from NET, the National Training Organisation, to the Sector Skills Council. Not, as you see, on the name front (that one still has months to run), but an acknowledgment by government that it has seen the Formal Expression of Interest sent in mid-February.

Seen – yes; read – possibly (perhaps probably); agreed – who knows? The Sector Skills Development Agency (SSDA) has asked for a meeting between the Implementation Task Group and an appointed advisor. This should be good news because it shows that the Agency know that the sector exists, but until the meeting is held the sector won't know whether the light is green, amber or red.

In the meantime, the Government reviewed (its concept)/changed (the Sector's thinking) the programme and timetable for sectors wishing to become Sector Skills Councils (SSC).

The period of six weeks from submission of Formal Expression of Interest to comment upon it has remained the same, but the Government has now asked that submissions not be made until April.

Doesn't this strike a familiar chord in the ears of estimators? "The extension is only given after you (and frequently perhaps you alone) have submitted your compliant bid". Thus, the benefits gained by the sector getting its act together and submitting in mid-February (when there was no such stipulation in place) have been nullified. Should we be surprised? I suggest not.

Still, work goes on in the anticipation that the SSDA will give the sector a green light and allow it to get on with setting achievement standards for electricians, plumbers, heating, ventilating and refrigeration fitters, among others, in order that the benefits that the Government so anxiously awaits can be delivered.

In my last article ('The need for change', EMC, April) I gave some indication as to why the Government is putting our industry, and all the other industries in this, and other sectors, through these changes. The article could have been summarised in perhaps two words: productivity and improvements.

Who better to determine how to develop this highly skilled workforce than employers, who, in the overwhelming majority of cases, are the highly skilled workforce of yesteryear

I will now try to give some details as to the scale of the new sector that is being created and let you see, as I hope the Government and the SSDA see, the enormous amount of valuable work that we as a sector already carry out.

But by the sector what do I mean? Well, let's stick to the sector put together for the application to the SSDA by the electrotechnical, heating and ventilating and plumbing industries – that of construction, building and engineering services:

• the sector, in all of its component parts, had a total turnover of £1.9 billion in 2000;
  
• there are 51 000 registered businesses employing 555 000 individuals, not to mention the self-employed;
  
• a small number of very large businesses contribute considerably to the UK's export performance;
  
• the multitudinous number of micro-businesses keep the country going industrially, commercially and domestically – just imagine your world without instant access to water, gas or electricity;
  
• in general, the sector carries out construction, building and engineering services across the whole of the UK on greenfield sites, in restoration, and on refurbishment projects;
  
• the sector also undertakes all types of work carried out downstream of electricity, gas and water meters, as well as playing a major role in the areas of sustainability and energy efficiency.

In addition, let us not forget that the services that the sector installs and maintains are among the most dangerous and the most common. Gas, electricity and water can kill, very easily.

Because of these facts, businesses that have grown up over the past century or so have demanded a highly skilled workforce to ensure that the services, when installed, are installed safely, not only for the sake of the immediate client and the installer, but safely for subsequent users and the general public.

Who better to determine how to develop this highly skilled workforce than employers, who, in the overwhelming majority of cases, are the highly skilled workforce of yesteryear.

The sector doesn't need civil servants or government ministers, college lecturers or those from the learned professions to tell it how it needs to train to achieve the highly skilled workforce that it uses to satisfy its clients, and thereby generate wealth. It can do so itself (although I concede that it might need an occasional bit of outside advice to keep it on track).

However, the sector and the Government are at one on this. All through the documentation and the speeches made by government ministers is the phrase "the new Sector Skills Councils shall be employer-led".