7 November 2007: Skills Minister marks network’s first anniversary with announcement of new National Skills Academy.
Skills Minister, David Lammy, today marked the one year anniversary for National Skills Academies, with the announcement that the network is now half way towards realising its 2008 target of twelve Skills Academies.
The National Skills Academy network, a unique structure of employer-led centres of excellence for sector training, was developed by the Learning and Skills Council with the support of its partners in Government and industry to address the fact that one in six (16%) businesses in the UK are experiencing skills gaps in their workforce – equivalent to 1.3 million workers.
The Process Industry is the latest sector to enter the network, and joins existing National Skills Academies in the Construction, Financial Services, Food and Drink Manufacturing, Nuclear and Manufacturing sectors, with the aim of having 12 Skills Academies up and running by the end of 2008.
Speaking from the LINPAC headquarters – a key employer backing the National Skills Academy for Process Industries and an industry leader in packaging and materials handling, Skills Minister David Lammy said:
“With the new National Skills Academy for the Process Industries now added to the growing network of Skills Academies, we are now half way towards realising our target of twelve Skills Academies nationwide. The Process Industries covering Chemicals, Pharmaceuticals and Polymers, are hugely important to our prosperity, contributing £23bn of Value Added to our economy.
“Getting the sector’s productivity and competitiveness up to world class standards means meeting employers’ needs and this Skills Academy will play a big part in that. We need people with skills from Apprentice Process Engineers to Analysts, from Environmental Managers to Site Directors. This Skills Academy will enable them nationally to acquire the skills they need for successful careers.
“I congratulate the Shadow Board of the National Skills Academy, Cogent (the lead Sector Skills Council) and all the employers who are supporting the Skills Academy, both financially and in other ways. LINPAC is a great example of one of these employers, along with Glaxo Smith Kline, BASF plc and many more who have been involved in the development of the new National Skills Academy for Process Industries.”
Commenting on the network, Chris Banks, Chairman of the LSC added:
“This is the first time that employers have been put in the driving seat to really shape training for their industry. Through the network, Government and industry are working together to improve the UK’s competitiveness and ensure the continued growth of our vital industries.”
The Process Industries which include Chemicals, Pharmaceutical and Polymers manufacturing have a combined turnover of £67.1 billion and a Gross Value Added in excess of £23 billion, which is over 15% of total UK manufacturing GVA.
Cogent, the Sector Skill Council that covers the Process Industry, supported the design and development of the new National Skills Academy.
The new Skills Academy is crucial for the Process Industries as they demand high skills levels and industry success is dependant on having the right skills in place. But current data identifies a clear skills gap – one in three technicians and skilled operators in the sector currently hold Level 3 roles, yet less than 20 per cent of these are Level 3 qualified. In the current Process Industries workforce there is a need to raise the skills of approximately 32,000 employees, from Level 2 to Level 3 and above.
In the polymer industry 40 per cent of the workforce only has NVQ Level 1 or less and fewer than twenty per cent have achieved NVQ Level 2.
Chris Horton, Board Director, LINPAC Plastics added:
“The National Skills Academy will enable us to lead the way in addressing the short-fall of employees in vital areas of the workforce. It means that the LINPAC Group will be able to recognise exactly where the skills gaps are in our industry and then develop our employees in those areas as well as attract and recruit newly accredited personnel to our business.”