Skills Academy launches trainer acceditation scheme

Teesside, UK - The National Skills Academy Process Industries has launched of a formal accreditation scheme to enable training providers to have their products and services assessed and endorsed to a nationally-agreed standard, set by industry employers themselves. The move is intended to give employers the confidence that they are investing in training that will benefit their businesses and help them meet current and future commercial challenges.T

he process industries, which include the chemicals, polymers and pharmaceutical sectors, produce hundreds of daily essentials from biofuels and plastics through to rubber, synthetic fibres, pharmaceuticals and chemical additives. The industries play a major combined turnover of £67.1 billion, represents over 15% of total UK manufacturing Gross Value Added, according to the Academy.

The academy provider network will create a cohesive skills framework that will help the industry deal with issues such as a workforce that has a wide range of practical skills, but which are unverified and not necessarily at the levels needed, according to Neil Smith, network development manager for the Skills Academy. Training providers, he added, are key to the partnership between the skills academy, employers and providers, and the Academy is committed to working closely with, and investing in this network.

“We know that providers are keen to develop a more bespoke approach to training, and to work with us to look at how it can be delivered to fit in with the needs of the 24/7 production environment that most employers operate," said Smith. “Creating a training framework that allows existing and new skills to be nationally verified by accredited providers will also make a career in the industry much more attractive to the thousands of young graduates and apprentices that are required over the next ten years."

The Skills Academy was launched earlier this year in a bid to help process employers address industry-wide training and skills issues. It is now working with employers, colleges, universities and private training companies across the country to identify skills gaps, develop industry-specific training programmes that meet the needs of employers and the workforce, and help them source funding through Train to Gain and other initiatives.