Coating Trade Boosts Skills With Government Funds

The British Coatings Federation (BCF) is joining together with partners in the processing and manufacturing sector to form Proskills.

The British Coatings Federation (BCF) is joining together with partners in the processing and manufacturing sector to form Proskills.

It will be one of 25 new industry Sector Skills Councils (SSCs), each of which will attract GBP 4.5m of UK Government funding over three years.

The new initiative is designed to improve skill levels and training across the sector, where half of all employers say that skill gaps cause increased operating costs.

BCF said that in a 13 week period, only 15 per cent of people received any work-related training and in the coatings industry alone, 75 per cent of employers are reporting skill shortages.

BCF added that Proskills will be setting out innovative strategies for the process and manufacturing sector to be a leader in the high-skill, high value-added economy proposed by the recent Government White Paper on skills.

The organisation said it is confident that coatings companies will directly benefit as Proskills becomes a major force in the UK's industrial training arena - for example, it has already made a significant impact by making special arrangements to make GBP 30,000 of free training modules available to the sector, added BCF.

The new SSC structure puts industry in the driving seat to demand the training infrastructure and results it needs to create business success and support individual development, said the BCF.

As an organisation serving an industry comprising 20,000 businesses with a combined turnover of GBP 30 billion and half a million employees, Proskills will have considerable influence, believes the organisation.

Employer-driven and completely independent, Proskills will have its own board and full time staff devoted to driving forward the skills and productivity agenda across the sector.

The newly formed board comprises employer directors from each of the five industry partners and is chaired by Stephen Falder, of HMG Paints.

The organisation has been further strengthened by the recent appointment of Terry Watts, former chief operating officer of E-skills the SSC for the IT industry, as chief executive officer, said BCF.

In the English regions Proskills will be working with the Regional Development Agencies, Learning and Skills Councils, Chemical Initiatives and other bodies to participate directly in policy formulation to enable employers to benefit from regional and local programmes.

Three separate Nations Skills Groups, one each for Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, will also be formed, to help employers, local government agencies and other stakeholders to work together to resolve employers' skills and productivity needs and contribute to the development of the nations' skills policies, commented BCF.

A series of two-hour consultation events is being held to elicit the views of employers and stakeholders and to put forward Proskills' agenda for action in Belfast on April 20, Glasgow on April 21, Cardiff April 27 and Manchester April 28.

Anyone wishing to attend any of the events, should complete the form available on the BCF website.

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