 Cogent was formed with employers and unions to develop strategic, targeted action to meet the sector’s skills needs. We are leading a major drive to boost skills and workforce development in the sector.
Cogent’s primary aim is to support businesses in the sector to compete globally, through the skills and talents of all their employees. It is working to increase substantially the uptake of skills for productivity and sustainability; to reform the system of qualifications and to ensure that licences to operate underpin all skills development activity.
Involvement of the Trade Unions has always been important to us, and we have always had Union representatives on our Board. We recognise the importance of the needs of individual employees within the workforce, as well as employers and the industry as a whole. We have developed this toolkit for Union members and officers to help you understand what we are doing to help improve the skills of people working in our sector, and we know that in return, you will continue to help us to bring the skills message into workplaces across the sector.
One critical success factor for meeting the skills challenge is delivering training in the right format, in the right place and at the right time, for both the employer and the learner. To this end, the Cogent sector was successful with bids for two National Skills Academies – for the Process Industries and for the Nuclear Industry.
The Academies will establish a network of approved training providers around the UK providing training companies with industry defined products, aligned to industry standards and delivered in a way that fits with business. This will make it easier for companies to access the training they need to upskill their workforce.
Importantly, Cogent has also been working with the sector to influence Government policy – including channelling public funding to the sector to meet its needs. Its research and collection of Labour Market Information (LMI) continues to build unrivalled intelligence and analysis about the skills needs of the sector.
Through this portal you will see how Cogent is bringing together and harnessing the sector’s demand for skills – for example through its Upskill Programme, through Skills Passports, through industry-led Apprenticeships and through its drive to forge strong links between employers, schools, colleges and higher education. As well as potential new entrants, we know that 70% of the UK’s projected 2020 workforce is already over 16, so we need to concentrate also on improving the skills of people who are already working in our sector.
In his report on skills in the UK economy, Lord Leitch said:
“In the 21st Century, our natural resource is our people – and their potential is both untapped and vast. Skills are the key to unlocking that potential.”
It is certainly difficult to argue with such a message and Cogent looks forward to continuing to strive for a prize that can be shared among everyone: employers, individuals and our wider society.
Dr John Beacham, CBE
Chairman
|
