Contents

• Cogent's new regional and industry teams
•• New appointments for Cogent Leadership Team
• Skills for Business network launches major advertising campaign to promote skills payback
• Swapna Kak appointed Project Manager for the Energy Efficiency Team
• Opportunities trailer boosts graduate interest in oil and gas careers
• Foundation Degree in Polymer Technology now available
• Cogent to produce occupational and functional maps for the nuclear industry
• Cogent joins the North East Skills Development Unit
• Standards and qualifications update

Cogent's new regional and industry  teams

Following the launch of Cogent as the Sector Skills Council for the Chemical, Nuclear, Oil and Gas, Petroleum and Polymer industries, a new operational structure across the UK and across the industries has been established and new appointments made, as follow:

Regional structure and team:
Cogent’s operations are now divided across four regions, with a regional leader supported by a team of regional advisers.  The regions and regional leaders are:

Scotland and Northern Ireland
Lawrie Bain - tel: 01224 787822; mob: 07801 793052

Northern England
Rob Storey - tel: 01224 787852; mob: 07803 029050

Central England
Bill Erskine - tel: 0845 226 9307; mob: 07860 670314

Wales and Southern England
Bob Chappell - tel: 01491 826833; mob: 07909 18096

Industry Focal Points:
A team of Industry Focal Points with expertise in each of the Cogent five industries has been appointed, as follows:

Chemicals
Rob Bevan - tel: 01224 787840; mob: 07786 707431

Nuclear 
Phil Attwood - tel: 01224 787836; mob: 07979 695258      
John Haddon - tel: 01572 747452; mob:07717 486120

Oil and Gas
Lawrie Bain - tel: 01224 787822; mob: 07801 793052

Petroleum
Tom Wolstenholme - tel: 01277 633378; mob: 07775 627635

Polymers
Brian Manning - tel: 0845 226 9316; mob: 07974 563115

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Cogent to open new centre in Warrington

Cogent Sector Skills Council will soon be opening a second centre in Warrington, Cheshire in addition to its centre of operations in Aberdeen.

Cogent’s Chairman, John Mumford OBE said: “The establishment of a second office is a major step for Cogent and recognises the wider geographical and industry spread that Cogent now covers. We are maintaining the Aberdeen centre as the focus for the important services Cogent provides to the oil and gas industry and the key staff delivering these services will remain in Aberdeen.”

Cogent already has a UK-wide home-based regional team based from home working with employers and stakeholders to deliver Cogent services.

Details of the Warrington location will be available shortly.

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New appointments for Cogent Leadership Team
 
Cogent’s cross-sector support capacity and capability has been strengthened by the appointment of two new senior staff to be based at the Warrington office:  Mervin Dadd, responsible for External Affairs and Communication, and Liz Rooney, Research and Policy Team Leader.

Mervin Dadd joins Cogent from Norfolk Constabulary where he was Head of Corporate Communications. He has 15 years experience of public relations and marketing in the Government Information and Communications Service for the Training Agency; the Employment and Education Departments; the Welsh Office and Ministry of Defence.

Liz Rooney takes on the role of Research and Policy Team Leader from her previous position of research and policy adviser within the team.  She has several years’ experience in research with particular interest in health and safety training and development, as well as expertise in the chemical and polymer industries.  Before joining Cogent, she worked for ICI, National Semiconductor and the Scottish Qualifications Authority.

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Skills for Business network launches major advertising campaign to promote skills payback

Skills for Business - the network of Sector Skills Councils - today launches a major campaign to champion the link between skills and success.

The campaign has been developed in response to labour market research which clearly shows the impact of employee skills on productivity levels.  It is led by advertising featuring ‘Skills Ambassadors’ - recruited from some of the most important board rooms in the country - explaining why they are committed to developing workforce skills as a foundation for success.

The campaign primarily features four high profile UK business leaders - Roger Putnam (chairman, Ford), Sahar Hashemi (co-founder, Coffee Republic - pictured), Philip Williamson (chief executive, Nationwide Building Society) and David Prosser (chief executive, Legal and General).

It consists of national and regional print-press advertising and posters, rolled out in two waves: the first wave features comments and opinions from business leaders about the contribution of skills to success, whilst the second wave depicts those same business leaders showing off a "In Skills We Trust" tattoo on their arm as a mark of their commitment to skills.

The campaign is scheduled to run until mid-November.

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Swapna Kak appointed Project Manager for the Energy Efficiency Team

Swapna Kak has been appointed Project Manager of an Aberdeen-based Cogent-led team, responsible for developing and implementing the energy efficiency training programme.  Cogent have approved and will quality-assure a UK-wide network of training centres/providers on behalf of a number of SSCs. In addition to the Quality Assurance element, Cogent will administrate the scheme which aims to retrain some 65,000 boiler installers, funding for which will be drawn down by the SSC for onward payment to the centres.

The City and Guilds qualification has been introduced for the domestic heating industry to meet the current and forthcoming skills needs of the existing and future workforce.

It was launched in response to both the Government’s 2003 Energy White Paper on reducing the UK’s contribution to global warming and forthcoming changes to current building regulations.

A website has been launched (www.skills4business.org.uk) to provide information to the public, heating installers and those centres delivering the training and assessment.

An energy efficiency training helpline  - 08080 100222 - has also been put in place.

For further information contact Swapna on 01224 787825.

Opportunities trailer boosts graduate interest in oil and gas careers

A careers information trailer aiming to inspire university students into joining the oil and gas industry was officially re-launched after refurbishment last month.

The Graduate Careers “Opportunities” trailer, which attracted over 300 visitors on its first day of operations at the EGREX exhibition in London on 20th October, was originally launched in 2002.  It is sponsored by industry employers to provide an interactive and dynamic insight into the range of career opportunities on offer in the sector.   Following its appearance at EGREX, the trailer is scheduled to visit up to 45 universities across the UK over the next year.

Manned by recent industry recruits, the trailer challenges many traditional perceptions of the oil and gas sector and highlights the diversity of roles available to the new generation of graduates. In addition to listening to direct accounts of the trailer team’s own personal experiences, students can watch video profiles of young employees, activate models of the latest technology in use and find out about training and continual learning.  They can also discover how hydrocarbons are produced and the real impact of oil and gas exploration on the environment.

“The students have shown great interest and surprise about the wide range of jobs available within the industry”  says Imran Jadwet, a graduate from the University of Bradford who joined the “Opportunities” project after working for 18 months with Talisman Energy in Aberdeen. “Thanks to its many interactive features and comprehensive information, this trailer is having a major impact in promoting the sector to young people and motivating them into choosing a career in oil and gas.”

Market research shows that fewer and fewer graduates view the sector as an attractive workplace.  Yet, as oil and gas exploration reaches maturity, new technical and commercial challenges are created that provide an exciting platform for high calibre recruits to fulfil their potential and aspirations.

Chris Allen, Health, Safety, Social and Environment Director for the UK Offshore Operators Association (UKOOA), said: “The newly refurbished Opportunities trailer takes the industry’s Graduate Attraction programme into its third successful year. When visiting the trailer at EGREX, I was impressed by the impact it had on visitors, many of whom had not previously considered the oil and gas sector as a viable career option for them.  This was in no small part due to the enthusiasm of the trailer team who were able to pass on their own experiences and convey the real sense of challenge their work for the industry brings.”

Enquiries from the students are administered by Cogent, which also co-ordinates industry contribution to the project. “Cogent is an employer-led organisation that works with the upstream oil and gas industry on skill issues” explains David Doig, Cogent’s Products and Services Team Leader. “A key goal is to attract high calibre people and the “Opportunities” trailer is an excellent tool for this. We are proud to manage this project on behalf of the industry’s stakeholders”.

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New Foundation Degree for Polymer Technology

A new Foundation Degree in Polymer Technology is now on offer for the first time.

The Foundation Degree has been developed by West Nottinghamshire College and Burton Colleges, in conjunction with Cogent and other industry bodies. Staffordshire University will be the awarding body.

It has become available to learners since September at Burton College, with West Nottinghamshire College hoping to receive approval to deliver the degree in the near future. Other further education colleges from across the country are expected to apply to offer the course.

Prior to this degree, there was no industry-related qualification available between the Technical Certificate, which makes up part of the Modern Apprenticeship Framework, and the Masters Degree in Polymer Technology.

Cogent has played a large part in the development and approval of the Foundation Degree content. The Sector Skills Council supported the consultation with employers to ensure the syllabus meets with the needs of employers.

Cogent has also been part of the validation panel set up by Staffordshire University to ensure the course complies with Foundation degree guidelines.

Bill Erskine, of Cogent, who has been involved in the setting up of the qualification, says the course will be primarily aimed at two sets of people.

He added: “Young people who have completed Modern Apprenticeships can progress to complete the Foundation Degree so that they can achieve a degree qualification as the next stage in their career development.

The other type of individual who will make use of this new course will be people already employed within the industry, who have started their career in another industry.

As employers have been influential in deciding the content of the course, it should help their workforce achieve the higher level skills needs that exist within the industry. Hopefully, therefore, employers will make the opportunity available to their employees as it will benefit both parties.”

For further information about applying to study the Foundation degree in Polymer Technology at Burton College, please contact Nick Hammond or Ken Sanders on 01283 494694.

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Cogent to produce occupational and functional maps for the nuclear industry

Cogent has received funding from the National Occupational Standards Board (NSOB) to produce occupational and functional maps for the nuclear industry

The occupational map (or sector survey) will provide a profile of the sector that will help decisions relating to the further development of occupational standards and national qualifications.

It will examine employment patterns and trends, qualifications provision, employment requirements and will also contain a range of data looking at aspects such as numbers of people employed and whether they are employed directly or on a contractual basis.

The functional map will provide a logical structure for the development of national occupational standards, defining the overall functions of the sector while providing the initial framework for the development of units of competence.

It will also ensure that common units are identified across the sector wherever possible and will highlight possible overlaps with other standards to allow further investigation for potential use.

For further information on this project, please contact John Haddon on 01572 747452.

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Cogent joins North East Skills Development Unit

Cogent is engaging with companies in the North-east of England to help address some of the short-term challenges faced by the chemical industry.

Cogent representative, Chris Ebdon, has joined the strategy team of the North East Skills Development Unit (NESDU), established jointly by Pharmaceutical & Speciality (P&S) Cluster and Teesside Chemical Initiative.

Members of the unit have been surveyed to determine the main issues that need to be addressed by companies in the short-term, with the main priorities already being actioned.

Chris Ebdon said: “The future of the chemicals industry is dependent upon having a highly skilled workforce. We need to act now to find solutions to the challenges we face within the sector, in order to achieve long-term productivity.

By working together through NESDU, will look forward to provide advice on skills and training for the whole chemicals industry.”

For further information, contact Chris Ebdon on 01224 787841.

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