We very much welcome your news, views and ideas.

Please email Judith Cowan if you would like to contribute to the next issue.

John was the driving force behind the formation of Cogent Sector Skills Council, created as one of the few “Trailblazer SSCs” in April 2002 when OPITO joined forces with the chemicals manufacturing and petroleum industry NTOs.  In January 2004 the Polymer NTO merged with Cogent to expand the sector footprint. This coincided with the inclusion of the nuclear industry through the support of the Nuclear Industry Association (NIA).

As an SSC to the five industries and covering a workforce of over 800,000, Cogent has become part of a network of influential SSCs which have taken over from National Training Organisations (NTOs), and which now form a network designed to bring employers centre-stage in articulating their skills needs and delivering skills-based improvements to productivity.

John’s commitment and sheer hard work led to the creation of Cogent as it is today - an SSC working with and on behalf of thousands of employers across its sector footprint. During the company’s early evolution, John travelled extensively and was away from home and family for much of the time, progressing the organisation’s corporate aims and securing its future for all.

John has contributed to the learning and skills agenda within industry for many years. His early career was spent in the construction industry, training initially as a building services engineer and moving into training and personnel management.  He spent time with the Construction Industry Training Board (CITB) and John Laing Construction, a major building and civil engineering contractor. From 1979 to 1990, he was the Group Personnel Manager for a large multi-discipline civil engineering and building services contractor in Dundee.

Following this John was the UK and European Personnel Manager for Smedvig Ltd, a Norwegian drilling contractor providing platform drilling services and running a fleet of mobile drilling rigs.  In this role, John was responsible for all aspects of personnel and human resources development.

John became Chief Executive of OPITO in January 1995.  His involvement with the organisation goes back to 1991 when he joined the OPITO Board representing the International Association of Drilling Contractors, one of the major employment associations on the Board.

Distinctive Style
Colleagues report that John’s distinctive leadership style is very much one of empowering the individual and treating people with respect and dignity. He has always been keen to highlight the value of positive ‘behaviours’ and how the business can be much more effective when people are open, honest, willing to challenge each other, dedicated and working as a team.   He has overseen and advocated industry-wide initiatives such as “Team-based Working”.

Cogent Human Resources Manager Neville Gall recalls how John initiated and helped develop the innovative Cogent “Going the Extra Mile” scheme.  This company-wide bonus scheme was designed to recognise and reward certain key behaviours that underpin the Cogent company values. Neville says, “in a business where people are unquestionably the greatest asset, the scheme has helped greatly to ensure that staff are aware that positive attributes in such areas as teamwork, communication and understanding, customer focus, flexibility and commercial awareness are highly valued and worthy of additional recognition.”

He added, “he has supported many in their self-development and certainly is an advocate of the value of learning and development. I know from colleagues and from former associates of John’s, he is highly respected and admired throughout our industry for these passionate beliefs around life-long learning.”

John’s leadership style is very much about seeking to bring out the best in people and inspiring them to take responsibility and ownership for their activities and to work hard in achieving goals.  This emphasis on “enabling” and supporting the individual has led to a highly motivated, flexible and responsive workforce attuned to, and focused on the needs of the customer. 

Additionally, John has always been keen to support staff initiatives which again, underlines his belief in the value of supporting and putting trust in people.  As an organisation under John’s leadership, Cogent has achieved and retained Investors in People accreditation for eight years.  The most recent Investors in People audit revealed the rare conclusion that no corrective or remedial actions were necessary.

The Scottish University for Industry (SUfi) recently appointed John Ramsay to its board, reflecting his passion for learning and development.  The university aims to encourage lifelong learning and enhance the skills base of Scotland’s workforce. It promotes learning that uses new technology to try to minimise the barriers to learning such as time, cost, lack of information, lack of confidence and inconvenience.

Anyone for marmalade?
Some perhaps less well known facts about John include his passion for driving out on the open road with the top down on his 1969 Midget sports car, his love of the movie The Magnificent Seven, admiration of Franklin D. Roosevelt and his hero, Nelson Mandela.

All these were details John revealed during an interview for Cogent’s in-house Intranet site. During this John also very sportingly revealed that the cartoon character he most identified with was Paddington Bear. Paddington is rarely parted from his battered, brown, leather suitcase which has secret compartment in which he keeps all his important papers. He always carries a jar of marmalade in his case and he often has a sandwich tucked under his hat “in case of emergencies”. These all sound like useful tips for an international business traveller who might find himself occasionally stranded at far-flung airports!  

On a more serious note,  Neville Gall adds, “John is a man of integrity and certainly not afraid, when necessary, to ruffle feathers and ‘grasp the odd nettle’. He also a man of great humour.  This ability to be a fair, firm, focused and very approachable leader has resulted in great successes both as OPITO and, latterly, in establishing Cogent with the assistance of the Board.”

John Mumford, Vice-President BP Oil UK Ltd and Cogent SSC Chairman said: “I have worked closely with John for more than three years and we have been through a lot of trials and tribulations together.  My lasting memory of John will be his tenacity in dealing with all the rules and regulations involved with the creation of the SCC. 

“Despite the trials and tribulations John always kept his sanity (and his temper) and somehow found a way to keep everyone happy.  Also I would like to recognise the integrity with which John dealt with all board members.  Cogent has a board where a number of different interests come together and John never compromises any of these interests.  Finally, I think John's character is summed up by his recommendation to the board about his successor.  He was very clear that we should not have 'another old bearded Scotsman ' and whilst we have yet to make a formal announcement I can confirm that his wishes have been granted. “

The qualitative consultation will include large, medium and small companies - from large oil refineries to micro businesses in the sign-making sector- and ensure a regional spread.

The survey will be conducted via 250 face to face, one-hour long interviews and 700 postal interviews to gather Labour Market Information. It is a critical stage in Cogent’s SSA process which will culminate in a series of nationwide meetings at which the findings will be reported back to employers and other key stakeholders.

Sector Skills Agreements (SSAs) are aimed at revolutionising the way education and training is organised and funded in the UK.  The process means that employers in the Cogent footprint will have unprecedented influence over the system and will be able to shape the supply of future education and skills supply so that providers are meeting the real training and development needs of industry.

The final Sector Skills Agreement, which will be signed by all the key stakeholders, will be a working partnership between employers and everyone involved in delivering education and training.

The Cogent questionnaire is a comprehensive survey covering the first three stages of the SSA process:

• Stage 1 - assessment of current and future skill needs
• Stage 2 - assessment of the effectiveness of current education and training provision
• Stage 3 - analysis of the gaps and weaknesses in current education and training provision

The Cogent Research and Policy Team are working with Cogent’s  Employer Engagement Team (EET) to drive the process forward during June and July. The analysis and report writing will take place during September and October and rolled out to employers and stakeholders in government and education in November. Lauren Sadler from  Cogent’s R&P Team said: “Consultation is key to this process and we are delighted that a number of companies have already come forward to express their views.  We must also thank the key trade associations across our footprint for their leadership and input.

“These groups are developing an agenda for change within their sectors and are steering the SSA process on behalf of the employers they represent.”

Sector Skills Agreements are underpinned by rigorous methodology and will result in Labour Market Intelligence that is robust and that will supersede existing data which is in many cases out-of-date, skewed, patchy and lacking in both a UK-wide perspective and a regional focus.  The data will be used to inform policy, funding and delivery.

It will also feed into the Learning and Skills Council Funding cycle in readiness for the LSC’s 2007 budget.

Lauren Sadler added: “ The outcome of this critical, strategic and industry-led process will ensure that the Cogent sectors have the necessary range and level of skills to further boost productivity and compete internationally. It is about developing a skilled and motivated workforce geared up to meet the challenges of the future.”

The initial recipients include energy research, physical organic chemistry, statistics and electronics. Future awards will focus on other research areas.

In a changing research landscape, as undergraduates choose new options, more traditional core subjects are encountering declining numbers of entrants. This in turn affects the base of academic staff in universities, which impacts on the nation’s capacity to produce the well-trained people and research leaders of tomorrow.

There are a number of strategic areas that are particularly at risk and the programme of Science and Innovation Awards has been introduced by EPSRC to address this issue. Professor John O’Reilly, Chief Executive of EPSRC, said: “We are taking action now to secure our position for the future in some key research areas that are at risk and yet crucially important to the UK economy and to the well-being of science more generally. However, the Science and Innovation Awards must be recognised as but the first of many steps that will be required to reverse the situation.”

EPSRC in partnership with the Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE), and the Scottish Higher Education Funding Council (SHEFC) will fund 5 major programmes with a value of over £19 million.

Sir Howard Newby, Chief Executive of HEFCE, said: "As new industries develop and traditional industries become ever more knowledge dependent HEFCE is committed to sustaining and developing research capacity in key strategic areas of science and technology. I am very pleased to share this commitment with EPSRC and SHEFC through the Science and Innovation Awards programme."

Recipients
The projects will create centres of excellence in their respective fields under the leadership of a principal professor. The recipients, and total funding figures are: 

Cardiff University - £4.1 million to reinvigorate the area of Physical Organic Chemistry, which has wide applications in industry and consumer products through the study of molecular chemical processes. Through the establishment of an international research centre with a programme of applied research, Cardiff University will provide trained scientists for UK industry, and consolidate chemistry as an academic discipline in Wales. Innovation and global collaboration are at the forefront of the project led by Professor Graham Hutchings.

University of Glasgow - £4.2 million to create an Electronics Design Centre to advance the area of electronics and electrical engineering. The Centre will establish a purpose built laboratory and recruit academics to deliver cutting-edge research that will enable new systems to emerge from nanoelectronic, optoelectronic and bio-electronic technologies. The Research Centre will address the increasing need to combine these diverse technologies for biomedical, environmental, safety and communications applications. Led by Professor David Cumming, the centre will also promote excellence in teaching and research training in electronics design.

University of Nottingham - £3.5 million of funding to expand innovation in chemical engineering and chemistry. The aim will be to stimulate the academic supply chain and promote chemistry to young people, and to place the partnership between chemical engineering and chemistry at the forefront of industry and learning through an academic and industrial collaboration programme led by Professor Martyn Poliakoff. The focus of the project is green, sustainable chemistry and process engineering. The objective is to develop chemical and engineering tools and techniques at all scales from "the molecule to the mixer".

University of Strathclyde - £3.8 million to focus on future trends in power technology, notably with a sustainable energy integration theme. An international research programme will investigate low carbon power, efficient national grid systems, power supply resource management and future sources. Led by Professor Jim McDonald the project will feature academic and student posts, and work with other universities in a collaboration programme with international partners.

University of Warwick - £4.1 million to set up a new centre for statistics research in the UK. Post-doctoral and PhD programmes will see 3 new permanent academic posts, 5 post-doctoral positions and further PhD studentships. This will reinforce the discipline of statistics under a new research programme and its application across many areas of science and technology. The unit, led by Professor John Copas, will create a focal point for statistics and run an outreach programme extending to school level with the aim of addressing the serious lack of capacity in statistics research in the UK.

The Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) is the UK’s main agency for funding research in engineering and the physical sciences. The EPSRC invests more than £500 million a year in research and postgraduate training, to help the nation handle the next generation of technological change.  

The purpose of this group is to consider and identify the main barriers to companies improving performance, competitiveness and diversification (and in some cases just surviving), in relation to innovation and design and more specifically the need and/or impact on Workforce Development.

Cogent’s predecessor for the polymer industry was the Polymer National Training Organisation, which over the past five years has, in the main, been concentrating on ensuring that technical training facilities for engineers, setters and technicians have been in place throughout the country. The requirement now is to examine a far broader area of activity that impacts directly on the industry. The Polymer Leadership Council has identified that innovation and design is a critical area for sustainability of the industry.

Cogent’s Polymer Skills Adviser, Brian Manning is co-ordinating the Group which will focus in the main, on three areas for examination and analysis:

• Provision of a feedstock of new talented, ready for work individuals entering our industry and ensuring that education and training facilities/provision is in place to allow this to happen.
• That industry from micro companies to small and medium size enterprises, exploit through development of their existing workforce, all facets of innovation and design that will impact positively on their company’s competitiveness and productivity.
• That the industry have knowledge of and engage with the wealth of services, consultancy, research and development, education and training provision that will also impact positively on their future operations.

Brian Manning said: “The work of this group will be essential for informing and adding value to the current Industry Labour Market Intelligence being undertaken, that will be used in forming the Sector Skills Agreement between Industry and Government.”

The Group consists of representatives from industry, academia (both tutors and students) representatives of industry bodies ( Faraday, GTMA) and partners in design consultancies, together with materials suppliers. All the participants have practical experience in this area of the industry’s activity.

Brian Manning welcomes contact from other individuals or organisations who have strong views on this important subject.

[email protected]

Geoff has been leading the organisation -  the national awarding body providing quality assured vocational qualifications mainly to the polymer industry - since 1994.

He began his long career in the polymer industry in 1969 as a Chief Technician and Lecturer in polymer processing at the Southbank University and then moved into the role of Process Commissioning Engineer with OMS. He went on to spend five years with Duna Bila as Production Manager.

In 1984 Geoff moved into education as Senior Training Manager with PPITB and was subsequently promoted to Chief Instructor and Development Technician. He is a Graduate of the Plastics and Rubber Institute where he also holds a Licenseship.

Cogent’s Skills Development Adviser for Polymers, Brian Manning, who has worked with Geoff throughout his career with the PPITB, BPTA and Polymer NTO said: “Geoff’s attention to detail, knowledge of qualification systems and sense of humour, essential qualities when dealing with NVQs, will be a great loss to SASL and the industry. I feel sure however that he will retain close links with polymers in some shape or form.”

With Geoff’s retirement SASL is now seeking someone to lead the organisation into the future.  Reporting to the SASL Board, the incumbent will provide leadership and general management to the team of four full-time staff and seven associates.  Click here for more information.

SASL is accredited and regulated by the Qualifications and Curriculum Authority (QCA) and the Scottish Qualification Authority (SQA).  It also delivers local company-based qualifications that are tailored to individual requirements.  For over twenty years, its schemes have been renowned for being user friendly, explicit, focused on need, flexible and valued.

Gary Luquette, president and managing director of ChevronTexaco Upstream Europe and chairman of the industry's Step Change in Safety Leadership Team, said: “The UK offshore safety record has improved significantly since the start of the cross-industry Step Change in Safety campaign in 1997. However as long as we continue to experience injuries in our industry, there is more work to do. The purpose is to engage industry leaders, refocus on our goals and put some “step” back into Step Change, the key vehicle for bringing about measurable change in our industry's safety performance.”

The latest figures released by the International Association of Oil and Gas Producers (OGP) show that the lost time incident rate in the UK oil and gas sector has improved by 69 per cent since 1997 and 22.5 per cent since 2003, suggesting that the industry is now safer in the UK than in the Americas and Europe.

However, the industry sees further opportunity to force the pace of change by targeting three strategic areas:

• The recognition and understanding of potential hazards in the offshore work environment and how to deal with them to reduce the risk of accidents;
• Creating personal ownership for safety at all levels in organisations by demonstrating commitment, competence and leadership;
• Ensuring asset integrity by making sure platforms and pipelines are properly-maintained, reliable and efficient.

Cogent Sector Services Ltd Chief Executive David Doig said: “We work with Step Change when we design our standards and other pan-industry initiatives which affect the workforce. The input of the workforce is vital if we are to have standards which reflect their real needs and the hazards in the workplace.”

Taf Powell, head of offshore division at the Health and Safety Executive (HSE), said: “The meeting extends the visibility of and support for the UK continental shelf safety agenda. Step Change needs to move from the incremental delivery of the past years toward securing a real step change improvement in performance. If all three objectives are achieved, then significant and sustainable improvements are attainable.”

The initiative has identified the best practices that support and sustain safe behaviour, such as risk awareness, communication and personal leadership. It aims to harmonise the implementation of these practices across the industry to encourage everyone employed within the sector to develop a shared sense of responsibility for safety.

Step Change in Safety is the UK oil and gas industry initiative set up in 1997 to reduce injuries and dangerous incidents offshore. It is a unique collaborative grouping of the operators of UK offshore oil and gas installations and the supply chain, and has over 130 members. Its affiliates also include all the major industry trade associations, the TUC and the Health and Safety Executive.

www.stepchangeinsafety.net

The report, An Electricity Supply Strategy for the UK, calls for a new strategic approach in response to changing energy sources and the challenge of climate change. Public engagement also has a key role to play in addressing the broader issues, including the different options, to help government make more responsive and timely decisions.

 The CST, the government's top-level advisory body on science and technology policy issues, made a number of recommendations in the report addressing the key energy policy issues which include:

•  immediate investment in large scale, low-carbon, energy generation facilities to meet the Government's carbon dioxide reduction targets;  keeping the nuclear option open and placing more emphasis on carbon sequestration and tidal power;
• government investment in R&D should be aimed at new and renewable fuel sources, energy management, storage and improving the supply and training of skilled workers in the UK; and
• development of the transmission network, its protection mechanisms and metering systems to facilitate distributed and diverse generators, ranging from commercial to domestic units; and to address the regulatory issues arising from this form of generation.

The CST programme of work identified energy as a key issue and established a working group, under the leadership of Professor Michael Sterling (vice-chancellor of Birmingham University). The report is advice to the government to help it form future energy policy.

Professor Sterling said: "The CST has the role of providing the very best advice to government.

"The government's Energy White Paper contains challenging targets which are likely to be missed unless hard decisions are taken now. This report proposes that government give greater attention to technologies that will deliver significant generation capacity in 10 years' time, and to technologies that will deliver reliable renewable energy in the long-term.

"In the current climate of intense debate, this report provides an excellent opportunity to address the full range of issues, and recognise the valuable role public dialogue has."

Alan Johnson, Secretary of State for Trade and Industry, welcomed the report.

He said:"The report is a very important and valuable contribution to the energy debate which we shall be having over the coming months, and I am grateful to the Council for Science and Technology for their work."

He said: "What really matters in schools is having excellent science teaching. Books... are very important but without the teachers you can't make anything of them."

His comments came as the author Bill Bryson backed a scheme to send a copy of his best-selling book on science to every secondary school in Britain to help boost science education in schools.

Lord Adonis was speaking at the Royal Society of Chemistry in London, where the scheme to send A Short History Of Nearly Everything to 6,000 secondary schools was launched.

Last year the Teacher Training Agency admitted that both science and maths teaching were "challenging" to recruit for. The Agency's new financial incentives were approved by the Secretary of State for Education Ruth Kelly at the beginning of June and this means that from 2006:

• maths and science postgraduate trainees will receive a bursary of £9,000 and a golden hello of £5,000;
• other priority secondary postgraduate trainees will receive a bursary of £9,000 and a golden hello of £2,500; and
• non-priority and primary postgraduate trainees will continue to receive a £6,000 bursary only.

Since training incentives were introduced for PGCE students, teacher vacancies have halved.

The Free to Choose report reveals that young people - particularly girls from lower socio-economic groups - are not being given the access to careers advice, work-experience placements and training opportunities that would give them true freedom to fulfil their ambitions and potential and gain higher pay. Instead, too many are being channelled into jobs traditional to their sex. By contrast, girls who have entered work through higher education have broken into new, higher paid jobs in areas like medicine and law and now form more than half of entrants.

Free to Choose is the final report from the EOC's investigation into sex segregation in training and work.

The EOC has found real evidence of support for change among young people:

80% of girls and 55% of boys said that they would or might be interested in learning to do a non-traditional job;

When exploring what would tempt them to try non-traditional work, three-quarters (76%) of girls and 6 in 10 boys (59%) said that they would like to try work normally done by the opposite sex before making a final job choice;

25% of boys said caring work sounded interesting or very interesting and 12% of girls were interested in construction; For example less than 3 % of childcare apprenticeships are male and less than 2% of construction apprenticeships are female.

92% of women and men said that they would want children who are about to enter the workforce to be able to make job choices without worrying about traditional stereotypes of women's and men's working roles. 100% in Wales.

Despite this, the EOC found that:

Only a sixth (15%) of young people received any advice or information on work experience in a sector with a workforce currently dominated by the opposite sex;

In one survey, of the 45 childcare work experience placements undertaken, only 2 were filled by boys, whereas only 29 of the girls had listed it as their future choice;

Some young people reported being actively discouraged to pursue a career outside the norm for their sex. One female trainee plumber said: "schools careers - it would have been good if they had just not discouraged us."

67% of women, didn't know when they chose their career, about the often lower pay for work mostly done by women and of these two thirds of young women said they would have considered a wider range of career options had they known;

Apprenticeships are perpetuating gender segregation or even making it worse.

Website
The EOC has launched a new interactive website -  http://www.works4me.org.uk - to help young people find out more about the full range of career options.

The investigation also found a clear correlation between skills shortages and those sectors with few women. The Free to Choose report also shows that many employers want to take on a more diverse range of recruits.

Julie Mellor, Chair of the EOC, said: "Girls from lower socio-economic groups are often ending up in lower paid work than boys, despite doing well at school. Opportunities for some boys to take up the work that suits them are also being blocked. Britain can't go on letting young people down - the choices they make at an early age affect their whole lives and the economy suffers if employers can't get the right mix of skills and talents.

"Our findings demonstrate how important it is for Government to remove the barriers facing young people and the employers who want to take them on - with careers advice available to every child, including information on non-traditional work and its pay, the chance of two work experience placements, one non-traditional; and apprenticeships which open doors to more non-traditional trainees. Tackling occupational segregation needs to be put at the heart of Government's strategy to raise skills and productivity.

Ruth Kelly, Secretary of State for Education and Skills, who is speaking at the EOC's launch event, said: "I welcome the publication of this report. The links between occupational segregation, national and employer productivity, skills shortages and the gender pay gap are particularly striking.  It is clear that these issues need to be addressed, both for the benefit of our economy and on social justice grounds. 

 "Our recent 14-19 and Skills White Papers contain many proposals which should help address the EOC's concerns. These include improving the quality and range of information, advice and guidance available to teenagers and adults, and the aim of creating a truly comprehensive education system."

More information can be found at www.eoc.org.uk/segregation
photo courtesy of www.paulineneild.co.uk and the EOC

"Full CoVE approval is central to the PTL strategy and provides a strong statement of our intention to build upon our historical position as the premiere training provider in the sector" said Raymond Clarke, Chief Executive of PTL . "We are delighted to have achieved this important milestone. The focus on meeting the criteria has led to the development of a range of new courses with a significant emphasis on design, added opportunities for BTEC certification and significant investment into the Telford centre."

PTL has also taken the opportunity to build a regional network of training and education providers as part of the CoVE initiative. The network offers a wide range of PTL programmes with PTL staff based at a number of the centres. "We will continue to expand and strengthen this network, providing a broader range of regionally responsive services, supported by the acknowledged expertise of PTL," said Clarke. "This development positions PTL at the centre of vocational education in the sector for the next decade and we look forward to working with our customers, delivery partners, trade bodies, Cogent and suppliers to the industry, ensuring that the sector has the skilled workforce that is required to compete on the global stage."

For further information contact Wendi Beamson on 01952 681846 or alternatively email [email protected]

The University of Southampton is a leading UK teaching and research institution with a global reputation for leading-edge research and scholarship.The University has around 20,000 students and nearly 5000 staff.

Professor Bill Wakeham has been Vice-Chancellor of the University of Southampton since October 2001. A chemical engineer and graduate of Exeter University, where he studied Physics and completed his doctoral research.

Professor Wakeham is a Fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering, the Institution of Chemical Engineers, the Institution of Electrical Engineers, and the Institute of Physics. He holds a higher doctorate from Exeter University, an honorary degree from Lisbon University, and is a Fellow of Imperial College London.His research fields are thermophysical properties of fluids, intermolecular forces, and thermodynamics.

Why are skills so necessary to business success and productivity?
We are now in a knowledge economy and in order to succeed and compete organisations depend on the knowledge and talent of their workforce at every level. This means a commitment to upskilling people in all functions in the organisation. Efficient and innovative production and manufacturing will increasingly depend on skilled and knowledgeable teams.

Research and Development (R&D) is essential to sustained and successful performance in the UK process industries within the Cogent footprint. The government have recognised this and have set a target of 2.5 per cent of GDP to be spent on research. This means we will need an extra 70,000 extra research workers by 2014 - and a staggering 700,000 across Europe.

However, in order to meet these challenging targets we need to be seeing many more young people taking up science based GCSEs. We also need to have an honest debate about the growing need to import future talent in order to make strides in R&D or to accept that the extra research work will be exported to other countries.

The Schengen Group of EU countries is taking a progressive approach to this, and recognise the importance, where there are gaps, of importing skills.

We must find solutions to this skills shortage - and this includes looking at remuneration. Industry is understandably concerned about a lack a trained people, and in particular graduates, however it is time we reviewed the salary structures in some of our R&D functions.

If we ignore this, talented people will continue to leave the country or choose to pursue other careers that enjoy better remuneration and/or prospects of development.

We need both graduates and technically skilled individuals to sustain our R&D base. I believe that young people with good first degrees in a range of disciplines can be given training and development which will equip them to take-up technical and managerial roles within industry. We will continue to need specialists in area such as nuclear engineering , but industry also needs bright people with good degrees whatever the discipline.

How do skills link to healthy employee relations and to a motivated and productive workforce?
To some extent this is self-evident. Developing skills means that people are better able to contribute, happier and therefore more productive. Ongoing learning and giving people the ability to do new things means nurturing home-grown talent. It is a sensible and longer term investment which can only lead to a better organisational performance.

For example, here at the University, we have recognised that senior professorial economists are in great demand outside of he university. Thus, we have put in place means to develop our junior staff for these roles over time. This keeps them in the system and means that we have developed an internal talent bank, rather than resorting to poaching from others.

Of course there is always the risk that other organisations will poach from yours. But we believe that there is much to be gained - developing people is both a motivator and a retention tool. Organisations that are continually looking outside for talent cannot be focussed on what they are truly supposed to be doing. That is not a recipe for sustained success and indeed can drag organisations downwards.

1The Schengen Agreement allows people that are legally present in European countries that are party to the Agreement to move about freely without having to show passports when crossing internal frontiers. (The term 'Schengen Agreement' comes from the name of the village Schengen in Luxembourg where the Agreement was signed in 1985).

Internal frontiers are defined as the national boundaries between the countries taking part in the Schengen Agreement, together with airports and seaports in the case of traffic to and from a Schengen country. Travellers can cross the internal frontiers wherever and whenever they like without having to undergo personal checks. However, anyone who enters or leaves the Schengen zone is carefully checked.

Cogent have recently added to their suite of standards that assist industry in training and assessing staff involved in this type of work. The newly launched Rigger Assessment Standard provides a tool whereby industry can confirm the skills of qualified riggers to allow them to work without direct supervision on their sites and installations. This standard was designed by a workgroup involving representation from various parts of the industry as well as the HSE.

Cogent  Project Lead, Bob Provan said: “The inherent hazards in this kind of working require high standards of management of health and safety. This is another Cogent contribution to enhancing the safety within the industry.”

There are currently five approved training centres which can deliver elements of the above training with others going through the approval process at present.

Cogent’s other standards in this area are already well established. The standard for Slinging and Lifting Operations, covering the training and assessment of individuals on how to prepare loads for movement by crane, how to direct the crane driver to lift, move and set down the load and how to inspect the equipment involved has been well used since its development and implementation in 2000

This important standard was joined in 2003 by the Introduction to Rigging and Lifting Standard. This was designed to give the basic skills and competencies to individuals whose work involves the use of chain blocks, pull lifts, tirfors and so on, so that they can work safely, under supervision, on tasks such as removing valves, spool pieces, motors and other large pieces of plant and equipment.

For more information on the standards contact Bob Provan [email protected] or click here