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Electricity industry pools resources to fund new academyThe government and the industry are jointly funding an academy to address power sector skills shortages. Annabel Andrews reports on the initiative. As other sectors announce redundancies and recruitment freezes, the electricity sector is in the middle of a skills shortage. In fact, research by Energy & Utility Skills suggests the industry will need 9,000 extra skilled workers by 2015. The National Skills Academy (NSA) for power is the industry's answer to that shortage. The academy received an initial green light from government in October 2008, when skills secretary John Denham gave the academy the go-ahead, based on an initial proposal submitted in June 2008. The proposal was the work of the Power Sector Skills Strategy Group, a group of 24 energy companies, contractors, manufacturers and other bodies set up by Energy & Utility Skills. Richard Harpley of EDF Energy took over as chairman of the group at the beginning of 2008 and seized upon the NSA as a focal point for the group's efforts to convert skills strategy into action. Harpley credits the industry's enthusiasm for the idea for the quick progression from what he calls an "embryonic idea" in January to a formal statement of interest in June. "The industry has a real conscience, and people in the industry are very passionate about providing long-term, secure, sustainable power for the country and people," he says. "But we don't have enough people with the right skills who are going to be around to meet that challenge, without some form of intervention." He also praises the industry's willingness to work together on the project. "It has been possible because we're aligned on those goals, to collectively throw aside competition with each other and say 'this is a UK problem, it's an industry problem, if we all work together we can help the country solve the problem'," he says. Of course, there are also sound business reasons for investing in skills. "It's a damn big business case," he says. "Keeping the lights on and reducing carbon is a tough business and we need good business people, commercial people, engineers, skilled craftsman, the works." The government's go-ahead means the public purse will match industry contributions to the NSA for the first three years, after a development year in 2009. After that it is expected to become self-sufficient. The power sector has promised £500,000 to the NSA, from energy companies, as well as contractors and manufacturers. Some of that investment will go into creating a national "hub" for the academy, but Harpley is keen to stress: "One thing we know it won't be is a building in the middle of England somewhere, with the words 'skills academy' on it." His vision for the academy is "a network of people who can provide training and development, and a network of people who have the demand for the skills". The hub will be responsible for co-ordinating the efforts of the academy and ensuring consistency across the organisation. It will also be charged with lobbying government and promoting power sector skills to schools, universities and society at large. To do its job effectively it will need to stay close to the industry in order to anticipate future needs as the power industry changes. "This isn't just about having enough bodies," says Harpley. "It's about having the right skills for tomorrow's challenges." Frank Corrigan, strategy and development director at Energy & Utility Skills, says the academy will "make sure employers get the skills they want through genuine partnership with training providers". For training bodies, it will mean they will have "a reasonable idea of what the market is going to demand of them and can invest in training the trainers". He says the detail of exactly how the academy is going to be delivered is still being worked out, but existing skills bodies will be approved and most training will be delivered locally. There will be small, specialised national training programmes for careers that are high in importance but low in volume. Harpley thinks part of the academy's work will be to boost diversity in the power sector workforce, both to plug the skills gap and to reflect the diversity of the UK population. He says: "Power engineering hasn't necessarily been number one on the agenda of women, yet that's half of the population we could be offering a very rewarding career to. You must also look at the whole range of diversity in the UK, so that you have a workforce that's diverse not just on gender but race and age and so on as well." This is one of the reasons why he thinks that promoting power sector careers should be part of the NSA's remit. "I think it's a really exciting place for people to work," he says. "But we've not got a reputation for being a really exciting place for people to work. "This is an industry that has an important impact on the future of the country. I would like people to want to be a part of that." n Source: Matt Carey © Faversham House Group Ltd 2009. News articles may be copied or forwarded
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