The beginning of November 2006 saw the launch of the first three National Skills Academies (NSA) following an announcement by the Department of Education & Skills. Provided to drive up the standard of industry training to tackle skills shortages across England, these academies are the product of two years of hard work and preparation to provide the Country with a brighter future.

NSA allows ambitious employers to lead the development and delivery of learning in their particular sector in order to meet specific needs. This will benefit everybody involved because the employers know what skills are needed in their sectors better than anybody, which in turn will lead to a more competitive workforce and therefore benefit the economy. This scheme is the perfect solution to off-set problems that have been encountered previously by the Government and employers in their efforts to improve skill levels. Secretary of State Ruth Kelly explains this: “In the past, Government has let down employers when it has tried to second guess what different sectors need. But equally, employers have been guilty of watching Government initiatives from the sidelines and expressing disappointment when they inevitably land wide of the mark.”

The need for a scheme such as the NSA is highlighted further when it is considered that employers have previously spent £33Bn on staff training and development with two thirds of these companies providing training. Unfortunately this investment was often unfocused and consequently this led to skill gaps being reported for one in every five organisations. Employer-led NSA will change this.

The NSA scheme has already had two rounds of bidding for interested employers. One ended in autumn 2004 and the second in 2005. To enrol, detailed business plans have to be submitted with satisfactory training methods and curricula in order to eventually obtain the highest standard of workforce. Employers work together with Sector Skills Councils (SSC), to help deliver the most competent academy possible. The NSA will:

• Deliver high quality training

• Provide first class teaching

• Develop and shape training programmes to meet sectors needs.

• Build networks with other learning providers so that higher standards are not limited to one sector.

The three academies set up already are in construction, manufacturing, and financial services. Looking at their diverse methods displays the benefit of the NSA scheme. The construction sector will create a network of site-based training centres linked to major construction projects coordinated by a central hub. This will bring together contractors and clients with local training centres, which is useful because the contractors and clients can outline the training needed for construction projects. The manufacturing sector will have a single point of contact and focus on the brokerage, design and delivery of high quality flexible training in the key areas of technological workforce, development and leadership. The method the financial sector has taken is by being organised by a not-for-profit company made up primarily of employer sponsors, which will allow employers to design training and strategy of the Academy. Courses will be organised for the unemployed and will have delivery centres including schools. This displays the advantage of all sectors pursuing NSA training schemes because each sector can organise the training and development scheme in a way that has never been seen before.

Diversity of training means that people will be specifically trained to be able to do the jobs each sector requires, but without the ambiguity that seems to have been the problem with previous training schemes. This means that any skill gaps will be erased and will make for a workforce that has the specific skills required for employment in that sector. The NSA schemes have wide reaching benefits for all involved. When they are fully active, NSA will benefit employers, employees, and the Government. The way employees will benefit from these academies is obviously that they will provide them with better skills. They will help to clear a problem that seems to be overlooked by many. School leavers have never been given the high quality training needed if they are not planning to continue education. This problem is being addressed by the NSA because people from the age of 14 will be taught about NSA so when the leave school at 16, they will be fully aware of the benefits that await them. In addition to this, there are low apprenticeship levels and colleges do not always deliver vocational training. This means that skills are ambiguous and, whilst this is not necessarily a bad thing, the correct skills are not always in place.

The imposition of the NSA will mean that vocational training is available to all and, because many employers will eventually be placed in a network by the NSA, jobs will be almost instantly available. In the past, inadequate training has resulted in disenchanted young people. This has reinforced the poor image of younger people in industry, and has therefore led to less recruitment. The NSA scheme will remove this problem. NSA will provide the correct training to give the skills required to make companies want to employ younger people, making the NSA a very attractive scheme for prospective employees.

This is directly beneficial to the Government; the results that the NSA is aiming for coincide directly with the Government vision of a modern economy. This scheme will eventually provide the Country with high performing workplaces, along with productive and profitable businesses employing competent and confident staff. Giving everybody the chance to become educated to a specific skill and make sure that future recruits have the skills required to make a difference from day one.

The repercussion of this is that employers will benefit from the scheme because they have the creative control of how the training programme will be implemented. Companies will be able to decide exactly what is taught and how, which will inevitably increase the strength of the workforce as well as the productivity.

In addition to this, the longer the scheme is running the more benefits it will bring as it will enable employers to appraise what methods work and those that do not and change these. Furthermore, larger membership to the NSA will mean there will be more employers, who can network to discuss training methods, which will result in better ways to conduct training.

Three sectors have already been approved for this exciting scheme and will shortly become active. A sector representing food and drink is close to being approved, and bids from the nuclear industry; the chemical industry; the hospitality sector; and the creative and cultural industries have been accepted by the government. These will now be invited to design a business plan in order to be ready for the next stage of the process.

Another bidding round is planned for early 2007, and the target is to have 12 academies operational by 2008 to provide the well-trained staff needed for the future.