The Asset Skills blog

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Facilities Management employers in the North are being encouraged to attend an apprenticeship recruitment event.

The Asset Skills Virtual Academy for Business Services is hosting the seminar on 21 September to register candidates onto the new Level 3 Apprenticeship in Facilities Management.

Apprenticeships play an essential role in developing the highly skilled workforce needed for long term economic prosperity, a role recognised by government and employers alike.

The event will provide details of the costs and the criteria for funding support, and information about other FM accredited programmes.

There will be an opportunity to network with representatives from the Virtual Academy, professional organisations and awarding bodies.

Date: 21 September 2010

Venue: The Manchester College, Fielden Campus, 141 Barlow Moor Road, West Didsbury, M20 2PQ

Time: 16.15 - 18.00 (Coffee and refreshments available from 16.00, buffet from 17.20)

Agenda:-

Welcome - Riccy Longden, Assistant Principal, The Manchester College

Presentation - Steven Proudfoot, Operations Director, Asset Skills - will outline the Virtual Academy for Business Services

Presentation - Karen Waterlow, FM Specialist, Asset Skills - will outline the new FM Apprenticeship

Presentation - Graham McKendrick, National Apprenticeship Service

Presentation - Riccy Longden, The Manchester College - will outline facilities management training

Tour of Fielden Campus - will include demonstrations of CAD & BICS accredited cleaning programmes.

To register for the Manchester event please visit: http://www.regonline.co.uk/builder/site/Default.aspx?eventid=888945

For more information, contact Tom Orton at torton@assetskills.org or call the Virtual Academy for Business Services on 0844 822 2525.

If you are not on our apprenticeship email list please let us know on 0844 822 2525 or contact Tom Orton on the details above.

Asset Skills is renewing its call for people with property and planning experience to consider becoming vocational qualifications assessors.

It is part of plans to establish a Virtual Academy for Property Services in September which seeks to offer practical assistance to employers on issues of training.

To ensure the new Virtual Academy for Property Services is a success, we need to find people with the right level of industry experience who can help deliver the new assessment based qualifications.

The new Academy would help deliver a range of new qualifications and apprenticeships, developed by Asset Skills with the industry, as well as achieving economies of scale through employer collaboration.

As part of this, Asset Skills is building a pool of people who can act as vocational qualifications assessors and would like to hear from property professionals with solid experience who are interested.

They will not be employed directly by Asset Skills, but their details will be made available to a limited network of training providers, who will deliver the training as part of the Academy offering.

More information will be available in September.

The assessor pool will be accessed by further education organisations such as awarding bodies, colleges and training providers as they move into the market and seek the know how to support their efforts.

Assessors use their experience and knowledge to deliver programmes that support candidates to meet the industry standard and gather appropriate evidence to gain the qualification.

Assessment work is flexible and would be ideal for someone looking to use their industry knowledge to support learning and development in the sector.

Assessors can combine the role with their existing job or use it as an opportunity for a career change after taking a qualification such as the Level 3 Award in Assessing Candidates Using a Range of Methods - known as the A1.

For more information on the assessor qualification, contact the Institute of Assessors and Internal Verifiers www.iavltd.co.uk.

For more information on the Virtual Academy for Property Services, contact Liz Black, Property Specialist at Asset Skills, by emailing lblack@assetskills.org or call 07921 976 815.

Our latest Barometer Survey of employers has been released with some encouraging findings for employers across the footprint.

The project is a rolling programme that aims to chart the link between skills investment and productivity. It takes place every six months and has become a valuable piece of research that determines trends in skills training and produces solid industry specific data, facts and figures.

In facilities management, the skills levels of new recruits were found to have improved over the last six months.

While 38% of the 100 FM employers who participated claimed skills levels were up among new staff, challenges still remained in finding the right staff with the right skills and in retaining skilled staff.

Over the last six months 72% of the FM respondents invested in technical training and in 64% of cases this training led to a qualification.

Almost a third (32%) claimed to be spending more time on training than they were at the same time last year, compared to just 4% that stated they were spending less time.

Almost half (49%) suggested that the level of investment in training was about the same as it was 12 months ago and 38% planned to move into new areas of activity in the next 12 months. That said, a third of these employers did not feel that their current staff had the skills required to complete these new activities.

In housing, a quarter of the 107 employers questioned, were spending more money on staff training than they were this time last year.

More than a third (36%) said they planned to move into new areas of activity in the next year. However, the same percentage felt their current staff did not have the skills to undertake these new activities.

Challenges such as improving the level of customer service, and managing change as a result of restructuring or other operational changes were identified, as were employee sickness levels, keeping staff focused and motivated, and managing redundancies.

The survey also heard from 134 property firms, with performance and productivity showing a marked improvement on this time last year.

Profitability, productivity, optimism and staff morale had increased although running and recruitment costs were reported to be higher than they were 12 months ago.

Almost a third of property employers had increased the amount of time and money spent on training their staff, while 44% reported skills levels in new recruits were getting better.

A fifth of companies wanted to expand into new areas, however, half of these employers reported their existing staff did not have the skills necessary to do so.

In the cleaning sector, the barometer found companies to be performing better than they were this time last year.

Of the 94 employers surveyed, 18% had invested more time in training over the last year, with the same proportion claiming to have invested more money. Evidence suggests that further training may be needed in future - 27% of employers said they planned to move into new areas of activity in the next year and 36% claimed that current staff did not have the skills required to undertake the new activities that they would need to.

A fifth of cleaning respondents felt that the skills levels of recruits had increased over the last six months, with 61% reporting that new employees are either fully equipped or have most of the skills that they require for the job. However, 17% of employers felt that new staff had none or few of the skills that they needed.

To read the barometer results in full visit
www.assetskills.org/Research/Projects/Barometer_Questionnaire.aspx

A second event to promote a series of apprenticeship schemes in facilities management (FM) has been confirmed.

The FM apprenticeships are being trialled across England as part of the new employer funded Virtual Academy for Business Services pilot.

The second early evening network event will take place in Bristol on 24 June to kickstart the apprenticeship programme in the South West.

It will be held at the City of Bristol College’s Cabot Restaurant, Ashley Down Centre, Ashley Down Road, Bristol, BS7 9BU.

An event for employers in London and the South East on 22 June has already been announced.

The new apprenticeship will help raise the skills of the diverse FM workforce which includes facilities managers, buildings maintenance teams, cleaners, security guards, receptionists, caterers, gardeners and hospital porters.

It will also help the sector in tackling environmental targets through skills improvement in the energy management of buildings.

Elsewhere, a new course on low carbon and energy auditing is now available through the Virtual Academy.

“Understanding Energy and Carbon Auditing Explored” is being run by the Carbon Free Group and is primarily aimed at those in the facilities management, energy management and property sectors.

It covers energy and carbon auditing in buildings and property and gives candidates an understanding of the different methods used and costs involved to reliably measure energy use and carbon emissions.

It also covers areas such as how to respond to legislative and policy measure such as the Carbon Reduction Commitment Energy Efficiency Scheme or the NHS Carbon Reduction Strategy.

A relevant practical professional or management qualification or experience is preferred but not essential.

The one day course costs £55 per candidate - for more details, visit www.assetskills.org/Academy/TrainingQualifications/Lowcarbon.aspx. Places are limited and will be allocated on a ‘first come, first serve’ basis.

To register contact Tom Orton at the Virtual Academy on 0844 822 2525 or email torton@assetskills.org


Blog entry edited by an administrator on Fri 11 Jun 2010 at 11:09

A new facilities management (FM) apprenticeship programme is being launched in London and the South East.

It is one of six FM apprenticeship projects being trialled across England as part of the new employer funded Virtual Academy for Business Services pilot, set up by Asset Skills.

An early evening network event is planned on 22 June in London for FM companies interested in the new level 3 training programme that starts in the autumn.

As the economy continues to recover there is widespread acknowledgement among employers of the ongoing need to raise skills in the workforce to retain a competitive advantage, particularly in an economic climate in which efficiency and effectiveness are paramount to success.

This apprenticeship is a brand new training programme for the industry which Asset Skills developed with FM employers.

It will help raise skills across the facilities management workforce and we want to hear from employers who are interested in getting involved.

Apprenticeships have been identified by all political parties as an effective way of developing the highly skilled staff needed for long term economic prosperity.

The London network event takes place between 16:30-18:00 on 22 June at Westminster Kingsway College, Victoria Centre, 76 Vincent Square, London SW1P 2PD.

Another event will take place in Bristol on 24 June, with more set to follow.

For event information, contact Tom Orton at torton@assetskills.org or call 0844 822 2525.

By Karen Waterlow, Facilities Management Specialist, Asset Skills

It was the best possible start we could have asked for – an audience at standing room only while we outlined how our new employer funded academy pilot will work.

We launched the Virtual Academy for Business Services at the Facilities Show 2010, the key industry event of the year for facilities management (FM).

Our model is innovative in the world of skills training, in that it is funded through its employer membership and does not form part of the National Skills Academy network which draws on the public purse.

The show, held at the Birmingham NEC, proved the ideal platform to launch this pilot. It enabled us to reach a wide number of employers who are now expressing interest, including one who has 200 facilities management staff and managers in need of training.

FM forms a large part of business services and this programme will improve the way skills development programmes are delivered across the industry.

It will also help make available a number of new vocational qualifications and apprenticeships that we developed in consultation with employers in our role as Sector Skills Council for FM.

As part of the launch, we also announced plans to trial FM Apprenticeship schemes in five regions – London, East of England, North East, North West and Yorkshire & the Humber. I’m now pleased to be able to add to that list, with plans to trial an apprenticeship programme in the West.

The Academy’s “virtual” nature relates to our use of new technology in coordinating the project. Because there is no building, we have been able to keep overheads low.

To find out more about how this scheme works in practice, email virtualacademy@assetskills.org or call 0844 822 2525.

Alternatively visit www.assetskills.org/virtualacademy or to view the Virtual Academy launch film visit www.youtube.com/assetskills.


Blog entry edited by an administrator on Tue 18 May 2010 at 09:57

By Richard Beamish, Chief Executive of Asset Skills

As the Sector Skills Council for facilities management (FM), housing, property, planning, cleaning and parking, we work closely with employers to develop occupational standards and vocational qualifications, and to produce sound labour market information.

There are numerous projects underway to help raise skills in the above industries, but we are particularly pleased to be able to launch a new pilot we hope will help improve the way training is delivered across FM and cleaning.

The Asset Skills Virtual Academy for Business Services is being unveiled as a pilot programme on May 11 at the Facilities Show.

In a nutshell, the Virtual Academy will act as a link or facilitator between employers and training providers.

It will seek to recruit learners to programmes, pilot new schemes and access any funding that may be available to support candidates. A network of training providers who we believe will deliver good quality training has been identified.

The Academy’s “virtual” nature relates to its use of new technology in coordinating the pilot. There is no building as such, which has meant overheads are low.

The Virtual Academy will follow a similar path to the National Skills Academy (NSA) model, currently running in other industries, but will not form part of the NSA network. The Virtual Academy is a standalone model developed by employers and Asset Skills without recourse to public funding.

It will be funded through its members with a modest fee being set to encourage a high level of take up. Membership comprises employers in business services across the UK and we are working to extend this offer to the property and housing sectors later this year.

The pilot will be run through a new website and social networking platforms such as LinkedIn, YouTube and Twitter. The website will eventually host discussion forums for students, employers, qualifications assessors and training providers.

To kick start the programme, five FM Apprenticeship schemes are planned across England: London; the East of England; the North East; North West; and Yorkshire & the Humber. These are still in development and we hope to extend this elsewhere with other courses where there is sufficient demand from employers.

In this challenging economic climate it is more important than ever that employers work together to reap the benefits of collaboration through joint initiatives and economies of scale.

We encourage potential new members to get in touch to find out how the Virtual Academy can help navigate the often complex worlds of training, education and funding.

To view the Virtual Academy film visit www.youtube.com/assetskills or visit the website at www.assetskills.org/virtualacademy.

Alternatively, email virtualacademy@assetskills.org or call 0844 822 2525 to find out how the Virtual Academy can help you.

We look forward to working with you to make a difference to the delivery of learning across the sector.



Blog entry edited by an administrator on Mon 10 May 2010 at 21:51