The Sector Skills Council for the places where we live and work
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July 2010
Facilities company Norse Commercial Services has won a major skills award supported by Asset Skills.
The Business in the Community Awards event is held each year in recognition of responsible businesses across the UK. This year's event marked the 25th anniversary of the Prince of Wales as President of BITC.
The Skills in the Workplace Award 2010, supported by Asset Skills and Department for Business, Innovation & Skills, went to Norse Commercial Services for a programme that embedded a learning culture into the heart of its business.
With a largely unskilled and semi-skilled workforce, their scheme helped deliver training to more than 3,500 people and subsequently played a part in securing new contracts worth in excess of £18m.
The facilities management provider turned a 12-person learning project into a Learning and Development Training Academy, which gave training to 2,321 staff and 1,250 members of the community. Increasing basic skills has seen customer retention rise, a cut in recruitment costs and fewer health and safety incidents.
"NCS put skills development at its core," said Richard Beamish, Chief Executive of Asset Skills. "The training they offered reached beyond the existing workforce to the wider community and future employees. NCS fully deserves this award and we are pleased to have had the chance to play a part in their recognition."
