The Sector Skills Council for the places where we live and work
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The Modern Apprenticeship in Facilities Management - a first for Scotland
The first Modern Apprenticeships specifically designed for the facilities management industry in Scotland have been approved by the Scottish Government.
There are two apprenticeship frameworks. The Facilities Services Apprenticeship is for people who are relatively new to the industry; and the Facilities Management Apprenticeship is for those who are ready to take their first steps into a supervisory role.
The apprenticeships will be delivered by four colleges initially, as well as private training providers. For people aged 16 to 19 years, funding for the apprenticeships may be available from Skills Development Scotland, the Scottish Government's skills agency.
Both the apprenticeship frameworks have been designed to demonstrate the breadth and diversity of roles within the FM sector, and both encourage further development towards managerial roles.
For more information contact Tim Pogson, Head of Asset Skills Scotland, by email at tpogson@assetskills.org or call 0131 667 2448.
Apprenticeship in Property Services - real solutions for a vital industry
Apprenticeships are set to play a key role in the country's economic recovery and Asset Skills, with our network of leading training providers, is pioneering the Apprenticeship in Property Services, the first of its kind for this economically important industry.
We are holding an information event for employers at the head offices of Moving Works Estate Agents, Preston, on Thursday 26 May from 4:30 - 6:30pm.
By participating in this free event, you can be sure of securing a place for yourself or your staff on a programme that has great potential for your organisation.
The apprenticeship will enable existing property professionals of all ages to extend their skills and knowledge at a time when every employee's contribution is crucial to enabling organisations to do more with less. It also offers a career pathway into the industry, raising the profile of both sale and letting of residential property and their potential as a career choice.
At the event, you will hear how The Leadership Development Centre Limited, the independent training provider launched from the University of Salford will be able to deliver this programme, and be able to talk with us about other property qualifications available, and government funding that can make the training you need more accessible.
Watch out for further messages from us detailing the event and a link to our online registration page.
For more contact Tom Orton, Asset Skills UK Virtual Academy Coordinator at ukacademy@assetskills.org or call 0844 822 2525.
Places filling up for Energy Advice training in Wales and South West England
Asset Skills is recruiting candidates for subsidised energy advice training in Wales and South West England.
All the training is based around the level 3 Energy Advice (Home) certificate, offered by the Awarding Body of the Built Environment (ABBE).
In Wales there are 75 part-funded places available as part of the domestic energy advice pilot, commissioned by the Welsh Assembly Government's (WAG) Sector Priorities Fund Pilot.
This programme includes additional learning on low carbon WAG initiatives, such as Fuel Poverty and Arbed, and begins later this month in 3 regions across Wales.
In South West England, as part of the government's Joint Investment Programme, Somerset College has 20 part-subsidised places for people working as domestic energy assessors (or equivalent) to take the level 3 qualification. This programme is due to start in May.
If you would like to register, or need further information on costs and delivery, please contact Philip Stott at pstott@assetskills.org / 01392 456 825.
Final CPD low carbon training event launched
Asset Skills has launched the online registration for the final subsidised CPD training seminar on Renewable Technologies, Funding and the Green Agenda.
The event, run in partnership with Universities South West, will take place on 18 May at the Genesis Centre in Taunton and will cost just £25 per delegate.
The first two events in the programme have been sell-out successes with 100 learners attending from all sectors of the low carbon industry.
Each event includes a detailed update on the Government's Green policy, with up to the minute information on the emerging Green Deal.
They also cover the practicalities of renewable technologies, including funding and a guided tour of Genesis to illustrate the technologies in action.
Asset Skills Head of Projects, Richard Foxwell, said, "This is the last chance for low carbon professionals to gain subsidised CPD and valuable information on the future of the Green Agenda."
If you would like to register for the event on the 18 May please click on the follow link: http://cpdgenesis.eventbrite.com or contact Philip Stott at pstott@assetskills.org or call 01392 456 825.
Sector Skills Assessments are produced annually. They are aimed at employers, professional partners, government agencies and with an interest in the current and future skills and labour market issues in facilities management, housing, property, planning, cleaning and parking.
Scotland Sector Skills Assessment, 2011
Asset Skills has recently completed its Sector Skills Assessment for Scotland. The report is an authoritative, high quality, detailed analysis of the sectoral skills needs of the above industries in Scotland. This document will be released following the end of election purdah on 5 May.
SSA PowerPoint Presentations
PowerPoint presentations for the facilities management, housing, property and cleaning industries have been produced and are now available on the Asset Skills website. These documents include the key information contained within the Sector Skills Assessments that were produced at the end of 2010. The PowerPoint presentations can be accessed here: http://www.assetskills.org/Research/LabourMarketInformation/LabourMarket.aspx
Updated State of the Sector and State of the Nation Reports
Updated State of the Sector and State of the Nation reports are now available on the Asset Skills website. The sector reports provide detailed Labour Market Intelligence on the facilities management, housing, property and cleaning industries. The nation reports provide up-to-date information on skills needs in England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. These reports can be accessed here: http://www.assetskills.org/Research/LabourMarketInformation/LabourMarket.aspx
High Performance Working Intelligence Paper
High Performance Working (HPW) is a method of organising work, rewarding performance and involving employees in decision making that promotes the development and utilisation of staff skills to raise levels of organisational performance.
This paper focuses on the implications of HPW for employers in the Asset Skills footprint and examines a number of key issues, such as the fundamental practices used to implement HPW, the barriers to employer use and how these barriers can be overcome. The paper can be accessed here: http://www.assetskills.org/Research/LabourMarketInformation/IntelligencePapers.aspx
Parking Sector Skills Assessment
The Parking Sector Skills Assessment is now available on the Asset Skills website. This report, which has been produced in collaboration with the British Parking Association, provides an up-to-date profile of the parking sector. It contains information on the profile of the industry, the drivers of skills demand, the current skills needs of the sector and future skills demands. The report can be accessed here: http://www.assetskills.org/Research/SectorSkillsAssessment2010.aspx
Information Advice and Guidance Labour Market Intelligence
An updated information advice and guidance (IAG) LMI document is now available. The aim of this document is to provide industry information to individuals and organisations who are responsible for adult IAG. The document contains information on employment entry routes, career paths, transferable skills, pay scales, qualifications and employment and labour market trends. This report can be accessed here: http://www.assetskills.org/Research/LabourMarketInformation/LabourMarket.aspx
Housing and Property Intelligence Update
Asset Skills recently commissioned research providing a 2011 housing and property intelligence update. The purpose of this project is to understand how the housing and property sectors can be better understood, by splitting key industry metrics into individual sectors. This is necessary because the Standard Industrial Classifications (SIC) for the housing and property sector are often grouped together and therefore disaggregating these two sectors is required to produce a profile of each of the sectors. It can be accessed here: http://www.assetskills.org/Research/Projects/ResearchProjects.aspx
Asset Skills Labour Market Intelligence Stakeholder Satisfaction Survey
Asset Skills is committed to listening to the opinions, suggestions and feedback of its professional partners and is currently looking to assess partner satisfaction with the Labour Market Intelligence and research outputs that it produces. We would appreciate it if you could take the time to complete the following questionnaire: http://energyassessors.native-demo.com/stakeholdersurvey/stakeholder_satisfaction_survey.htm
Results of our 2010 Labour Market Intelligence Stakeholder Satisfaction Survey can be found here:
http://www.assetskills.org/Research/Research.aspx
For more information on any of the above publications, please contact the research department on 0845 678 2888.
Management training fund will help small businesses grow
Up to £1,000 Leadership and Management grant funding has become available to employers in the South East and South West.
If you're an employer with ambitious plans to grow, just starting up or in business for a while, you will need to ensure your staff are fully engaged with your plans.
Through the Leadership and Management Advisory Service, owner-managers and senior leaders of businesses and social enterprises (with two to 250 full time equivalent employees), can access up to £1,000 in funding to help pay for leadership and management training. This in turn develops leadership skills that maximise the contribution of staff towards growing a business.
For more contact Andrew Cook or Vanessa Last at Asset Skills at acook@assetskills.org or vlast@assetskills.org or call 01392 423 399.
The University of Chester is hosting a conference for housing students and professionals to find out from leading experts in the field what is going to be expected of them and their organisations in the near future.
The conference is to be held on 11 May. There will be the opportunity to find out more about professional courses available locally that support continuous learning and development around this important agenda.
For further information call 01257 266 008 or email info@whiteheadsols.co.uk.
Developing higher level skills in housing
Why are so many housing organisations investing in higher education in these uncertain economic times? It's because they understand that a skilled workforce can help them weather tough market conditions and emerge stronger. In fact, businesses that invest in training and development are far more likely to survive a downturn than those that don't.
Asset Skills has produced a booklet to show that there is a range of higher level housing qualifications across the UK that can meet your business needs and fit around organisational requirements and individual lifestyles.
Courses are now delivered in a variety of ways including traditional day release, evening classes, quarterly seminars or pure distance learning. Assessments and research projects can be based on workplace issues and some courses proactively seek out such projects.
For individuals, qualifications related their work have a number of benefits that go beyond learning about the latest changes in housing law, working practices and policies. The case studies enclosed show that higher education improves confidence, develops initiative and inspires people to work more effectively. Networking with other professionals broadens horizons as well as knowledge.
The new brochure can be accessed here.
If you would like further information about higher education options in housing please contact us at ukacademy@assetskills.org or call 0844 822 2525.
Phase 4 Women & Work - Sector Pathways Initiative
The Women and Work team at Asset Skills is celebrating a successful year that has enabled training and development to 56 more women than planned in the cleaning and facilities management sector.
This achievement brings the total of women supported in their training and development to 1106 for the seven months to 31 March 2011. We are particularly proud as this is the largest of the projects funded and has made a great contribution to individuals and employers in both sectors.
We are now busy preparing a bid to continue the work through EIF funding support, the staff involved in this interim period are Anuet Bayne, Vikki Bowring, Susan Fairless and Carol Shillito.
If you wish to register an interest in participating in future activities, contact us at womenandwork@asetskills.org
A big thank you to the employers for supporting their female staff and to the individual participants for their sterling efforts!
Scottish Team Clean Challenge underway
This year's national cleaning skills competition, the Team Clean Challenge, is underway in Scotland.
The contest is held openly for cleaning firms to compete, and in a separate strand held inside Scottish prisons. The prison strand has just been completed with a very high standard of professionalism and dedication shown by the entrants.
With support from the Scottish Government and cleaning industry, the entrants in Scotland make up nearly 50% of the teams entering the competition this year. The high employer support in Scotland is in no small measure attributable to the British Institute of Cleaning Science in Scotland who have worked with Asset Skills Scotland to make these competitions so successful.
There is a competitive but friendly rivalry between the teams from the different prisons and the prisoners and officers worked hard to ensure a successful contest.
The judges, May Stark of Transparency FM and Kevin McCruden from Asset Skills would like to thank the contributing prisons for taking part.
Asset Skills is hopeful for the continuing success of this competition. The results will be announced shortly.
Asset Skills has added social media site Twitter to its communications channels.
The main goal for the Asset Skills Twitter feed is to reach professional bodies, employers, training providers and others with updates and developments about the work of Asset Skills that may be of interest or benefit to them.
Messages will include latest news, details of our new UK Academies, upcoming events, press releases, fresh web postings, new research and updated qualifications, apprenticeships and training information.
