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The UK Team Clean Challenge – why hold skills competitions?
By Chris James, Director of Research and Development, Asset Skills
It was a hard fought contest and choosing an overall winner was tough. That’s why the judges of the UK Team Clean Challenge awarded top marks jointly to MITIE Cleaning and Principles Cleaning Services.
The competition to find the country’s best cleaners was organised by Asset Skills, the Sector Skills Council for the cleaning industry. It took place in October at Merton College in South West London and Matthew Boulton College, Birmingham. MITIE, OCS, Emprise, Strand, Principle Cleaning and other entrants were put through vigorous, two-hour assessments of their practical responses to a set of scenarios including mocked-up filthy hospital wards, office spaces and dirty IT equipment. Click here for full Press Release.
Positioning for the Premiership
Skills for First Class Performance - 29-01-08
Take advantage of this inspirational free skills conference to help increase employee retention, create a motivated workforce and improve your organisation’s profitability and efficiency. Learn more about the ‘Employers Skills Pledge’ and how to sign up. Hear how the Leitch report and new qualifications credit framework will affect your organisation. Click here for more information.
New 14-19 Diploma for Public Services – Have your Say
A new diploma is set to shake up education for 14 to 19-year-olds. Asset Skills is helping develop the Construction and the Built Environment (CBE) Diploma along with several other SSCs.
The qualification, which starts in September 2008, will offer students the chance of following a career in any of the four industries Asset Skills covers. Please click here for more.
Asset Skills working with Connexions Somerset 
Asset Skills and Connexions Somerset have agreed to work together to help young people in their career choices. Connexions offers careers advice to 13 to 19 year olds and Asset Skills will be promoting suitable career options across its four industries. The protocol was signed by Asset Skills Chief Executive Richard Beamish and Connexions Somerset Chief Executive Peter Renshaw in Taunton. Drawing young people in to the cleaning, property, housing and facilities management sectors is one of Asset Skills key priorities. Click here to visit Connexions Somerset web site.
More than 150 Employers Sign Skills Pledge for 1.7 Million Workers
Asset Skills and Peabody Trust among the first to commit
Asset Skills and partners Peabody Trust are among the first to sign up to the Government’s new Skills Pledge. More than 150 leading employers across England have also given their backing, meaning 1.7 million workers will now be employed by a firm committed to training.
The high profile event to launch the Pledge was attended by Chancellor Gordon Brown, Education and Skills Secretary Alan Johnson, Work and Pensions Secretary John Hutton and leading private and public sector employers.
The Pledge fulfils a key recommendation made in the Leitch Review last December. The review warned the UK must “raise its game” on skills at all levels if it is to sustain and improve its position in the global economy.
It set out a new “deal” whereby employers would have a greater say in shaping the skills system to meet their needs, in return for prioritising skills training at all levels.
“We’re proud to be part of the Skills Pledge,” said Richard Beamish, Chief Executive of Asset Skills, the Sector Skills Council for the places in which we live and work.
“We will continue to strive to work with all employers within our sectors to help them recognise that engaging employees to invest and train their staff leads to higher levels of motivation and retention and better customer service. We’re here to underline our continuing commitment to investing in skills.”
The Pledge is a voluntary commitment that aims to encourage employers to help their workers develop basic skills, including literacy and numeracy. It also gives the opportunity for staff to work towards relevant qualifications to at least Level 2 (the equivalent of five GCSEs at A - C grade).
Speaking at the launch, Education and Skills Secretary Alan Johnson said, “Skills are vitally important for individuals, for their future employability and for the success of businesses throughout the UK.
“That is why I am so pleased to see so many companies making the Skills Pledge. I hope others will follow their lead, helping the UK to meet the challenges set out in Lord Leitch’s Review of Skills.
“We have made record investments in education and training over the past ten years, and we are reaping the benefits with dramatic improvements in attainment. But there are many people who have left school without qualifications and have been in the workplace for years without acquiring basic skills. As the demand for unskilled jobs continues to decline at a significant rate it is essential that government and employers do all we can to ensure those people are receiving the skills training they will need to be able to compete for jobs in the future.”
Employers who commit to the Skills Pledge will have access to a Skills Broker, part of the Learning and Skills Council’s Train to Gain service. This scheme enables companies to access free literacy and numeracy training and Level 2 qualification courses. The Skills Broker can assess the company’s training needs and help the business produce an action plan that sets out contributions from the state, the employer and the individual.
Stephen Howlett, Chief Executive of Peabody Trust, said: “I am honoured to give Peabody’s commitment to the Skills Pledge. As a housing association and a charity, we strongly believe in training our staff and have been working with Asset Skills to provide basic skills training. We value the people we employ by investing in them and this in turn has helped us to meet the needs of our residents and the communities we serve.”
The event also announced the Chair of a new UK commission for Employment & Skills. It was hosted by Skills Envoy, Sir Digby Jones, who said, “I warmly congratulate all employers who have led the way by making the Skills Pledge. By taking this step, you are showing other employers that, by investing in the skills of your people, you are investing in your business. At the same time, you are helping the UK seize the opportunity that globalisation presents, enabling us to compete in the brutally competitive world economy of the future."
Other principle speakers included Director General of the CBI Richard Lambert and Brendan Barber,TUC General Secretary. For more information on the Skills Pledge, please visit traintogain.gov.uk or call 0800 015 5545.
For further information contact Caroline Laufer on 01604 233 336.
The full list of employers making the Skills Pledge is available by clicking here.
For archive news stories, please click here.
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