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UtILItY WeeK | 12th - 18th September 2014 | 13 Skills special report In Cumbria, real jobs mean gaining real qualifications that are relevant to the energy sector. The region is among the most deprived areas in the UK, but its energy pros- pects are booming. Nuclear decommissioning at Sellafield still holds plenty of employment value for years to come, then there's new nuclear, wind and solar. Iggesund Holmen, a sustainable forestry firm with card manufac- turing operations and an employer partner to the UTC, opened a 134MW biomass plant in Workington last year. With clear signposts to opportunities in these sectors and with specific companies, Jones is optimistic that the UTC will soon achieve its target of 100 per cent no NEET (not in education, employment or training) school leavers. In the first quarter of 2014, the North West recorded 125,000 16-24 year olds as NEETs. "Achieving this should have an impact on the economy nationally and a very sig- nificant one for the west Cumbrian economy and community," says Jones. Employer support The Energy Coast UTC, like all others, got off the ground only because it was able to prove employer buy-in to the idea of long- term engagement. Sellafield and the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority (NDA) were first on board and enabled the UTC to tie itself in with a wider £100 million investment in an Energy Coast Campus to bolster training and education provision for nuclear and clean technology. The Energy Coast UTC now has eight employer partners and is sponsored by the NDA, Lakes College (a further education institution), the University of Cumbria and Gen2 Training, which owns the adjacent apprenticeship centre – a facility the UTC will be able to make use of. There is no denying that the Energy Coast UTC's current partner and sponsor base dis- plays a strong nuclear bias for an institution that is meant to promote the wider attrac- tions of work in the energy sector, but Jones is quick to explain this position. "There's an agenda to get more involve- ment from wind, solar and clean tech firms," he says. "But the reality of the matter is that Sellafield is the biggest local employer with 11,000 staff and that job prospects there are strong. Then there are new nuclear pros- pects. When you look at the employment modelling for a new reactor, around 6,000 people are needed during build phase and 4,000-5,000 in the operational phase. You can't ignore those numbers – and in any case," he concludes, "all engineering skills sets are transferable." Proving this point, Jones reveals that he is in talks with one of the water companies about partnership with the UTC and he is keen to express that more employer engage- ment, to prevent teaching prospects getting stale and ensure students see a broad scope of opportunity, is welcome. But with just five utilities firms taking a lead on UTC partnership across the wider network, more needs to be done to raise awareness of the role they can play in sup- porting this new education phenomenon and reaping the associated benefits of secu- rity in skills supply for the future. To date, the heavy liing in partnering with UTCs has been taken on by the supply chain – a state of affairs that Energy and Utility Skills' Robertson says is down to a number of factors, including a first tranche of UTCs that have been heavily focused on advanced manufacturing and an uneven dis- tribution of activity to tackle skills problems. "We're not first to the party," he admits. "But there are benefits to that. We've had time to put our house in order and under- stand utilities skills issues more thoroughly. We're now ready to engage properly – and there has been an opportunity for the UTCs themselves to learn. Not all of the first tranche were a complete success." He is surprisingly temperate on the issue of employer motivation in addressing skills shortages given the enormity and urgency of the problem outlined earlier. "Every single one of our members believes in the impor- tance of [skills] and there is an overwhelm- ing expression of goodwill towards the work that we do," observes Robertson, "but not all of our members do it." Why not? "Not all employers are set up and resourced to engage with schools," he says. "In the past it has been complicated. Employers need structured programmes, like our careers lab, to help them engage." Nevertheless, Robertson says UTCs are far easier to get involved with than mainstream schools, and it is easier to get satisfactory results from that involvement. "UTCs are set up to be employer friendly," he concludes. "The curriculum UTCs are allowed to offer is much more flexible [than in mainstream schools] and more capable of meeting the specified needs of the labour market." It seems the excuses for displaying good- will but taking no action on skills issues are rapidly diminishing. The voice of experience National Grid is a partner to four UTCs (see table, facing page) and is a strong advocate of the value they can bring – both to an individual company and more broadly to engineering- reliant sectors. Tony Moloney, education and skills manager at National Grid, told Utility Week: "It's vital to the continued growth and success of National Grid that we grow the pool of young people with Stem skills so that we have the best minds in the country operating the systems and working on the infrastructure that connects people to the energy they need. However, our motivation is to raise the number of people working in engineering, encourage more people to work in energy and attract them to National Grid – in that order. "Our relationship with UTCs means we can help to provide real-world problems for young people to solve. They still learn science, technology, engineering and maths, but it is applied to practical challenges. We provide the context and the teachers draw out the maths, physics and other learning, as well as the essential work skills such as communica- tion and teamwork. "We may donate equipment or other items to a UTC, but the main investment is time. We may not see the results of that investment for five to ten years, but in the long term it makes good financial sense." Energy Coast UTC at a glance Location: Workington, Cumbria Opened: 2 September 2014 Intake: 80 year 10 students, 60 year 12 students Long-term capacity: 560 students Average class size: 20 Gender balance: 17.5% female, 82.5% male Key employer partners: Iggesund Holmen, James Walker, Morgan Sindall, National Nu- clear Laboratory, Nuvia, Royal Navy, Sellafield More UTC facts: UTCs are schools for 14-19 year olds. Sponsored by local further and higher education institutions and employers, they deliver the national curriculum in a way that focuses on employability and bridging critical technical skills gaps. There are now 30 UTCs open across the UK and this is set to rise to 50 by September 2016. Former education secretary Lord Baker, the driving force behind the UTC movement, believes 300 UTCs should open by 2020.