The
Department for Education and Skills and the NTO National Council has launched
an employer champions group to help raise skills and promote vocational
courses.
The
new group will advise government, the Learning and Skills Council and the
soon-to-be-formed Sector Skills Development Agency on how to promote and
encourage an uptake in the courses already available.
At
its first meeting, scheduled for December, the body will begin advising on how
National Occupational Standards and NVQs can be best used to overcome the
skills shortage.
Hugh
Try, of construction company Galliford Try, will chair the group and is
confident it will be able to form a successful strategy to help raise awareness
of what courses are available.
"Occupational
Standards have a pivotal role to play in addressing skills shortages and
raising business performance. The Government has spent millions developing them
and the UK has the most sophisticated system in the world, yet most people
don’t even know they exist," he said.
"The
group’s task will be to develop a cohesive strategy to demonstrate what
valuable resources Occupational Standards and NVQs are."
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