London
Underground (LUL) has signed a 10-year training partnership agreement to
promote lifelong learning for its staff.
The
partnership will explore the best way of promoting and delivering National
Vocational Qualifications (NVQs) and other skills initiatives to the LUL’s
frontline operational staff. It will also seek to address skills shortages.
The
move builds on the LUL NVQ programme, which has seen thousands of staff gain
nationally recognised qualifications in one of the UK’s largest skills
development programmes. More than 2,000 more staff will go through the
programme this year.
Iain
Smith, head of engineering and technical skills at LUL, said that,
historically, the rail industry had failed to understand how to use the suite
of available qualifications.
“Successive
Government ministers have criticised this and have questioned the value of
in-house qualifications,” he said. “What we have done here is show that working
together we can deliver NVQs and the related business benefits in a
cost-effective and manageable way."
