This week’s training news in brief
LSC chief retires
Learning and Skills Council (LSC) chief executive John Harwood retires this
month after leading the organisation since its inception nearly three years
ago. Mark Haysom, managing director of the Trinity Mirror Group publishing
company, has been appointed to oversee the network of 47 local LSCs that plans
and funds post-16 education in England.
Fireman get a lift
All 7,000 firefighting and support staff from the London Fire Brigade are
undergoing manual handling instruction. A team of 10 consultant trainers from
Osteopaths for Industry are conducting 600 half-day classes from across
London’s 112 fire stations and training centres. It will take them until next
Spring to deliver the three-part courses. www.ofi.co.uk
Automotive academy
Trade and industry secretary Patricia Hewitt has pledged £15m towards the
creation and development of the Automotive Academy. With an administrative
centre in the West Midlands and by delivering programmes using existing
regional providers, the national academy will promote supervisory, management
and engineering training. It will become fully operational in October 2004.
Evaluation shortfall
The public sector is facing an urgent need to prove a return on investment,
according to research released by global solutions provider LogicaCMG. Despite
significant annual expenditure on the training, 101 government and health
bodies were found lacking in formal evaluation, with only 36 per cent mapping
training effectiveness against job performance. www.logicacmg.com
