• UK-based business partnership organisation Business Link Wiltshire and
Swindon has carried out training for 18 business counsellors in Kenya to enable
them to be NVQ level assessors. Charlotte Mannion, of Business Link Wiltshire
and Swindon, and Caroline Millman, a freelance NVQ assessor, delivered a
five-day programme in Nkuru, North West of Nairobi, for business counsellors
from across Kenya. The trainees were keen to gain recognised qualifications of
competency in business counselling and considered the British NVQ was the most
appropriate. The project was supported by the British Council. Mannion has been
invited to return to Kenya to observe and assess the trainees’ new skills.
Council should aim for skills firms will pay for
• The incoming Learning and Skills Council should focus on skills employers
are willing to pay for rather than just the ones firms say are important,
according to a book by Peter Robinson, senior economist at the Institute of
Public Policy Research. The New Learning Market examines the implications of
the Learning and Skills Bill, and argues against planning. "For the
learning market to work, the learner must have enough good quality information
to make informed choices. This means the labour market must send out clear signals
to individuals about the qualifications which are going to receive decent
financial rewards." Robinson points to the example of frequent complaints
about the lack of science graduates while employers are unwilling to pay a
premium to people with the degrees. Contact 020-7840 5360.
Web exhibition to run parallel with real thing
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• Training Solutions and the IT Training Show will be running an interactive
virtual exhibition through June and July. The exhibition will take place from
14 June to 31 July and runs parallel to the actual Training Solutions and the
IT Training show, from 4 to 6 July. Visitors to the on-line show will be able
to communicate with company representatives, evaluate products, request
information and book face-to-face appointments at the NEC, and buy on-line.
