December 2016 meeting notes

JC welcomed everyone in attending.  Apologies had been received from Paul Broderick of Blaze Construction; Martin Hillyard of Jack Tighe; Chris Tunnicliffe of Mountjoy; Shelley Baxter of R Collard; Matt Alexander of Welbro; Shirley Ratcliffe from CITB. Attendees list

Julia Coak (JC), Chair (Lynx Forecourts); Eileen Bird (EB), Training Officer, HCTA; Liz Steele (LS), CITB; Kelly Marsh (KM) & Justine Duffin, Brymor Construction; Paul Barton (PB), LA Kattenhorn; Steve Hale (SH), Parchow Groundworks; Jacqueline Mansfield (JM) Wendage Pollution Control; Estell Guest, HCTA Treasurer; Claire Rawcliffe-Davies, Blanchard Wells; Mandy Phelps & Mike Foster, Building Technics; Stuart Kershaw, Comserv UK; Andrea Parker,  Dyer & Butler; Andy Campbell & Chelcey Douglas, Kier Highways Services,; Tony Jack (TJ) & Lori Noble,  Hughes & Salvidge Limited; Kevin Edginton, K & K Décor; Andy Campbell & Chelcey Davey, Keir Services Highways; Nicola Trant & Nicola Bunyan, PTC Contractors; Michelle Hartley, R W Armstrong; Janet Hutchinson (JH), R & W Civil Engineering; Ray Sims (RS) Mark Hurkett & Clare Isaac, Raymond Brown; Vicky Lucas, Reside Construction; Sarah Groves (SG), Selwood; Constantina Cracium, Maggie Stefaniak & Graham White, Trant; Lena Coffin, Cousins Group

Speakers Cath Longhurst, EBP South – School Engagement; Yvette Dawson, BAE Systems – Occupational Health

The minutes of the previous meeting were confirmed.

Matters outstanding were few and EB advised that it had been difficult to get hold of Huw Jones to check with him regarding NPORS, but she handed round a copy of the latest Build UK Training Standard which does now have NPORS in under both CSCS Logo and non-CSCS. She pointed out the 5 steps which they suggest should be checked (page 3) which show that for any construction occupation being undertaken a CSCS logo card should be held.

The CITB plant grants as on their web site still specify a £300 grant for additional categories on CPCS cards, nothing about the additional units creating ‘new’ NVQ’s.

EB to attach Build UK Training standard.

Completion of the CITB return is a requirement for grant allocation to the group so receiving member information is extremely important.

Eileen asked for suggestions for other types of training for special support. She mentioned Construction Law and Commercial Awareness which might be available as a free, or subsidised half day session after the June meeting if this is of interest. Other courses which are not often run locally include SEATS and Finance for Non-finance Managers (Ipso Facto are running the latter in Southampton 13^th & 14^th February) but we can look at any subject which would be of interest to a number of member companies.

Training will be for Qualitative Testing.

* Only 2 free spaces per company maximum allowed.

Please let Eileen know of any courses of interest.

At the meeting CITB had shared group achievements nationally and locally. The national situation is good and most groups are over-achieving against targets except in traditional apprenticeships. In the south we also over-achieved in most things except both traditional and higher apprenticeships. Within Hampshire we mentioned the problems in recruiting apprentice groundworkers.

Go Construct was promoted and we were told that a Grant Scheme modernisation pilot is underway.

We were told that 2017 targets for groups would be aligned to CITB priorities but at that time we had no more detail, nor about a major group review which has been underway. We were also not told about the questionnaire which was then issued to training group members about one week later.

Consensus was also touched on with dates issued.

The South East Advisory Forum had also happened and had focussed on Grants Modernisation which we were to have a round-the-table discussion about later.

Dates for your diary 2017 were on the table and are attached

EB to attach

The government Apprenticeship Levy comes into effect in April 2017 with a transitional package of grant available for those large companies effected. Liz said that all those involved should have had contact.

Other departments of CITB are unlikely to be effected – Apprenticeship Managing Agency; Awarding Body; National Construction College; Publications; Research etc.

During 2017 The Farmer Review was produced and has been titled ‘Reform or Die’ and has been the catalyst for a wide-ranging look at the future – Grant Scheme and Modernisation of the Industry.

Go-Construct is hoped to be the Go To site for construction career guidance.

Apprenticeship Recruitment

Careers, Information, Advice and Guidance

Employer Engagement

Qualifications and standards

Hampshire Futures is holding a Careers Fair on 3^rd February and is looking for exhibitors.

Research has shown that youngsters are influenced before the age of 12, so it is often by parents, family and friends. It has also shown that young people want more opportunities to meet employers.

Thus, whilst Go-Construct is a great web site, something needs to stimulate the initial interest to look at it.

Not all schools now offer work experience placements and not many schools have the opportunity to visit actual construction sites.

Basingstoke Consortium http://www.basingstokeconsortium.com/  is the north Hampshire business partnership.

There followed a short round the table discussion and the following feedback came from these discussions, all in respect of the Funding Routes:-

Too prescriptive.

How do these proposals address skills shortages?

Why change? There must be a benefit to CITB as Industry are happy with how things are.

Has there been any liaison with training providers? Suggestions will increase their costs and many do not cope even with the site safety plus requirements.

Sub-contractors and the smaller contractors are likely to be left behind.

Concerns about registering existing recognised courses including in-house ones.

Barriers exist with regard to language and learning difficulties and these have not been addressed.

Courses in Training Lanes are likely to be dictated by the larger companies and may not suit client requirements.

Modular plans allow bite-sized training which can suit personal and business development needs.

Will there still be deadline dates for claiming?

How quickly will grants be paid?

Office staff etc.,– if there is no grant to be paid then there should be no levy charged.

How can companies get accreditation? What will the cost be and will there be able to be a range of similar courses or just a monopoly of one?

Training directory will only be good if kept up to date. What cost? Why use levy money for this?

Training records – how will existing qualifications/historical data get included.

If historical training was in-house will this not be ‘accepted’ so would there be a need to re-do it?

Course audits, who will pay?

Multiple accreditations (such as IOSH and SMSTS) are sometimes needed because of clients, would both be grant aided?

Soft skills are also needed. Would these be included in the grant aided courses in the training lanes?

In summary, there were 4 main area of concern:-

It is Industry employer who pays the levy so employers should have more flexibility about what training they identify will benefit their business and be able to access grant to help support it. CITB and large employers are being too dictatorial.

There was considerable concern about training providers and employers who do in-house training having increased costs for gaining accreditation and audit and extra administration costs to allow automatic grant payments – thus making any training less cost effective.

So many changes will need much more detail with regard to ways of claiming, dates, accreditation routes etc., CITB need to improve their communication, especially now CDA’s are not around to help employers to understand everything.

Finally there was concern that micro and SMEs are again being forgotten and their thoughts are being ignored.

Occupational Health Risk Management in Construction

http://www.hse.gov.uk/aboutus/meetings/iacs/coniac/coniac-oh-guidance.pdf

She finished with a great acronym SMILE to help with stress,

Smile, Move, Improve, Listen/Learn and Enjoy.

1^st Prize £50.00 went to Tony Jack,

2^nd Prize £30.00 went to Janet Hutchinson

3^rd Prize £20.00 went to Michelle Hartley

All in attendance had a ‘lucky dip’ gift.

The next HCTA meeting will be held on Wednesday 1^st March 2017 at King Court Masonic Lodge, Chandlers Ford where we will hold the AGM and have a speaker on HSE Sentencing Laws 12 months on.