Why all skills are local

ECA Members know the value of a strong local skills-base. Even among larger businesses, with a regional and/or national spread of work, it is not unusual to find strong connections persisting within a particular area, firmly rooted in the people they employ.

While apprenticeship standards are set nationally, they are delivered locally. For this reason, ECA regions and branches have a strong and active interest in the availability and quality of local apprenticeship provision.

But employer interest in education doesn’t – and shouldn’t – begin and end just with apprenticeships.

CPD and upskilling training for qualified electricians has always been important. With increased regulatory demand, it is even more so. Together with the new business opportunities, in particular the move to net zero, upskilling is vital.

Schools and the quality of local STEM teaching and careers advice have a big effect on pupils’ preferences and suitability for employment. When it comes to influencing career choices, most experts take the view that leaving it to secondary school is too late. As the Jesuits used to say: ‘Give me a child until he is seven and I will give you the man’.

Although pockets of educational excellence remain, Member feedback suggests there is plenty of room for improvement. Apprenticeship training providers are struggling to attract and keep the right staff. Schools and careers advisors continue to downplay the benefits of electrical careers. High quality, affordable upskilling courses can be thin on the ground.

It is no surprise, therefore, that successive Building Engineering Business Surveys have confirmed shortages of suitable people as one of the biggest, if not the biggest, challenge ECA Members face.

ECA will continue to raise concerns such as these at national level. Ultimately, local solutions can only be designed and delivered locally. One generation on from devolution to Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland, the process of handing more central powers over education and skills to English regions and localities is now picking up pace.

Last month, the Department for Education in Westminster announced the appointment of 37 locally-based Employer Representative bodies (ERBs). Typically led by a chamber of commerce, each ERB is charged with developing a Local Skills Improvement Plan by March 2023. This should be done in collaboration with employers and other local stakeholders, including councils, Local Enterprise Partnerships and training providers. In addition, £93 million of funding has been set aside to help training providers deliver the courses and qualifications which local employers say they need.

Many ERBs have already identified ‘new’ technologies - low carbon electricity, low carbon heating and low emissions vehicles - as strategic priorities for their areas. ECA, along with others (Actuate UK, civil servants and CITB), is working hard to make sure ERBs understand the importance of talking to our Members before finalising their plans.

In a world where all skills are local, this isn’t going to be enough. That is why we are encouraging ECA regional teams to talk to their Members, to establish what appetite there is to play a more active and influential role in shaping local decision-making on skills and education.

This is a chance not only to lobby local ERBs to improve the availability and quality of ‘green’ upskilling training. It is also a chance to have impact on the other challenges described above. Initiatives such as TESP’s Electrotechnical STEM Ambassadors and Industry into Education campaigns, NET’s Future Faradays events at local colleges, and ECA’s own Educational Associates scheme, already exist to help ECA regions and individual Members engage more effectively with education locally.

The opportunity to start to make things better is there, but local commitment and participation are going to be key.

For more information, visit the Educational Associates webpage.