Share and share alike [12/03/2009] Many smaller engineering companies are failing to take on apprentices for fear it will prove a cost burden they can ill afford. The ‘Shared Apprentice’ pilot scheme in Wales aims to overcome that worry and is to be spread wider across the UK, as Brian Wall reports Small to medium-sized companies (SMEs) in Wales are getting extra help to take on apprentices through a pilot project called ‘Shared Apprenticeships’ in a drive to boost apprentice uptake. This is seen as a vital lifeline for those smaller businesses that are not currently involved in apprenticeship training and/or just cannot afford to take on an apprentice on their own. The new scheme allows employers to pool resources and share the training. “Apprenticeships are a key way for businesses to prevent the loss of core technical, engineering, craft and production skills when experienced senior employees retire,” says Ken Toop, regional sector lead for Semta, the Sector Skills Council for Science, Engineering and Manufacturing Technologies. “With this project, companies will be able to plan for the future, improve the range of skills within their company, and align their training needs to workforce development and succession planning.” Incentives on offer A wide range of incentives is being offered to SMEs to participate, which includes the subsidising of apprentice salaries, tailored training programmes, the sharing and transfer of skills between companies, access to human resources development advisors, as well as signposting skills development funding opportunities. The scheme – which is being delivered through regional training providers Deeside College in Flintshire, Coleg Sir Gâr (one of the largest providers of further education in Wales, based in Carmarthenshire) and Mid & North Wales Training Group – is aimed at companies involved in science, engineering and manufacturing technologies. The colleges form part of a collaborative partnership between Semta and other training providers. The apprentices involved are shared between a primary and a secondary company. The former is responsible for the individual’s main training needs and receives funding for the apprentice during his or her first year. The secondary company’s role is to fill in any gaps in that training, appropriate to individual needs. But, as the scheme progresses – most apprentices were only taken on a few months ago on a two-year basis – more companies are likely to become involved, helping to broaden their skills. From the employers’ perspective, there is the attraction of widening their own skills base, getting assistance with funding from the Welsh assembly government via Semta (which pays a set proportion of the primary company’s training costs in the first year of in-company training), training people to reflect the company’s specific needs, while providing the opportunity to assess the calibre of the intake. The scheme is intended to run until 2012 and cover training for 90 apprentices across a three-year period. In 2008, the target was to place eight apprentices per region, with this increasing to 10 in the summer of 2009 and 12 per region in 2010. To ensure timely delivery, Semta has appointed three regional training officers to work in close co-operation with the training providers. Right direction So far, the feedback from employers is very positive, says David Oakes programme area manager, engineering/technical services, Deeside College. “It’s early days, but the scheme seems to be heading in the right direction, with the employers happy to share skills and resources between each other.” So, what do the apprentices get out of this? The thinking is that, by working within very different cultures – they may be operating in a mechanical or machining environment one day and in an electrical or fabrication and welding workplace the next – there will be a broadening and transfer of skills. And this will be to the benefit of both the apprentices and the companies that take them on. In the longer term, there is the development of skills for life that an apprenticeship imparts. Moreover, the apprentices can acquire nationally recognised qualifications, and enhance their work opportunities for the future and career progression. Importantly, the primary employer undertakes to retain the apprentice for at least six months after the two-year scheme expires. Ultimately, it aims to enhance the future prospects for both employer and apprentice. Clearly, Semta’s Toop, the project manager on the pilot, can see the need for essential, practical and affordable knowledge transfer. “Succession planning needs to happen within companies. The age demographic will lead to a skills gap. We saw a need to boost apprentices through a more accessible route.” Through a shared approach to training, the programme has obvious benefits for both the employers and the apprentice. Linking together From the point of view of a specialised engineering company, for example, acting as the primary employer of an apprentice they may not always be able to satisfy the requirements of an NVQ in terms of the training they provide on site. However, by linking up with a secondary company – such as a supplier – the employer can fill in the training gaps and the apprentices attain the qualifications they are seeking. They may also bring back additional skills from the secondary employer that benefit the main employer and vice versa. Gareth Jenkins, managing director of precision engineering company FSG Tool and Die, which is based in Mid Glamorgan, south Wales, has been taking on apprentices for 50 years and, in his role as president of the employers’ organisation EEF, is also one of the most committed supporters of the new scheme. “It is vital for our industry that the achievements of young people are celebrated and that apprenticeships are seen as an effective route to success in the world of work,” he says. “Sharing an apprentice is one important means to make this happen.” Image: FSG's award-winning apprentice, Jamie Griffiths Image: Semta chairman Sir Alan Jones meets FSG apprentices A perfect example of this symbiosis in action can be found at MIC (Metal Improvement Company) in Broughton, North Wales, according to Nick Tyson, head of faculty - engineering & the built environment at Deeside College, one of the three regional training providers. “One of our apprentices is in training with MIC under the ‘Shared Apprentices’ scheme. Spending time with Airbus, for which MIC carries out work, the apprentice attained some of the further skills he required.” Tyson acknowledges that the employers who’ve been quickest to back the scheme are those where senior management have come up through the apprenticeship route themselves. “They see the benefits to be gained by sharing and are very much in favour of apprenticeships anyway. But other companies are starting to see how it can give them an advantage, too, so the message is getting out there.” Nor are the apprentices on the scheme coming in ‘raw’. They have already attained Level 2 Performing Engineering Operations and by the end of the two years should have progressed to NVQ Level 3. And there is nothing to stop them progressing academically beyond that point, if they so wish, as Ian Taylor, general manager of Trydan Electricity Distribution in Deeside and part of the Shared Apprenticeship scheme, is quick to point out. Giving it a try “Developing our apprentices as craftsmen is the intention. In the past, we have taken lads on and trained them as cable jointers and overhead linesmen [Trydan is a contractor for electricity distribution networks and sub-station switchgear]. This year, we decided to go one stage further and formalise their education and training by going down the Shared Apprenticeship route.” Trydan and its sister company Poletecs (which carries out the inspection side of the business) have taken on six apprentices under the scheme. “The apprentices might spend time with the inspectors, examining overhead structures or electrical sub-stations; or be involved in new construction work for electrical cables and overhead lines, or maintenance and refurbishment. But, as the scheme progresses, and they need to experience different aspects of electrical engineering outside of our scope, the college [Deeside] will work with other employers to place them elsewhere to pick up those skills.” And what happens when the two years are up? “We would hope to provide our apprentices with full-time employment and the opportunity to move into further education in their field,” says Taylor. “We have high hopes for this scheme and there is no reason it shouldn’t be a real success.” Box item Strong advocate Dai Davies, MP for Blaenau Gwent, is a strong advocate of the Shared Apprenticeship scheme and wants to see it extended beyond Wales. He knows the value and importance of apprenticeships, too, having learnt his trade by that route in the steel industry in the 1970s. “The quality of that training shone out and we were the best in the world. In the last six months of those four-year apprenticeships, people completed their training and worked as craftsmen. Without such experience, they could not get a job anywhere else, if they could not stay in the industry. Experience doesn’t come off a shelf, and it cannot be found in a book – it comes from doing the job.” Davies is urging the government to spread the word about the scheme to the rest of the UK. “This is something that could be employed elsewhere. In Wales, it works by industrial estates providing training centres where more than one employer can buy in to that training. If there is a larger employer on the estate with training facilities, those facilities can be shared. An apprenticeship with a single employer can be onerous, so we should look at shared apprenticeships, and how they can be supported by local authorities and other businesses.” But Davies also warns against using such schemes as just one more means to drive up the overall total of those in training. “The [government’s] goal of offering 250,000 apprenticeships [by 2020] is a numbers game. If someone trains for two years, and thinks they are an expert, they will find that is not the case. We need to look at the quality of the training that we provide.” Taken from Engineering Apprentice, Winter 2008 Related Companies: SEMTA