Speech by Peter Lobban Chief Executive ConstructionSkills
Princes Trust Construction themed Team Launch – Norwich
30 June

Your Royal Highness, Lords, Ladies and Gentlemen,

It gives me great pleasure to be here today representing ConstructionSkills – the Sector Skills Council for our industry.

We were delighted to be involved in this the first construction themed Princes Trust Team Programme. We were pleased to provide the initial week-long residential training at our National Construction College. The College, the biggest Construction College in Europe, is located on a redundant RAF air station near Sandringham. It has 500 study bedrooms and 300 acres for training on heavy plant and equipment, tower cranes, scaffolding and general construction works.

All our instructors were impressed by the programme participants – I quote

“An excellent group, keen, interested. Worked well as a team. Overall a very positive impression.” And that on their first week! Our instructors were not at all surprised to hear of the great achievements that we have seen so well demonstrated this afternoon.

They would be pleased to provide this residential week for further programmes.

Indeed ConstructionSkills would welcome being further involved in developing and extending the programme.

We believe that the formula is so strong that with little amendment future participants should be able to achieve a Foundation Certificate in Building Craft Occupations by the end of the 12 week programme.

We were also very pleased to see how many of the participants have found apprenticeship positions in our industry. They have clearly benefited greatly from the programme, because such apprenticeships are now subject to intense competition.

There are tens of thousands of people wanting to learn a skill and join our industry. Not surprising with media stories such as “posh plumbers” and industry future order books underpinned by huge Government construction programmes for schools and hospitals, and plans for major housing developments,

But you cannot learn a skill just from instruction – it takes lots and lot of practice. And for a construction skill that means getting on-site work experience through an apprenticeship.

The Princes Trust were fortunate indeed to be working in partnership with RG Carters. They are one of the best training companies in our industry, with skilled crafts people and committed supervisors. Unfortunately there are not enough such companies in the industry.

Particularly in the South of England, where sub contracting and self employment are the norm, there are few employers of crafts people and therefore few apprenticeships.

In Scotland and the North of England self employment accounts for 30-40% of the craft trades; in London and the South 70-80% crafts people are self employed. In Scotland and the North we place 6 – 7 apprentices per 100 people in the workforce; in London and the South only 1 or 2 apprentices per 100 of the workforce.

So we are in the strange - Catch 22 situation - where we have lots of work for skilled people, but too apprenticeships for people to become skilled.

We would be keen to work with the Princes Trust and construction employers to develop the Construction Team programme to add the work experience needed to qualify participants for a career in our industry. One way would be to convince major construction clients that they should ask that local people are developed through apprenticeships on their construction projects.

There are plenty clients such as housing associations and local authorities with major construction projects in the coming years who should see the benefits of this approach in terms of Sustainable Communities.

We would suggest targeting some of these projects for future Construction Team programmes.

So on behalf of ConstructionSkills I should like to say well done to all the participants and the Princes Trust staff for all you have achieved on this first Construction Team programme and good luck to all of us for what more we can do to build on this excellent foundation.