Member Article

Trainers team up to tackle engineering skills shortages

The largest North East-based workplace training provider has signed a deal with a Washington company to form a unique, regionwide alliance aimed at tackling declining engineering skills. The North East Chamber of Commerce has reached agreement with vocational training provider Seta Ltd in a similar contract to the one it signed with Stockton and Billingham-based Neta Ltd in January of this year.The three employer-led organisations will use the partnership – believed to be the first of its kind in the country - to proactively address the declining number of skilled youngsters available to fill engineering posts. The deal will combine the specialist technical expertise of NECC staff with world-class engineering facilities at Seta’s operations in Washington, Tyne & Wear and Neta’s state-of-the-art workshops in Billingham and Stockton in the Tees Valley. Up to 400 apprenticeship places a year will be available and NECC is working with schools to raise awareness of the vast array of careers on offer in engineering.Karen Brown, NECC training and development director, said: “The greatest challenge to engineering firms in the North East is the lack of skilled youngsters available for work. “NECC’s alliance with these two specialist engineering training companies will open up tremendous opportunity for school leavers to learn skills that will set them in good stead for years to come.”

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Ruth Mitchell .