NUCLEAR Overview of the Achievements of the National Skills Academy for Nuclear 2008.

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1 NUCLEAR Overview of the Achievements of the National Skills Academy for Nuclear Supported by:

2 BRIEF OVERVIEW OF THE SKILLS ACADEMY The employer led National Skills Academy for Nuclear has been established to address the key skills and training challenges facing the nuclear industry to ensure it has a skilled workforce that can operate safely and effectively and can also meet the future demands of this rapidly changing industry. The National Skills Academy for Nuclear, with the support of the industry is meeting the need for training that is developed by employers, for employers and is delivered in a way that best meets their needs. The Vision of the Skills Academy is to: Create, develop and promote world-class skills and career pathways to support a sustainable future for the UK Nuclear Industry. FOREWORD FROM THE CHIEF EXECUTIVE As we celebrate our first year of operation it is important to reflect on the successes of the year in terms of organisational and product development. This document highlights some of the key achievements accomplished by the Skills Academy during its inception year. One of the main reasons the Skills Academy has had such a successful start is due to employers being actively involved, and responding so positively to the Skills Academy agenda, employers have been in the driving seat from day one, and will continue to be a fundamental part of the Skills Academy. We have a close and effective working relationship with Cogent Sector Skills Council, who have worked with the Skills Academy on the development of many of its products. This collaborative approach is demonstrated in the Nuclear Skills Passport, which will help to develop and sustain a qualified mobile workforce with transferable skills for a worldclass nuclear industry. The Skills Passport is developing well with phase one roll out expected in With Cogent SSC we are also working closely with the English, Scottish and Welsh Governments to ensure that the challenges faced can be addressed in a truly national approach and aligned to the relevant policies across the UK. The Original Skills Academy Business Plan covers most of the sub sectors of the Nuclear industry including defence, the whole fuel cycle and decommissioning. Over the last 12 months it has become apparent that New Nuclear Build and Deep Geological Disposal are to be progressed and so the Skills Academy is now developing a broader strategy to address the skills challenges to 2025, ensuring the industry has a safe, skilled and effective workforce to deliver this broad agenda. The sector is facing a period of growth and fundamental change leading to many skills challenges, the Skills Academy can really make a difference to this agenda. The Skills Academy has a small and dedicated team and it is inspiring to work with them in such a flexible and dynamic organisation. The key objectives for this year were to establish a sound and robust company and to successfully pilot and roll out the products such as the Energy Foresight programme, The Award for Nuclear Industry Awareness, Foundation Degrees and HNDs, achieve our target of Employer Associate Membership and to appoint the first Providers to be members of the Regional Training Clusters using agreed quality standards, all of which have been achieved. It has been a challenging and exciting first year for the Skills Academy. I am proud to head up an organisation which is so responsive to the needs of the sector, and we will keep responding. 1

3 JOANNA WOOLF Chief Executive, Cogent Sector Skills Council DAVID BONSER Chair of the National Skills Academy for Nuclear Board of Directors I am delighted to have had the opportunity to chair the Skills Academy Board during our first year of operation. The Skills Academy is an exciting partnership between industry, skills providers and Government that is addressing our skills needs. The National Skills Academy for Nuclear places nuclear employers at the forefront of skills development. The strong industry support that has continued to grow during 2008, gives me confidence that the Skills Academy will be able to successfully play its full role in delivering world class skills for a world class sector. 2 During the year, the Skills Academy has met and exceeded the targets set out in its very challenging agenda: driving up standards in vocational training, including apprenticeships and Foundation Degrees. The Skills Academy is making swift progress accrediting providers throughout the UK. This is ensuring high quality training across the nuclear sector, integration of specialist provision and the embedding of skills transferability into the system. Importantly, the Skills Academy's reach also extends to schools and support for the curriculum, making the science behind nuclear accessible and boosting industry attractiveness. Cogent's collaboration with the National Skills Academy for Nuclear is ensuring that programmes of learning are increasingly underpinned by national frameworks, standards and qualifications. This is equipping both the present workforce and will equip the generations to follow, with the world-class skills needed to sustain a leading-edge Nuclear Industry. The National Skills Academy for Nuclear is providing a crucial focus for employers, contractors, training providers and funders around the delivery of training and education, for the first time. An excellent example of this collaboration is the Cogent Sector Compact negotiated with Government. Through this Cogent is making 50m available for training in its vital science using industries. This support and funding, available through Train to Gain, is to take action against the priorities set out in the industry's Nuclear Sector Skills Agreement, including meeting challenging targets for training new entrants and qualifying existing workers. The National Skills Academy for Nuclear will work with individual employers and the Train to Gain Skills Brokers to assess their needs and identify support through Train to Gain. The Skills Academy is now playing a truly transformational role and we look forward to a continued partnership aimed at securing the highly skilled employees who will contribute to an industry with a very bright future. ASSOCIATE MEMBERS The target of 40 Associate Members for 2008 has been achieved, with a variety of companies, from the large SLCs to a wide range of SMEs. We are now moving into a period of consolidation when we will work with the Associate Members to develop detailed and valuable Action Plans, which clearly detail how the Skills Academy will bring added value to the employer, and address current skills challenges and issues. Current listing ADP Ltd Aker Solutions AMEC Anglesey Aluminium Metals Ltd Astec Services Ltd AWE Babcock Marine (Clyde) BAE Systems Submarine Solutions BNS Nuclear Services British Energy CH2M HILL Corporate Risk Associates Doosan Babcock Energy Solutions Engineering Tools and Consumables Ltd eorigen.com First Hydro Company Fluor Ltd GE Hitachi Nuclear Ltd Gows Lybster Holbro Engineering JGC Engineering & Technical Services Ltd Johnson Controls Ltd Lab Impex Systems Ltd LLWR Repository Ltd Magnox North MB Faber Ministry of Defence Magnox South National Nuclear Laboratory Nuclear Decommissioning Authority Nuvia Ltd Pinsent Masons Sellafield Ltd Serco Springfields/Westinghouse Studsvik T I S Cumbria Ltd UKAEA Urenco VT Nuclear Services Washington Division of URS 3

4 PROVIDERS ENERGUS Centre due to open March 2009 The provider network has developed significantly and as we move into the second year of operation, the Skills Academy is developing a strong product delivery mechanism. There are now 8 fully Quality Assured providers and 8 more in the pipeline. The Quality Assured Providers of the National Skills Academy for Nuclear are: GEN II TTE Ltd (Training Tomorrows Engineers) Springfields Apprentice Centre Blackpool & The Fylde College Hartlepool College of Further Education Defence College of Management and Technology Nuvia Ltd Bridgwater FE College The Skills Academy is also creating links with Higher Education (HE) providers to ensure that career progression throughout the Skills Pyramid is accessible to learners. Currently the Skills Academy has engaged with 4 HE providers as part of the network, UCLAN, Portsmouth University, the University of Highlands and Islands and the Open University. There are plans to develop more linkages next year. ENERGUS ENERGUS (formerly known as The Nuclear Academy) is a partnership between the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority, the Northwest Development Agency, West Lakes Renaissance and Sellafield Ltd. ENERGUS will be a world class centre for the provisions of vocational skills excellence, spanning both further and higher education in the nuclear, carbon-free and environmental restoration industries. The centre, currently under construction at Lillyhall, West Cumbria, is planned to be a lead delivery centre for the Skills Academy. ENERGUS will open in March STEM (Science, Technical, Engineering and Maths) Initiatives Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics underpin the Nuclear Industry these roles account for a workforce of approximately 50,000. These skills, and their retention within the industry are key to its current and future success. Pictured L-R Danny Meadows (The Digital Training Company, Jeff Conway (Energy Foresight), Jean Llewellyn (National Skills Academy for Nuclear), Peter Waller (Energy Foresight) and comedian Hugh Dennis) ENERGY FORESIGHT Energy Foresight's interactive PC CD-ROM; Electrical Energy, Production and Distribution, achieved the Gold Award for e-learning at the International Visual Communication Association (IVCA) awards ceremony held in April The innovative PC CD-ROM is offered via the National Skills Academy for Nuclear as part of its portfolio of products aimed at supporting the uptake of science and technology skills. The interactive resource is aimed at Key Stage 4 students studying the QCA National Curriculum for Science. The programme includes full training for teachers using the resource. The award judges commented, This effective programme used core learning principles effectively blended with interactive elements to make important but difficult concepts accessible to the target audience. This award reflected the time and effort which has been put into this product from everyone involved. The Energy Foresight film is paramount to the work which the Skills Academy is undertaking to highlight STEM both as a higher education route and career choice. Jean Llewellyn Chief Executive, National Skills Academy Nuclear 4 5

5 I am delighted that an apprenticeship scheme has started again at Faber after a gap of several years. I believe that it is very important that young people are attracted into the nuclear engineering industry. Derek May, managing director of MB Faber Ltd COMMUNITY APPRENTICESHIP Ian Muscroft HR Manager at Aker Solutions (back row second from right) with some of the new graduates who have entered into the SEAs scheme SCIENCE AND ENGINEERING AMBASSADORS The Skills Academy has also been working with STEMNET to promote the Science and Engineering Ambassadors scheme. The Skills Academy expects to achieve its annual target of 50 SEA enrolments by the end of Aker Solutions, is just one of the Associate Member companies taking part in the programme with 19 recruits coming from their current graduate intake. APPRENTICESHIPS The NDA funded Community Apprenticeship scheme has been established to help supply chain companies take on apprentices for the first time, or grow additional apprentice skills for their business. This enables a continued and better resource capability to support the Nuclear Site Licence Companies to achieve their delivery objectives safely to time and cost. This growth of skills within the Supply Chain will in due course have significant impact on the SLCs due to increased capacity and quality of the Supply Chain workforce and capability. It is hoped that this high impact will now lead to other large companies providing further resource to extend the Community Apprentice programme. The Scheme has provided extra financial support to supply chain companies including, Nuvia, APD Ltd, JGC Engineering, Gows Lybster, Holbro, Johnson Controls Ltd, MB Faber, TIS Cumbria, Lab Impex System Ltd to employ additional apprenticeships. So far the scheme has injected an extra 30 apprentices into the supply chain, with this figure expected to grow to 36 by the end of MB Faber Ltd is one of the companies which has benefitted from the Community Apprenticeship Scheme. MB Faber Ltd, one of the main subsidiaries of MB Aerospace Holdings Ltd, were able to recruit 3 Local school leavers to its new nuclear engineering apprenticeship scheme. Research demonstrates that the apprenticeship route is an essential entry point to the industry, to fill the vacancies in Skilled Trades occupations mechanical, electrical, control & instrumentation. I am looking forward to being able to offer further funding contributions for apprentices in 2009 and would really like to encourage employers to think about apprenticeships, not only for Engineering disciplines, but also IT, Administration, Operations, Manufacturing, Decommissioning, CAD Design and Radiation Protection. Roland Fletcher - Community Apprenticeship Manager MB Faber Apprentices, 16 Year olds Thomas Bennett, Matthew Fludder and Andrew Baird 6 0

6 NUCLEAR BURSARY SCHEME With funding provided by the NDA and Serco, the Skills Academy has been able to administer a Nuclear Bursary Award Scheme. The scheme is aimed at attracting a broader mix of new entrants into the Nuclear Industry and into the wider Science and Technology agenda. A total of 49 Bursaries have been awarded, providing students with financial help towards an array of qualifications from Foundation Degrees to Master Degrees, which will help start or further their careers in the Nuclear sector. The bursary will help to purchase course books when needed and various stationery supplies (folders, pens etc). There may also be opportunities to travel abroad with the university and visit places of interest related to the course. The money will be put in a separate account and used only for helping with my degree expenses. The bursary award has had more than monetary effects, I am very proud to have been awarded the bursary and hope that other 'late comers' to education, like myself, will be encouraged to pursue a career in the Nuclear Industry. Mark Hoare is currently studying towards a BEng (Honours) at Buckinghamshire University. FOUNDATION DEGREES The Nuclear Industry needs to attract more graduates to the sector to meet the increasing demand for professional and technical disciplines. Analysis has shown that, whilst overall HE student numbers are rising, there is no comparative increase in those studying chemistry-based science. Alternative routes to Higher Education will be put in place to encourage participation, and to capture and enhance the skills of the existing workforce. Foundation Degrees are the missing link in this equation, and a number of Foundation Degree developments are taking place to meet emerging needs. The Skills Academy has achieved its target for Foundations Degree enrolments. A total of 4 courses have been endorsed by the Skills Academy, which include: UCLAN - Foundation Degree in Nuclear Related Technology UCLAN - Foundation Degree in Nuclear Decommissioning UCLAN - FdSc HVAC Energy Engineering UCLAN - Foundation Degree in Nuclear Project Leadership In addition to the Foundation Degree endorsements, the Skills Academy is working with the Universities of Central Lancashire and Portsmouth, to jointly develop and deliver a leading-edge Foundation Degree in Engineering. Progress is well underway and first enrolments are expected in September In Scotland the University of Highlands and Islands is leading on a similar development for Higher National Diplomas. The National Skills Academy for Nuclear team would like to thank the 2008 Board of Directors for their time and commitment to the Skills Academy Board of Directors David Bonser David Barber Greg Evans Steve Ball Jon Heley Mike Tynan Brian Cothran Jerry Schneider Paul Renshaw Jim Carrick Peter Bleasdale Mark Watters Jerry Abbott Mike Graham Joanna Woolf Nigel Couzens Jean Llewellyn Nick Cusick Westinghouse - Chair British Energy Energy Solutions (inc Magnox North and South) URENCO MoD/AWE Westinghouse and Springfields GE Hitachi Nuclear Fluor Ltd Serco Washington Group (also rep-resenting the consortium with Areva) National Nuclear Laboratory Doosan Babcock AMEC/UKAEA/Scotland TUC Cogent Sector Skills Council Nuclear Decommissioning Authority Chief Executive - National Skills Academy for Nuclear Finance Director - National Skills Academy for Nuclear The Skills Academy would also like to thank all of the Regional Steering Group members for all of their input throughout 2008, with a special note of thanks to the Regional Steering Group Chairs. Scotland: Chair - Jerry Abbott, UKAEA/Amec Southeast/East: Chair - Pat Upson, Enritec Southwest: Chair - Mandy Walker, Magnox South Wales: Chair - Greg Evans, Magnox North Northwest/Northeast: Chair - Adrian Bull, Westinghouse 8 9

7 HOW TO GET INVOLVED If you have any queries, or would like any further information, please contact us. T F E enquiries@nuclear.nsacademy.co.uk W nuclear.nsacademy.co.uk National Skills Academy for Nuclear Unit 9, Europe Way Cockermouth, Cumbria CA13 0RJ