Transport minister Lord Ahmad is set to launch a Strategic Transport Apprenticeship Taskforce (STAT) on 15 April, as part of the ongoing battle against the skills crisis in the sector, Transport Network can reveal.
A letter from Lord Ahmad, seen by Transport Network, to senior figures in the sector invites them to join him for the launch of the taskforce - which will initially cover rail and road - at the Institution of Civil Engineers’ (ICE) head office in Westminster.
Lord Ahmad
The taskforce will be employer-led with ‘its programme and priorities agreed by employers themselves’, the Government has suggested.
The inaugural chair of the taskforce will also be announced on the day - Department for Transport officials declined to reveal who the new chair would be.
ICE director general Nick Baveystock said the plans ‘would provide an important forum in which to bring all the key players together’.
‘We look forward to further detail and helping to shape the group,’ he added.
The news comes after the Government’s January transport skills strategy recommended creating the taskforce ‘to address skills challenges in a co-ordinated and collaborative way’ and that employers themselves should set its programme.
The document also states: ‘Industry stakeholders have suggested that early activities could include:
- reviewing the future need for apprenticeships and encouraging groups of employers to come together to develop new apprenticeship standards, where they agree they would be of benefit
- opening up training facilities to employers across the sector, so increasing the number of apprentices/trainees at little additional cost to the industry
- working together to define the training required from the sector and ensuring this is delivered effectively by training providers
- working collaboratively to promote transport as an exciting career option to young people and to improve diversity – we envisage the STAT having an ambassadorial role for the transport sector.’
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