An alliance of sector skills councils has produced a qualifications map to enable potential assessors and installers to begin gearing up for the £15bn Green Deal scheme.
ConstructionSkills writes:
The Green Deal Competency Framework (GDCF) provides a mapped overview of the qualifications currently available, plus those that are still in development, that will be recognised as valid under the Green Deal Scheme.
Produced by the Green Deal Skills Alliance (GDSA), an organisation comprised of three built environment sector skills councils: Asset Skills, CITB-ConstructionSkills and SummitSkills, the GDCF enables SME firms to check if their operatives are qualified to start work when the Green Deal gets underway in October, or whether they will require any up-skilling.
The Government has estimated that around 65,000 Green Deal Advisors and installers will need to be skilled and qualified to retrofit nearly 14 million UK homes with energy efficiency technology by 2020.
CITB-ConstructionSkills Chief Executive Mark Farrar said: ‘With the Green Deal only months away it is vital that firms upskill now to avoid losing out to the competition when the scheme gets underway. Research recently produced by the GDSA pointed to the fact that a large proportion of the workforce would only require a minor upskill to be Green Deal competent – so we are urging firms to take steps now to begin getting their installers through the accreditation process.’
‘As the sector skills council for the construction sector we have been with the Department of Energy and Climate Change to upskill up to 1,000 insulation installers to kick start the Green Deal. We will be holding a series of ‘train the trainer’ events across the country to begin this process.’
Asset Skills Chief Executive Sarah Bentley added: ?’As the sector skills council for Energy Assessors and Green Deal Advisors, we have developed specific occupational standards on which new qualifications are based. A well-qualified workforce with accredited training is essential in ensuring public trust and confidence in those undertaking work as part of the Green Deal.’
SummitSkills chief executive Keith Marshall OBE said: ?’Our building services engineering sector employers want to know more about the detail of the Green Deal – specifically how they can prepare their workforce. This document, the result of our productive alliance with our partner sector skills councils, should help businesses to identify any training and development needs relating to the Government’s flagship energy efficiency scheme. My hope is that as a result it will bring within reach the business opportunities that look set to come with Green Deal.
SMEs can begin preparing for the Green Deal by researching the existing training and accreditation requirements for the scheme through the Cut the Carbon portal at: LINK
UKCES writes:
Green Deal is a government initiative designed to help the UK meet stringent targets on the reduction of energy use to meet the requirements of the Kyoto Protocol. CITB-ConstructionSkills won a bid for funding to help prepare the UK construction industry for the arrival of the Green Deal. This preparation includes developing a framework of qualifications for Green Deal installers, called the Green Deal Competency Framework , to ensure they can fit energy saving technology to the required standard. CITB-ConstructionSkills is also preparing in-depth labour market research to inform the industry about the skills that will be needed to carry out retrofit work.
The Green Deal is supported by robust accreditation framework, which CITB-ConstructionSkills has been involved in developing, to ensure that Energy Assessors, Advisers and Installers have the required level of skills and businesses have the suitable systems in place to ensure consumers are protected.
This is a collaborative proposal with Asset Skills and SummitSkills and will require the home energy retrofit of 14 million homes between 2012 and 2020 to improve efficiency.
For UKCES and the Green Deal Competency Framework see: LINK
For the Green Deal National Occupational Standard and other background from Asset Skills see: LINK
Construction Skills News: LINK
