Academy will boost the whole economy

Nov 13 2007 by Karen McLauchlan, Evening Gazette

YOU don’t need me to tell you how important the process industries have been to Teesside over the years.

These industries have provided successive generations with employment and enabled them to make a huge contribution to the prosperity of the whole country.

There is no doubt process industries will continue to be important to Teesside. However, like most industries, they are constantly changing and becoming more and more sophisticated. This means they need people with different skills and often a greater proportion of people with higher skill levels.

That’s where the new National Skills Academy for the Process Industries has such a crucial role to play.

The National Skills Academy is being set up in a unique partnership involving employers, the Learning and Skills Council, Cogent (the Sector Skills Council which covers the Process Industries) and a number of regional development agencies, especially One NorthEast.

Both the Government and employers will be putting money into the academy, which will eventually train people in every part of the country.

The academy will use the very latest training methods. It will cater for newcomers to the process industries, for example, by boosting the number of apprenticeships, as well as upskilling people who are already employed.

It will make links to schools as well as higher education institutions to ensure smooth progression as people go through the education system.

The plans by Sonhoe to invest £2bn in a new refinery in Teesside is a tremendous vote of confidence in the region and shows what could happen if more employers become confident of finding people with the skills they need.

This will have a knock on effect on the economy of the whole region, promoting prosperity, regeneration and a new sense of local pride.