Big plans in place for thriving training provider

IT HAS recently opened a third site, increased apprentice numbers, and continues to up-skill the region, but what’s next for Humberside Engineering Training Association (HETA)?

Iain Elliott has held the role of chief executive at the not-for-profit charity, which was established in 1967 by a group of local companies to bridge the gap between industry and education, for the past six months and has big plans for the training provider, including tapping into international businesses and playing a leading role in ensuring the region has a skilled workforce ready and waiting for further investment in the Humber.

“It’s a fantastic place to be,” Mr Elliott said. “It’s a really enjoyable place to work and a great company and I am lucky to have a good bunch of talented people here.”

In October, HETA, which employs 65 people, opened its £900,000 training centre at Foxhills Industrial Estate in Scunthorpe which has received support from Humber LEP and two local authorities. This adds to HETA’s head office in Hull and second site in Stallingborough.

Already working with some of the region’s biggest employers such as AAK, Reckitt Benckiser, BP and Centrica, HETA is now tapping into international firms.

“A number of people are interested in sending international students to train with us,” Elliott said.

He said HETA is looking at parts of Africa, the Middle East and the Far East.

“We want to work with companies that have got opportunities overseas and here,” he added.

“We’ve got a strong story here in the Humber region and we will always want to serve the employer’s needs here, but because we have this strong story, that translates overseas. We can help them by building that capacity. But it’s all in the early stages.”

Mike Cargill, HETA’s head of teaching, quality and innovation, added: “We have done some ad hoc international work in the past and now we are taking a more solid and strategic approach. It is still exploratory but we have used our contacts and experience to identify some significant opportunities.

“Everybody around the world has the same issue of motivating and inspiring people into STEM careers, particularly where there’s a high degree of industries run by expatriates. The Emirates and Malaysia in particular are working to get young people involved in industry.

“We have been to Dubai and as a result of that we are putting together a proposal to work for the Applied Institute of Technology in Dubai in partnership with other local organisations.

“The ideas we are looking at are opportunities to train international colleagues at one of our training centres, allowing our instructors to go abroad for short periods of time to train people in their home countries, and showing some of the STEM projects that we have been working on.”

Later this month, HETA will also join a trade mission organised by the Humber LEP and the Hull and Humber Chamber of Commerce and explore opportunities in Malaysia. HETA plans to use the visit to help it look for opportunities in sectors such as oil and gas, food processing, manufacturing and with other training providers.

The issue of the aging workforce is also high on the agenda for the organisation.

“As a region, we are now really starting to see the growth. Employers are starting to invest in their workforce,” Mr Elliott said.

“We have great further education colleges and training providers and we are all part of the big solution. We want to be a big part of that skills solution – the only way we are going to secure that economic sustainability is if we get the skills agenda right.

“We have got to be talking to children at an early age to get them interested in engineering careers and then talking to them again in school years 9, 10 and 11 to keep that interest there. And, it is about making sure that as a training provider, the network we are offering is the best we can. It’s not just a case of taking them on and training them, we are finding jobs for these young people, too.”

As part of its focus on educating young people, HETA has a three-year contract to hold the Big Bang event at Doncaster Racecourse. The event celebrates and raises the profile of young people’s achievements in science and engineering and encourages more young people to take part in science, technology, engineering and maths initiatives with support from their parents and teachers.

“We are trying to get more school children interested in science and engineering. This is a big area of focus for us,” Mr Elliott added.

“Kids have lots of other choices and distractions. It can be a challenge to engage young people in engineering. We have to work collectively with employers to reinforce what engineering is about.”

In another move to bring together employers and education, HETA is working with Women into Science and Engineering (WISE) – a national body which works to help more women make their mark in technical careers.

The initiative with WISE will bring together role models from businesses across the Humber region and teachers from the area’s schools for two events at Hull College on the afternoon of Wednesday January 28.

Apprentice numbers at HETA reached just under 200 last year, and Mr Elliott said the team is confident of increasing this figure this year and next.

But when it comes to government help for apprenticeships, Mr Elliott said there’s a drum he keeps banging. “The government are behind apprenticeships and traineeships but we are asking for a degree of pragmatism with it,” he said. “The funding regime is rightly biased more towards 16 to 18 year olds and if an employer takes on a person who is 19 plus, the funding drops.

“We want a degree of pragmatism and funding to go from age 16 to 24.

“Employers sometimes want older learners. And if we want to make sure they are not disadvantaged, then the funding has to be utilised.”

In 2013/14 the number of all-age apprenticeship starts was 432,400, a 13% fall from the comparable figures for 2012/13. Although the number of 16 to 18-year-olds starting apprenticeships rose 5% to 117,800, the number of 19 to 24-year-olds fell 3% to 156,900.

Looking ahead to a positive year, Mr Elliott said he hopes that the Humber region will see continued investment. 

“Siemens coming to Hull is a great catalyst and a great attraction for other employers to come to the region,” he says. “I am really looking forward to seeing how the offshore industry starts to be built and seeing how that expands. It is clearly a big opportunity for us and I am really excited about that.  We want employers outside of the city to look at Hull. If Siemens are here, why can’t you be?”