CPT's spearhead
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A TEN-STRONG voluntary training steering group is spearheading the Confederation of British Road Passenger Transport's breakaway from statutory training arrangements run with the Road Transport Industry Training Board, and a search has begun for a CPT training executive.
The steering group comprises two members from each of the four CPT sectors covering nationalised, transport executive, municipal, and independent operators, a representative of the National and Local Government Officers' Association, and a member of the Organisation of Teachers of Transport Studies.
The Transport and General Workers Union and Amalgamated Union of Engineering Workers were also invited to join the group, which meets for the first time on April 30,but have declined.
CPT's council has authorised the appointment, as soon as possible, of a training executive, and until that post is filled, Greater Manchester Transport's Brian Johnson has been seconded to CPT to carry out these duties.
Over the next few months, as the voluntary training arrangements for the bus and coach industry crystalise, the industry will become progressively less dependent on the services provided by the RTITB, and it is already obliged to buy services at out-of-scope rates. Equally, the industry may choose to buy ser vices from other agencies, should they be more attractive.
The RTITB has still to decide whether it will abandon its craft skills testing arrangements for the bus and coach industry, but as a hedge against this happening, a link has already been established between CPT and the National Joint Council for the Motor Vehicle Retail and Repair Industry concerning the alternative issue of national craft certificates.
The RTITB has also agreed to continue to provide Manpower Services Commission key grants to the bus and coach industry until July 31.
While these arrangements have been concluded quietly, MPs were expressing concern in the House of Commons before the Easter recess that voluntary training could lead to an upsurge in the number of "cowboy" kerbside coach operators.