'Mismanaged' Train to Gain scheme Lambasted by MPs
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chr ist in d att781agooglemait.corn A GOVERNMENT training scheme set up to help the haulage industry boost the skills of its workforce has been savaged by MPs for setting over-ambitious targets then turning firms away when it plunged f.50m into the red.
The much-touted Train to Gain scheme was designed to give employees an opportunity to take qualifications in order to narrow the skills gap in their companies.
But a committee of MPs says the Learning and Skills Council (LSC) mismanaged the scheme, leading to two years of underspend, followed by a swing in the opposite direction after it urged training providers to expand rapidly during the recession. This has meant the LSC has been forced to "slam on the brakes for the current year".
Skills for Logistics (SfL) chief executive Dr Mick Jackson describes the situation as "extremely frustrating" after it spent a great deal of time promoting Train to Gain to the logistics industry A report into the scheme says mistakes have led to the "current unacceptable position where too much training is in the pipeline and employers with new needs are being turned away".
Jackson, though, is hopeful the newly formed Skills Funding Agency will make a better job of handling the scheme: "It should be more focused," he says.
"Government policy is moving markedly towards apprenticeships; that's good news for the sector."