TRAINING BOARD!
Page 71
Page 72
If you've noticed an error in this article please click here to report it so we can fix it.
THE FIRST STEP!
AFTER a long interval since a declaration of intent was first made, the order constituting the industrial training board for the road transport industry is now in operation and it held its first meeting on Wednesday in London. As a measure of that interim delay, this is the 16th training board to be set up under the Industrial Training Act of 1964. Following the previous announcement of Mr. K. C. Turner as its chairman the additional members of the board have now been appointed by the' Minister of Labour, Mr. Ray Gunter, comprising 10 employer members, 10 employee members and seven educational members. An acting secretary and skeleton staff have also been appointed.
So the Road Transport Industry Training Board is, at last, in business. But obviously some time must still elapse before its activities will have direct effect on road transport operators and the other allied activities coming within the Board's orbit. Nevertheless forward looking operators will already be endeavouring to forecast the ultimate effect of the Board's requirements as to training of their staff, and to make provision accordingly. Indeed some companies have already announced the appointment of a training officer to their respective organizations as just such a preparatory move. These appointments, however, will normally. be limited to the larger organizations.
For smaller operators any attempt at this stage to assess the ultimate effect on their activities of this Board must be largely speculative. Some benefit however can be derived from several of the annual reports and statements of account which are now appearing in respect of the earlier training boards. To this extent the opportunity to take advantage of such experience in admittedly different industries which nevertheless might have common application, is a side benefit of the road transport board being late in the field.
First requisite
A first requisite of any training board is to compile a register of the establishments coming within its scope, together with the number of employees involved. Right at the outset there is this distinction between establishments and employees. Allied to this is the structure of an industry which also must have direct effect on the size and complexity of the job confronting a newly constituted training board. By tradition some industries may be largely located in comparatively few areas which, to some extent, should facilitate training. Other industries, of which road transport is an extreme example, are geographically dispersed throughout the country. Such dispersal inevitably means that the operational units will be small. This, in the past, has undoubtedly been a major contributory factor in the lack of headway made in road transp training on a voluntary basis. While the monetary incent provided by the training levy and grants which is a key factor of I Industrial Training Act should redress this position, the problem applying training to an industry dispersed nationwide in small ur will remain for this newly constituted board to resolve.
As an indication of this diversity there are 46,000 hauliers whom 85 per cent have five vehicles or less. This board is also sponsible for the training of employees in a number of alli industries including the repair of motor vehicles at garages virtually every town and village in the land.
Many activities
As already announced the board came into operation September 15 with the issue of the Industrial Training (Ro Transport Board) Order 1966 (obtainable from HM Statione Office reference 1966 No. 1112). The board was thereby establish to exercise the functions conferred on training boards by t Industrial Training Act in relation to the activities of the ro transport industry which are specified in detail in schedule the order. This schedule gives a surprisingly large number activities which could be termed ancillary to road transpo The principal activities covered by the board are those of t nationalized, municipal and private sectors of the road passeng transport, road haulage and motor vehicle repair industries. 0th activities include the buying, selling or hiring out of mot vehicles or goods vehicles, driving instructing, retail sale of pett and motor oils, wholesale sale of motor vehicle componen accessories and transport service equipment, furniture removing ai some public warehousing.
Among the several definitions subsequently given in schedule are "repair" which means all or any of the operations of repai reconditioning, modification, alteration, conversion, and mail tenance. It also means cleaning, washing or carrying out runnir repairs or minor adjustments and "transport service equipmeu which relates to plant or equipment of a kind used in testing analysis of performance of motor vehicles or goods vehicles, their repair or in their recovery from damage.
As a result of the wide range of activities included within tt scope of this board it is estimated that 900,000 employees will affected and it needs to be emphasized that all grades of employ( will be included and not only manual workers.
Activities concerned with road transport operation proper w obviously be substantially involved in the training of driving sta and it is significant in this respect the activity of driving instructir elf comes within the scope of the training board. To this extent me will be a similiarity with the activities of the construction and ;tiding industries which might be considered to have similar lining problems because of the high proportion of staff other than Etftsmen.
The wide dispersal of a large number of small operating units roughout the country presents a problem which the road transport lining board will have to resolve. But there will be a compensating ctor in that a large proportion of employees, namely drivers, ;11 require similar training.
An immediate requirement of the new board will be to make up ; register of establishments coming within its jurisdiction. But iring this period steps will have to be taken to recruit and train ose who themselves will subsequently be training officers sponsible for the practical application of the board's basic )jective in the training field, as distinct from the administrative .ganization which will also have to be created.
Igineering workers In addition to the training of drivers and other operative aff there will be a substantial proportion of engineering workers nicerned with the maintenance of vehicles for whom training cilities will be needed. This being so it is interesting to examine e first full year's report of the Engineering Industry Training pard with a view to obtaining some idea as to the likely timetable events in the progress of the road transport board.
The Engineering Board was one of the first to be set up—in ily 1964—but its first full year's report was published only :cently covering the period April 1965 to March 1966. While the amber of employees involved is much larger than will be the case
with the road transport board (3.5m. compared with under 1m.) the number of engineering establishments is 29,000. In contrast public hauliers alone coming within the scope of the road transport board total over 46,000. So with the large number of other activities including public garages the overall total might well be double that figure.
More complex problems As it is the number of establishments rather than the number of employees which will make the problems of administration more complex for a training board, it seems on this score alone that the road transport board could not be expected to improve on this timetable of achievement of the earlier boards. On the other hand it will have access to experience gained by established boards and should be able to short-cut some of its problems.
Regarding the initial job of compiling the all-important register of establishments coming within the jurisdiction of the training board, it is significant that in mid-1966 the Engineering Board had this to report: although the register was established the previous year (1965) it had been adjusted and amended according to further information concerning companies' activities. Many companies were organized in such a manner that their activities were carried out in more than one establishment. In some cases they had preferred that their establishments be suitably grouped together for grant purposes and approximately 1,200 agreements of this nature had been entered into.
With the grouping of many transport operating units in recent years it could well be that this development within the engineering board could have implication for the subsequent registering of establishments under the road transport board.
Regarding the immediate problem of the training of more training specialists both for the road transport industry itself and for the Board's own staff, the Engineering Board reports that it recruited 122 officers to serve in the regions to offer a training advice service and to assist in the validation of claims for grant.
This Board's own training officers undergo an induction course lasting a fortnight soon after joining the Board's service and this serves to give the necessary briefing in procedure. Thereafter it is intended that all training staff should undertake a more rigorous form of training in theory and practice. This course lasts for six months, half the time being spent at a technical college and the other half in secondment to industrial and other training establishments for practical experience. The first course began in February 1966.
A foundation As a matter of policy this Board gave early priority to setting down training standards on a broad front. But even now the book containing the Engineering Board's recommendations for first-year training of engineering craftsmen and technicians is only about to be issued to all firms.
The purpose of first-year training as prescribed by the Engineering Board is to provide a foundation for which progress to high levels of skill over a wide area can be flexibly achieved.
The timetable in respect of action taken by the Engineering Board in respect of the all-important subject of the training levy is also revealed. Compared with the setting up date of July 1964 a statutory return went to all employers in April 1965 to provide the information on which to calculate the levy. This was due to be returned the following month but having regard to the novelty of the situation and possible lack of knowledge on the part of employers it was decided for the first year not to insist upon completion by the date due. As a consequence, returns have been coming in throughout the year and about 3,000 were still outstanding on March 31 1966.
The first levy assessment notices were dispatched to more than 7,000 firms who had not claimed grants by March 29 1966. These notices were dated April 1 1966 and employers receiving them would become conclusively liable to the levy on May 11966.
But the Board's report also comments that it would be unable to afford such a long period for the collection of returns and the dates by which the completion of future statutory returns was required would have to be strictly observed.