Rayner SimpsonThe Security Skills Board, a committee of senior industry leaders in the United Kingdom, has presented its mission to support skills development and ambitions for security to be a ‘profession of choice’ during a gathering of over 60 professionals at The Shard.
Established by the Security Industry Authority (SIA) and the City Security Council (CSC) in March 2022, the Board is now a Community Interest Company (CIC) includes Chair Jason Towse, and Deputy Chair Adrian White of Carlisle Support Services. They shared proposals to launch a Security National Skills Academy and as part of this, develop a Security Skills Passport which received overwhelming support from industry leaders.
I’ve been part of the security sector for over 30 years and this was the largest gathering of industry leaders that I can remember.
Leading security academic Professor Martin Gill presented the findings of the inaugural National Security Skills Survey, which had a particular focus on the skills needs of security operatives employed by Micro entities and SMEs (up to 500 employees) to inform the development of services for the Academy. The results concluded that 66 per cent of those surveyed felt that obtaining funding to pay for training courses was a significant barrier to the career development of security operatives. Additionally, 44% of those surveyed cited the lack of accessibility to existing training courses as a barrier, underpinning the need for a National Skills Academy to support security operative development in the private sector encompassing skills and knowledge, career development and management training.
An initial phase of development of the Skills Board and the early development stages for the Academy has been supported by funding from the Skills Board, early investors and the Security Industry Authority (SIA). As National Skills Academies have traditionally been funded via Government and employer-matched funding, the Skills Board also highlighted a need for employers to aid the creation of the academy calling on industry leaders to offer financial and pastoral support.
Bob Betts, Board Sponsor for the proposed Academy Accreditation Scheme and Lisa Baskott held a Q&A exploring ideas of how this will set a standard for training management, product development and delivery. Both training providers and trainers can be assessed and endorsed by the scheme to aspirational standards and ensure all Academy training products are capability-based and aligned to profession map capabilities.
Further initiatives were launched during the event including a capability framework and ‘Profession Map’ by Board member Gemma Quirck, a career pathway for private security and a pilot mentoring programme scheme ‘Momentum’ which was designed by Rosa Osman and presented by Paul Lawton-Jones, Managing Director of Mercury Training. The aim of the scheme is to produce an upskilled workforce with benefits for individuals such as career progression opportunities and employers who will in turn have access to a dynamic and forward-thinking workforce.
Jason Towse, Chair of the Security Skills Board and Managing Director, Business Services, Mitie, says: “I’ve been part of the security sector for over 30 years and this was the largest gathering of industry leaders that I can remember. I was overwhelmed by the spirit of collaboration and shared purpose in the room and have been amazed by the overwhelming offers of support from the industry including from previous members of the Board and the SIA”
“The National Skills Academy will be central to ensuring our sector offers access to meaningful and practical development opportunities and we welcome the sector coming together to support it, whether it’s through investing in the Academy, mentoring, signing the Skills Pledge or just simply continuing dialogue with the Skills Boards about skills. We’re excited to work together to make security a career of choice.”
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