ConstructionSkills, the Sector Skills Council for the construction industry, is calling on employers to become even more involved in shaping vocational qualifications.

The Sector Skills Council is urging employers to visit a new website launched by government to raise awareness of an overhaul of sector-based qualifications.

The site is part of a joint project with Business Link and the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills, designed to ensure that businesses continue to be at the heart of the changes.

Nick Gooderson, Head of Education, Training and Qualifications at ConstructionSkills, said: "These changes to the qualifications framework provide an opportunity for employers to be even more involved in shaping the workforce of the future, although this is something we have always encouraged construction employers to participate in. Their insight has been and will continue to be an extremely valuable part of inputting into what skills we must develop in the workforce, and this new website will help to start communicating how the qualifications environment is transforming.

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"Our job at ConstructionSkills is to deliver the skilled workforce of the future to help employers and industry prosper. We certainly cannot do this without feedback and close interaction with those who are the final recipients of the skills agenda; the employers, and we will remain in constant communication with them, to ensure their needs are being met."

Vocational qualifications in the construction sector have, for some time, been undergoing a number of changes, in collaboration with employers, to tweak areas they feel are more beneficial to their business needs, as well as the needs of industry as a whole. Such changes so far include modifications to the Apprenticeship Diploma.

The changes come amid a wider reform of vocational qualifications across all sectors. The Vocational Qualification Reform programme will see qualifications across every industry streamlined so that they are even more accessible to employers.

The new set of bite-size qualifications will have simpler titles and clear indicators of size, level of difficulty and content.

The Government believes that these new qualifications will help to build a better skilled workforce - leading to improved retention rates and increased profitability across all industries.

The website launched today provides links for employers to find out more about the reforms process and gives them an opportunity to influence skills strategies for their sector.

It includes links to help employers map in-house training to nationally recognised qualifications, work with training providers to develop relevant units that can be taken as part of a nationally recognised qualification and to join forces with other employers in the sector to create high quality skills and training opportunities.

Employers who are interested should go to www.businesslink.gov.uk/vocationalqualifications or for more information about ConstructionSkills go to www.cskills.org

(GK/BMcC)