News: March 2012

A total of £3.5 million in funding has been announced to help train hundreds of people in key green skills ahead of the launch of the Green Deal.

The Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC) has been working closely with the Green Deal Skills Alliance to ensure support goes where it is most needed. DECC is putting forward £3 million and one of the leading partners in the Alliance, CITB-ConstructionSkills, will provide a further £500,000 towards the training of insulation installers.

Energy and climate change secretary Ed Davey commented: “This money will help hundreds of people gear up for the Green Deal and ensure this scheme is a real success on the ground. We have worked hand in hand with industry to get this right and are targeting funding at the areas where there is an urgent need as well as a clear demand. We hope this will encourage businesses across the country to fully prepare their staff for the launch of the Green Deal later this year.”

CITB-ConstructionSkills CEO Mark Farrar said: “This announcement represents a significant step towards preparing the construction industry for the government’s flagship efficiency scheme.

“Training shortfalls have been identified as one of the main barriers to the success of the scheme. We have invested funds to tackle training shortages and unlock commercial opportunities for SMEs and we welcome DECC’s commitment to skills and training by doing the same thing. We are now calling on employers and the supply chain to also invest in sustainable skills training for their workforce, so they too can capitalise on the Green Deal.”

Sarah Bentley, Asset Skills chief executive Designate commented: “We are delighted to be working with CITB-ConstructionSkills and SummitSkills as part of the Green Deal Skills Alliance (GDSA) to ensure the necessary skills are in place to deliver the Green Deal when it goes live later this year. Asset Skills’ specific responsibility is for developing the qualifications for Green Deal Advisors, who play a crucial early role in the process, and for promoting the career and training opportunities this will provide.

“We believe that a qualified workforce will ensure that the best advice on energy efficiency is available to householders and to business and we are delighted this support funding from DECC is available to kick start the delivery of training across England.”

The National Insulation Association (NIA) also welcomed the announcement. Neil Marshall, chief executive, responded saying: “We have been working closely with government on plans to significantly ramp up solid wall insulation volumes under the Green Deal and ECO and identified the need for support for skills and training at an early stage. We therefore welcome DECC’s commitment and the new funding that is being made available to help gear up for the launch of the Green Deal.”

In addition, DECC is also funding a £10 million competition to be launched in early May to support the incorporation of innovative technologies which can achieve significant energy savings in existing non-domestic buildings.

Non-domestic buildings, such as schools, shops, offices, hotels, are associated with 18 per cent of the UK’s total carbon emissions so reducing energy demand in this sector will help the country meet its climate targets.

www.decc.gov.uk