NVQ/SVQs fall 9%, Semta reveals

Similarly, registrations are also down year on year – showing a 15 per cent decline to 74,978 in 2011. Although the new data reveals a 6 per cent increase in the number of Level 3 certifications (11,320 certifications in 2011 compared to 10,670 in 2010), the overall decline provoked Semta to urge more employers to analyse their skills needs and put appropriate training programmes in place. Philip Whiteman, the outgoing chief executive of Semta, said: "We anticipate that businesses in our sectors will need to upskill 363,000 of the current technical workforce and recruit and train a further 82,000 engineers, scientists and technologists by 2016. To meet these skills needs, businesses must take action now." Philip Whiteman continues: "What is clear is that there are still a great number of businesses implementing N/SVQ programmes, but we want to ensure that all employers, regardless of size, take advantage of support available to upskill their workforces and hire apprentices and graduates. "Higher level training is particularly important to ensure we have the right future talent in key growth sectors such as advanced manufacturing and engineering."