News: Funding boost for Nuclear AMRC skills academy

The government has confirmed £920,000 for a new skills centre for nuclear manufacturing, led by the National Skills Academy for Nuclear with support from the Nuclear AMRC in Rotherham.

The money is from the Growth Innovation Fund (GIF) which was set up to help employers overcome barriers to growth within their sectors and industries.

The National Skills Academy Nuclear – Manufacturing will create a single point of entry for employers and a dedicated team, based at the Nuclear AMRC's facility on the Advanced Manufacturing Park, will tackle the most urgent skills challenges facing the nuclear manufacturing industry.

The £25m Nuclear AMRC on the Advanced Manufacturing Park is a joint initiative between the University of Sheffield, The University of Manchester, and a consortium of industry partners. It assists UK companies to successfully compete in the emerging £40 billion civil nuclear supply chain.

The new academy will support the maximisation of nuclear opportunities for UK manufacturing industry in both the UK and globally, delivering the skills requirements that companies need to grow their current market share. Complementing this will be the delivery of manufacturing and engineering training to provide high quality long-term careers for people in this market.

Within its first three years the expansion aims to deliver a more skilled workforce, with an increase of 3,500 learners taking up NSA recognised programmes, including more than 500 apprenticeships.

John Hayes, skills minister, said: "It is businesses themselves that are best-placed to identify the skills they need to drive growth. This investment is very good news for the UK nuclear industry and will help them to overcome the skills gaps that stand in the way of them meeting their full potential."

Charles Hendry, energy minister, added: "The nuclear new build programme and existing decommissioning activities provide a substantial opportunity for UK manufacturers to expand and create highly skilled jobs across the country.

"The expansion of the National Skills Academy for Nuclear to include nuclear manufacturing through work with Semta SSC and the Nuclear AMRC is an excellent example of skills bodies working together to improve the provision of nuclear related training to ensure that the UK workforce can take full advantage of the job opportunities that will be created by a new build nuclear programme."

The new project is backed by the Skills Funding Agency at the Department of Business Innovation and Skills (BIS) with support from Semta, the sector skills council for advanced manufacturing and engineering, and the Nuclear AMRC.

Jean Llewellyn OBE, chief executive of the National Skills Academy for Nuclear, said: "The opportunities for the manufacturing supply chain in this area are considerable from the UK alone, running into many millions. Combine this with the global market share manufacturers in the UK could access and the importance of this sector in delivering high value exports becomes apparent.

"Working in this strong and effective collaboration with the Nuclear AMRC and Semta SSC provides a really unique opportunity to provide the right support for the sector in a clear and collaborative approach. The nuclear manufacturing expansion of the National Skills Academy for Nuclear will support the UK supply chain to ensure it is well placed and has the skilled workforce required to gain maximum value from this global renaissance."

Nuclear AMRC website

NSA Nuclear website

Images: namrc.co.uk