Source: Chart provided by GoSkills (2007).  Data from the Labour Force Survey (2006).

There are high levels of training reported by companies in the passenger transport sector:

• 65% of large companies organised training for their employees
• 81% of micro-businesses

These levels have increased over the last few years across both England and Scotland.  In the English regions the highest levels of training took place in Yorkshire and the Humber (84%) and the South West (81%).  Training is more common in urban areas than rural.

The training provided deals with job specific issues and aspects of health and safety.  Customer service training was the most common training identified with about two thirds of all companies providing training in this area.  Only 45% of large companies and 15% of micro companies offered driving training to their employees.  There is little evidence that training to improve IT skills is provided.

There are a number of rail focused private training providers, including for example the Association of Rail Training Providers (ARTP).  However, there are fewer transport specific providers for passenger transport other industries.  It is estimated that there are about 1,100 training providers engaged with the passenger transport sector across the whole of the UK.

Source: GoSkills Skills Needs Assessment (stage 1) 2006a and GoSkills Analysis of Provision 2006b

Larger companies are more likely to cite a lack of funds or lack of local training provision as a barrier to training than smaller companies.

• Local provision is a barrier for fewer than 10% of micro-businesses and sole traders, although funding is more of an issue for sole traders. For those who experienced a lack of training availability, 13% were rural and 12% were urban.
• Funding is cited as a barrier by fewer than 30% of companies and local availability of courses by fewer than 20% of companies. Of those companies finding funding a barrier to training, 27% were rurally based and 22% were located in an urban area.
• A lack of time for training is an issue for 33% of English companies, and 28% of Welsh companies, but only 5% of Scottish companies.

Source: GoSkills Skills Needs Assessment (stage 1) 2006a

As the industries in the sector are evolving with technological innovation, increasing competition and increasing customer demands, education and training in the sector needs to develop:

• National Occupational Standards (NOS) for roles at a supervisory level and higher level jobs
• NOS to underpin Foundation Degrees
• higher level teaching and technical skills in driver training industry
• training that addresses the increasing use of technology and the changing customer facing roles

Source: GoSkills Analysis of Provision 2006b

For more information on National Occupational Standards in the sector go to the GoSkills website.