Lanes wins 4th Skills Accord and praise for creating social value

Water utilities and drainage specialist Lanes Group plc has won a Procurement Skills Accord for the fourth year in a row.

The training and skills development accolade has been presented by the Energy & Utilities Skills Partnership.

The company was one of 18 tier one utility service suppliers successful in achieving Accord status out of the 23 that applied.

Lanes Learning and Development Specialist James Brewer said: “Achieving the Procurement Skills Accord for the fourth year running demonstrates the sustained, high performance approach we have to supporting our colleagues so they have the skills they need to do a high quality job and build a strong career in the water utility industry.

“We’re pleased with what we’re achieving in terms of exemplar training in our industry and especially the very positive comments we’ve received from the partnership about the work we’re doing in the communities we serve to provide career and training opportunities.

“We want to have the most enthusiastic, skilful and diverse workforce so we deliver the very best service. That’s why we’re right behind this important initiative to ensure the utilities industries can source the workers it needs from all communities across the UK.”

The Procurement Skills Accord (PSA) is a national initiative that encourages increased investment in targeted training and skills across the energy and utilities supply chain.

It outlines five robust and challenging commitments that require signatory companies to ensure that responsible procurement practices are used to drive investment in skills.

Lanes Utilities, the wastewater network services maintenance partner for Thames Water, submitted full details of training and skills programme, and procurement practices, which were assessed by the skills partnership.

Criteria includes initiatives to address sector-wide skills gaps, procedures in place to meet current and future staffing resources, skills development in the supply chain, and demonstration of continuous improvement in skills development.

The Energy & Utilities Skills Partnership was impressed with Lanes’ development of an apprentice programme, its Pathway To Success career development programme, and industry involvement in seeking solutions to skills shortages.

The partnership also highlighted the positive work being done to create social value in the communities Lanes serves. Initiatives include being a signatory to Race At Work, a Prince’s Trust initiative to promote racial equality in the workplace.

Lanes is also a strong supporter of the Women’s Utilities Network that connects women in the utilities industries, the Kickstart Scheme to create jobs for 16-24-year-olds relying on Universal Credit, and is working with the Prison Service to create jobs for ex-offenders.

In total, 50 companies of all types applied for a Procurement Skills Accords and 41 were awarded, 82% of all that applied.

It is forecast that 221,000 skilled jobs will need to be filled across the energy and utility industries by 2027, with 100,000 people set to retire by then, 90,000 people moving to new jobs and 31,000 new jobs created.