The 29 cleaning and hygiene sector organisations which gave feedback during the recent consultation on the Cleaning Hygiene Operative apprenticeship are being thanked by the British Cleaning Council (BCC).
Consultation on proposals for the Apprenticeship Levy accredited industrywide training programme and apprenticeship closed on 18 February.
Cleaning and hygiene sector employers, training operatives, providers and assessment organisations had been invited to have their say on the draft programme via the BCC website. Feedback from the sector is absolutely crucial for helping shape the best possible final scheme for the industry.
The feedback will now be assessed by a Trailblazer group which will finalise the proposals before they are considered by approving body The Institute for Apprenticeships and Technical Education (IfATE) later this year. The Trailblazer group of industry employers and sector experts, sponsored by the BCC, developed the proposed training programme and apprenticeship for the sector.
BCC Chairman, Jim Melvin, said: “I’d like to say a heartfelt ‘thank you’ to the stakeholders who took the time to take part in the Cleaning Hygiene Operative consultation. Industry feedback is vital for helping make sure the training programme meets industry needs, and also shows the industry working together as a collective to support the proposals.
“This is a hugely important initiative which, if approved, will ensure significant amounts of Apprenticeship Levy funding currently lost to the cleaning and hygiene industry can instead be invested in training for personnel.
“Having a sector apprenticeship in place would also help to address those unfounded and false ideas held by some outside the sector about our staff being ‘low skilled’.”
The full list of organisations which responded to the consultation are:
- ACS
- Leeds City College
- Chartered Institution of Wastes Management (CIWM)
- NHS Somerset
- Mitie
- OCS
- Lamont Cleaning
- In Depth
- Principle Cleaning Services
- Arriva Trains
- Babcock
- CK Facilities
- Professional Assessment
- Birkin Group
- Hotelcare
- Compass Group
- Just Ask
- NIC Services Group
- J A Lee
- Sodexo
- Exclusive Contract Services
- LWC Training
- British Toilet Association (BTA)
- Bidvest Noonan
- Incentive-QAS
- Julius Rutherford
- The British Institute of Cleaning Science (BICSc)
- North Yorkshire Cleaning Services
- Atalian Servest
There is currently no apprenticeship scheme for the sector which provides the training in the technical skills needed by cleaning and hygiene operatives working outside healthcare. As a result, many sector businesses paying the Apprenticeship Levy currently have no suitable option for investing Apprenticeship Levy funds on training staff.
