1. Green Skills: Partnerships for Professional Skills
Cogent SSC
Jaine Chisholm Caunt
Director of Stakeholder & Policy

2. About Cogent SSC:
Cogent is a Sector Skills Council: an employer-led body delivering strategic solutions to the skills needs of the chemicals, pharmaceuticals, oil and gas, nuclear, polymer and petroleum industries. It was brought about through the desire of the key UK science-based industries to drive up productivity through fit-for-purpose and accessible vocational training and to meet the future industry challenges through the supply of people with the essential skills including innovation, leadership and science.
Our goal is to help produce the skills needed to transform businesses so that the UK has world-class science-based industries.
Impact matrix – submerged part of iceberg – invisible body of labour that gives stability to tiny exposed and polished surface.

3. Sustainability Solutions:
Cogent has been working to define a national standard for the activities which contribute to Sustainable Business Practice (SBP) at every level.
These standards will form the basis of a toolkit which will enable an organisation to utilise its most important resource – its workforce - to fully realize the commercial and environmental benefits of SBP.
Impact matrix – submerged part of iceberg – invisible body of labour that gives stability to tiny exposed and polished surface.

4. Reducing the environmental impact:
Embracing the environmental agenda is critically important for any industry, not only in terms of anticipating future regulation but also because of the long term business benefits to be gained from improvements in efficiency and competitiveness
Defra estimates savings to business: £6.4 billion from measures that ‘cost little or nothing’
Innovation eg. technology
Increased resource security
Environmental improvement
Reputational/procurement reasons
Impact matrix – submerged part of iceberg – invisible body of labour that gives stability to tiny exposed and polished surface.

5. Qualification Development:
Cogent started work to revise develop new National Occupational Standards in Sustainability in 2009
We consulted a wide range of companies across its sector footprint to inform the content of the standards, which address themes such as resource efficiency; environmental management; innovation; corporate and social responsibility; and supply chain management
We are working in partnership with IEMA which has ensured a strong link to the Institute’s body of professional standards.
Impact matrix – submerged part of iceberg – invisible body of labour that gives stability to tiny exposed and polished surface.

6. Qualification Development:
We also worked with other SSCs to test the application of the standards across other industries such as: land-based, energy and utilities, food and drink, engineering construction, sport and leisure, engineering manufacture, and processing and extractive industries.
Identified existing ‘Sustainability’ NOS developed by Improve (Resource Efficiency) and Lantra (Environmental Management)
Consulted with the Cogent industries (using large campaign, Cogent Industry Advisory councils, IEMA membership)
Impact matrix – submerged part of iceberg – invisible body of labour that gives stability to tiny exposed and polished surface.

7. Qualification Development:
Reviewed and incorporated NOS developed by Lantra on Environmental Responsibility
However there was a lack of small bite-sized qualifications in Resource Efficiency available to serve as CPD for existing workforce.
New Sustainability NOS approved by UKCES in May 2010 
Impact matrix – submerged part of iceberg – invisible body of labour that gives stability to tiny exposed and polished surface.

8. Sustainability in practice:
The standards for Sustainability can be used as tools for any number of purposes including:
Developing sustainability strategy
Promoting the business benefits of sustainability
Managing and contributing to sustainability initiatives
Supply chain management around sustainability
Workforce management and quality control
Providing a framework for training and development
Forming the basis of qualifications
Impact matrix – submerged part of iceberg – invisible body of labour that gives stability to tiny exposed and polished surface.

9. Qualification Development:
Cogent has now developed a suite of qualifications, across levels 2-5 which take people from an introduction to the topic, to full scale Sustainability strategy development. 
The assessment requirements have been designed to be flexible enough to enable on-the-job assessment, off the job training and assessment, remote learning, e-learning or a mixture of these approaches. 
The units are designed to deliver the underpinning principles of resource efficiency and require the individual to apply this knowledge to solve a resource efficiency problem within their own organisation. 
This is a similar approach to BIT, and some providers are already seeing opportunities to deliver a programme of training which could combine the requirements of both.
Impact matrix – submerged part of iceberg – invisible body of labour that gives stability to tiny exposed and polished surface.

10. Future Developments:
Resource Efficiency Qualification currently in the process of being accredited to the QCF
Expected to be available for registration 1st December 2010 from Edexcel
Full list of Resource Efficiency Qualifications available
Impact matrix – submerged part of iceberg – invisible body of labour that gives stability to tiny exposed and polished surface.

11. Future Developments:
Resource Efficiency Qualification currently in the process of being accredited to the QCF
Expected to be available for registration 1st December 2010 from Edexcel
Full list of Resource Efficiency Qualifications available
Impact matrix – submerged part of iceberg – invisible body of labour that gives stability to tiny exposed and polished surface.

12. Working in partnership – how to get involved?
Impact matrix – submerged part of iceberg – invisible body of labour that gives stability to tiny exposed and polished surface.