The training body Skills for Security (SfS) has become a wholly-owned subsidiary of the BSIA.
This reverses the trade association’s divergence from its former training body, the Security Industry Training Organisation (SITO), which went into Skills for Security in 2006. Skills for Security will retain its own legal identity and, as such, remains a separate company limited by guarantee. Skills for Security was previously owned, as members, by the BSIA, the Security Institute, the Security Industry Authority and the GMB trade union. The three bodies have agreed to transfer their part ownership by effectively collapsing their membership, leaving the BSIA as the sole remaining member. SfS will leave its long-time base at Security House in Worester – a property owned by the BSIA – to go out of city at the BSIA’s premises at Kirkham House. The association said there were no plans to integrate the two businesses, with the possible exception of a few key roles. Costs for SfS and the BSIA should be reduced. The BSIA hoped that more members will put their training business through SfS, and help make the Skills business more profitable than in recent years. Since David Greer the SfS chief since 2007 left last autumn, former Bank of England security man Mike Britnell has been acting chief executive of SfS.
James Kelly, pictured, Chief Executive of the BSIA, said commercial factors as the rationale behind this agreement. He said: “Skills for Security has had some notable successes in recent years – such as training 5,300 security people in preparation for the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games – and the organisation’s directors have been considering how best to develop the business going forward, and view a partnership with the industry trade body as essential in building closer alignment to the industry. There are several synergies between the two organisations, including a shared history and a number of directors in common. As such, the BSIA is considered a natural partner for Skills for Security as it looks to develop its business over the coming years.”
Rather than allow SfS to go into some other training body, or as the BSIA put it a wider business sphere, the trade body has agreed to assume sole ownership of Skills for Security, which will return the sector skills body for the security industry within the auspices of the industry’s trade association, as it was almost seven years ago. The BSIA makes the point that this will also ensure that the industry retains control over its own training standards, particularly National Occupational Standards.
In a changing industry affected by developments to regulation and legislation, it has been recognised that, in recent years, Skills for Security has not been as close to industry suppliers as it could have been, the BSIA said. As such, this development will improve the organisation’s ability to serve the current changing market dynamics.
Lord Stevens, Chairman of Skills for Security, said: “We hope that one of the many positive results of this merger will be a significant increase in the number of BSIA members who use Skills’ resources. We see a huge potential in bringing the two organisations together, and, in keeping with the Government’s desire for improved employer engagement in skills development, believe that an independent SfS and the BSIA can together make the new joint business work very well. I look forward to the exciting opportunities that this new chapter will bring for Skills for Security, our industry and its people.”
James Kelly added: “Broader engagement with the wider security sector is a key element of the BSIA’s business plan, and reflects one of our key strategic objectives for 2013 and beyond. Bringing Skills for Security on board is an exciting opportunity, which will give the Association a fresh angle from which to do business and subsequently enable us to expand our reach within the security industry.”
Visit the websites of the BSIA or Skills for Security for more information about these organisations.
