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British Energy signs 10 million pound training contract

By Sue Mennell (08-05-2008)
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Learning and Development News - British Energy signs 10 million pound training contract

Nuclear and fossil fuel electricity provider British Energy has signed a £10 million, seven year contract with Flagship Training to deliver its apprenticeship programme which it will begin rolling out in September 2008.

Flagship, best known as the Navy’s training partner, will carry out the residential apprentice training programme at its academy based at HMS Sultan in Gosport, Hampshire where apprentices will gain valuable practical experience working on ships’ propulsion units and generators – the equivalent of self-contained power stations – and working with nuclear reactors on board submarines.

The programme imparts British Energy’s values and expectations and combines electrical engineering, exacting health and safety training and comprehensive life skills training.

Flagship’s managing director, Ron Sams, said: “By integrating the necessary technical training with a full life skills programme, Flagship will deliver a total training package which will help British Energy to attract and retain the high quality personnel needed in its industry.

“This will ensure that their future technicians are equipped to maintain the wide range of original design equipment and emerging technology which is key to British Energy’s ability to generate power for the country. We are delighted to be helping them to train their people for this important task.”

British Energy, which employs around 6,000 people, will take on around 50 apprentices each year. This will be the first time it has been able to bring them all together for training. The first two years of each apprenticeship will be spent at HMS Sultan and will be followed by a further two to three years at their home power stations until the apprentices are fully qualified.

David Barber, British Energy’s head of technical training, said: “This will be the first time that we have brought all of our apprentices together under one training regime, and we think the benefits for them and for us as a company will be tremendous.

“The training experience they will get at Flagship’s academy will be second to none and will ensure that the technicians we return to our stations will be a real asset. British Energy’s world class safety standards, our values and our expectations are built into the programme. We are developing mature and capable employees who will come back to our power stations to make a major contribution both in the stations we operate today and hopefully in any new nuclear power stations we run in the future.

“Flagship is an excellent fit with our exacting standards. We undertook a review of our external providers and Flagship provided the best option. Through them we can use the Royal Navy’s spare capacity. Ships’ propulsion units and generators are like self-contained power stations and submarines contain their own nuclear reactor. It provides the perfect training ground.”

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