IAN GREEN, SECTION MANAGER AT NISSAN MOTOR MANUFACTURING – WRITTEN EVIDENCE (YUN0002)
Youth Unemployment Committee inquiry
I have worked for Nissan Motor Manufacturing – Sunderland Plant for 30 years and am currently the Section Manager for NMUK Process & Technical Training, GTC – UK and Nissan Skills Foundation. For NMUK this covers all training from Supervisory development through to specialist Engineering and Maintenance provision. The Global training centre covers Basic and Advanced manufacturing and Supervisory skills for Africa, India and Europe. I was responsible for the training of all staff during setup and launch of new Car Plants in St Petersburg Russia and Chennai India.
I am proudly responsible for the Nissan Skills Foundation and has worked with over 64k students and 360 schools which was established to:
Ian has an MSC in Human Resources, and is in the final stages of a completing a Prof Doctorate with Sunderland University. I am actively involved in promoting education and skills for Nissan at both a regional level and national level. This was recognised in 2018 when he was picked as a top 20 Exemplar in the Manufacturing magazines Top100 list. He is passionate about giving young people the best possible chances and to help schools to do this
I am an active member of:
• Automotive Council Skills Group, which is a collaboration between Government and the Automotive Sector established to strengthen co-operation between UK government and the automotive sector.
• Automotive Trailblazer group responsible for developing new apprenticeship standards for automotive sector
• Chair of sub group of automotive trailblazer group which developed the new Lean Manufacturing Operative Level 2 standard.
• Chair of the North East Automotive Alliance Skills group
• Strategy Board member for North East Institute of technology
• Chair of Advanced Manufacturing Advisory board for NE Institute of Technology
• Advisory board member for Derwent Hill outdoor centre
• Sunderland Business group member
• Sunderland Education board schools group member
• Member of South Tyneside school engagement partnership
Currently studying for a Prof Doctorate with Sunderland University
Nissan and Skills foundation
Nissan - Sunderland is Britain’s largest car production plant, with over 6,700 staff and in excess of 10 million cars produced since launch in 1986, more than £4bn has been invested in its development. The North East is made up of seven local authorities with a significant number of areas classified as High depravation, Sunderland is one of the 20% most deprived areas in England scoring a rating of 30% in the index of multiple depravation (IMD) and 23% (11,100) of children live in low income families.. The Nissan Skills Foundation (NSF) was created to bridge the gap between the opportunity provided by the success of Nissan and skills and abilities of school leavers, although the Foundation works with all schools, 70% of the 350 schools have in excess of 30% disadvantaged pupil premium with a wide range from 0.1% up to 81%. Only 3 of the schools we have worked are private schools.
Questions and responses
Challenges
1. What are the main challenges facing young people seeking employment today? How do structural factors impact youth unemployment, and how might these be addressed?
- Significant reduction in the number of High Quality Apprenticeships being offered in the Advanced Manufacturing sector in the North East, circa 70% drop based on a survey I had carried out from Jan – March by the North East Automotive Alliance.
2. What are the main challenges facing employers in the labour market today? What barriers do they face in recruiting young workers and setting up apprenticeships and traineeships?
- Young people not aware of the career opportunities available, too big a focus on “jobs” rather than “careers”. Those areas which had traditional “heavy” industry still have major perception barriers to young people and especially girls wanting to work in what are seen as “dirty / heavy lifting” jobs such as those offered in Advanced Manufacturing and Engineering. How do we engage with parents who have a huge influence on the young people.
3. What future social, economic and technological changes are likely to impact youth unemployment? What impact might these changes have, and how should this be planned for and addressed?
- Many Employers don’t understand the new numbering system for qualifications brought in three years ago, this compounded with unknown of “predicted” grades and young people doing almost zero practical content due to anxiety over covid in schools for last 12 months will create real anxiety in the skills the young people have. The drive towards autonomous drive and reduction of internal combustion engines and introduction of electrification into the Automotive sector will create a huge demand for skills in which we are not currently developing people. What were traditional Level 2 manufacturing jobs now have elements (modules) of level 3 work within them. Introduction of wide scale robotics creates the need for many more people requiring elements of technological knowhow to allow for routine maintenance. The introduction of 1100 robots into our factory did not lead to any loss of jobs but created new and different jobs.
4. Is funding for education, training and skills enough to meet the needs of young people and of the labour market? How can we ensure it continues to reach those who need it most?
Needs to be care taken in that we don’t just focus on specific groups, the NE has 35% of the most disadvantaged people within the country but also 10% of the least and lots of these will attend the same schools in the same classes. Funding needs to benefit the widest possible audience.
Primary and secondary education
5. Does the national curriculum equip young people with the right knowledge and skills to find secure jobs and careers? What changes may be needed to ensure this is the case in future?
- National curriculum DOES NOT equip people with the skills required for the advanced Manufacturing and Engineering sectors. That design and technology stop at key stage 3 is disastrous, the time lag of introducing a national program also is not keeping pace with changes in technology. In the next ten years we are expecting as much change as has happened in last 100. The current English Baccalaureate (current 75% expectation that children will complete rising to 90% by 2025) focuses on children staying on in education and has no Design or technology component. Its is basically the 1904 curriculum with drawing removed. Schools monitor Progress 8 and Attainment 8 which rarely if ever include technology based topics, Schools focus on Science and Maths and not engineering and Technology as a country we are failing at broad STEM education.
6. Is careers education preparing young people with the knowledge to explore the range of opportunities available? What role does work experience play in this regard?
- The expectation that any teacher can know the career paths available in every sector is unrealistic and unachievable. Careers advice has changed especially now a member of the senior leadership team has to have responsibility for it rather than the librarian which was the norm but it is still inadequate. Work experience has a huge role which was identified by the Gatsby foundation and its benchmarks have helped, however this will not be supported to the same levels once T levels come on line across all sectors. Business only have a finite number of works experience places and if we have a choice of 45 days to support someone on a T level who will potentially become an apprentice or employee or a school child who may or may not enter the sector, than the latter will miss out. This is now erven worse with covid restrictions we have tried and are trialling “virtual” encounters but this DOES not qualify as “meaningful”
7. What lessons can be learned from alternative models of education and assessment? What are the challenges with, and obstacles to, the adoption of such models?
- Difficulty is always speed and continual churn of changes to qualifications, making it difficult for providers and employers to keep up. Many employers do not understand the changes or more worryingly are not aware of them, very few are aware of T levels and the implications.
Further education, higher education and training
8. What more needs to be done to ensure parity of esteem between vocational and academic study in the jobs market and society? How can funding play a role in this?
Vocational education has a lower perceived standing than pure academic study, this has always existed and even apprenticeships which can lead to a degree level qualification are not held in as high an esteem as the academic routes.
9. What is the role of business and universities in creating a thriving jobs market for young people? How should they be involved in developing skills and training programmes at further and higher education level?
- Needs to be continuous ongoing dialogue and literally the last few months has seen a staep change in this are with much closer ways of working and hopefully this will continue. The recognition that employers want a more modular approach in that we don’t always need a full degree / diploma but only elements make it much more likely we can work together. The funding needs to be in place to support this so that not only “full” qualifications can draw down funding. With the introduction of the new Institutes of technology this is probably in the best place it has been for many years.
10. What can be done to ensure that enough apprenticeship and traineeship placements are available for young people? Is the apprenticeship levy the right way to achieve a continuing supply of opportunities?
The apprenticeship levy or training tax does not work and the funding models around new apprenticeship standards do not work. IFATE are ignoring employers (there is a pretence of listening but they never act on what we say), I have been involved with Trailblazer apprentice groups for 5 years and have chaired the development of a published standard. Even when we provide detailed quotes the allocated funding does not match. For example a degree apprenticeship attracts a maximum of 27k funding yet the degree itself will cost that so all additional training needed is done at the employer cost. My company do a five year Foundation Degree (High level 5 apprenticeship) which draws down 27k, on training courses alone the additionality we have to add above the standard cost 15k per person. Including wages we are spending 125k per person but can only claim 27k back. Huge focus on getting more SME involved however not all SME are capable of delivering a high quality apprenticeship. Even with circa 450 apprentices we are still only recovering 40% of our levy. In a survey of 17 tier one automotive suppliers only 2 were spending all of their levy.
Jobs and employment
11. What lessons can be learned by current and previous youth labour market policy interventions and educational approaches, both in the UK and in other countries?
Previously there was always a carrot and stick approach for employers to invest in L&D and apprenticeships, this not only encouraged you to invest it also rewarded you for doing it. Currently the levy is neither
12. What economic sectors present opportunities for sustainable, quality jobs for young people? How can we ensure these opportunities are capitalised on and that skills meet demand, particularly for green jobs?
- Huge opportunities in the Advanced Manufacturing sector as we move toward electrification which will have a much wider impact than just on Automotive.
13. How might future youth labour market interventions best be targeted towards particular groups, sectors or regions? Which ones should be targeted?
Difficulty with this approach is statistics influence were investment is going, so one of the most deprived Northern towns is Scarborough which has had a huge amount of time and effort trying to improve the social mobility and opportunities but the reality is it has little to no industry which can benefit from this. Money should be spent evenly and with a view to what economic impact can it have based on what industry / sectors exist in that region.
4th May 2021