About Us
CITB-ConstructionSkills Northern Ireland
The new name for the Construction Industry Training Board.
Who are CITB-ConstructionSkills Northern Ireland?
This new brand identity has been created to represent the amalgamated operations of the Construction Industry Training Board (CITB) and the sector skills council for construction, ConstructionSkills in Northern Ireland.
The CITB has undergone significant change in the last 12 months. Following a full internal review of CITB’s strategy in 2008, the external review of CITB was published by the Department for Employment and Learning (DEL) in July 2009.
One such major change involved merging CITB and ConstructionSkills in Northern Ireland, to create a leaner and more responsive organisation. The Belfast office has closed and the new business now operates solely from our Nutts Corner offices.
What is the role of CITB-ConstructionSkills Northern Ireland?
The role of the reshaped organisation will be to encourage the adequate training of those employed or intending to be employed in the construction industry and to improve the skills and productivity of the industry, to deliver a safe, professional and fully qualified workforce across the whole of the construction industry in Northern Ireland.
Our aims are to:
• Understand and meet the training needs of the industry
• Value learning as the key tool for improving productivity
• Maximise our income from sources other than levy
• Improve accessibility of grants and services to the industry
• Maximise the proportion of levy returned to the industry in grants and services
• Seek out better ways of doing business and open up to new ideas
• Become the recognised endorsement for construction training courses
• Exceed the expectations of our customers.
What services will CITB-ConstructionSkills in Northern Ireland provide to the construction industry?
By combining the operations of two divisions under one amalgamated brand, the construction industry in Northern Ireland will benefit from a wider variety of services than before, including;
Payment of grants
• 1220 employers claimed grant in 2008/2009 at a total grant expenditure of £2.28m, which equates to 50% of levy income
• We aim to increase this to 55% of levy paid out as grant, within the next 12 months
Collection of levy
• From September 2009 the levy threshold was increased from £15,000 to £80,000.
• This has reduced the number of levy payers from 2667 in November 2008 down to 1256 in November 2009. This represents a 53% reduction in the number of levy payers
Labour market intelligence
• We aim to become the definitive source of information on the Northern Ireland construction industry, its skills and its training needs
Increased investment in IT and electronic media
• This has included updates to our website and will enable employers to fill in annual levy returns and apply for grants online.
• This will also reduce the administrative burden for both CITB-ConstructionSkills Northern Ireland and employers.
Qualifications
• We will support the development of standards and qualifications infrastructure in Northern Ireland
Training and careers advice
• We will engage with government, training providers and other stakeholders to ensure the needs of the industry are met
Training course availability
• We are continually developing our database of courses and training providers to give employers the most accurate information available.
Training provider accreditation
• We aim to accredit training providers and to issue endorsement of external courses
Publications
• We will continue to produce a range of informative publications for employers, ranging from health and safety booklets, to grants and levy information leaflets.
The Sector Skills Agreement
• In our amalgamated capacity, we will continue to deliver the Sector Skills Agreement, which enables Government, employers, employee representatives and organisations who plan, fund and support education and training to work together to tackle the provision of skills around a common set of objectives, to ensure that Northern Ireland has the skilled workforce it needs to increase productivity and profitability, now and in the future.
