Skills and the UK Steel Industry

1. Skills and the UK Steel Industry Dr. Dean Stroud Cardiff School of Social Sciences, Centre for Global Labour Research (CGLR), Cardiff University Presentation to the Social Dialogue Steel Working Group on Training and Education 15 December 2010

2. The UK Steel Industry • Dominated by one Steel Employer: • Tata Steel Europe • Formerly Corus: Merger of British Steel and Koninklijke Hoogovens in 1999; acquisition of Corus by Tata in 2007. Claims to be second largest producer in Europe • Employs 81,000 worldwide; less than 20,000 in UK (13% fall between April 2009 and 2010). 40,000 employed Europe-wide (Germany, Netherlands, France, UK). • Produces: Strip, Tubes, Packaging, Colors, Speciality and others for Rail, Automotive, Construction, Aerospace, Comsumer Goods, Energy, Security industries. • Production: Blast Oxygen Steelmaking (e.g. Port Talbot) and Electric Arc (Rotherham) • Production: Approximately 18mt in 2006, but this will have fallen considerably in more recent times.

3. The UK Steel Industry • Numerous other smaller companies: • Including: Betafence, Bosal Ltd, Bridon International Ltd, Bright Steels Ltd, Bromford Iron & Steel Co Ltd, Caparo, Celsa Steel Ltd, Cogent Power Ltd, Cold Drawn Products Ltd, Eramet Alloys UK Limited, Invicta Merchant Bar Ltd, J B & S Lees, Kiveton Park Steel Ltd, Latrobe Specialty Steel, Marcegaglia Uk Ltd, Niagara, Outokumpu Stainless, Sandvik Materials Technology UK, Sheffield Forgemasters Engineering Ltd, Siddall & Hilton Products Ltd, Spartan UK, Thamesteel Ltd, United Bright Bar Co Ltd • Producing: Flat, Long, Pipes, Wire and other products • Overall UK Crude Steel Production 2009: 10,080 (thousand metric tons), which is reduction from 13,521 in 2008 (world steel association, 2010) • Produces 6.8% of total European production (compared to 23% Germany) (Eurofer, 2008) • Employs in the region of 20.3 thousand people (ECSC steel activities)

4. The Social Partners • Steel Companies (Tata, Celsa, etc.) • EEF (Engineering Employers Federation: The Manufacturers’ Organisation) • UK Steel: represents steel producers and steel processing • Trade Unions (Community, Unite, GMB) + TUC • Department of Business, Skills and Innovation (+ Welsh Assembly Government, Scottish Parliament, Northern Ireland Assembly)

5. Jobs, Skills and Steel: The Players • Government: VET system (Providers) + National Framework + • Regional: Devolved Administrations (E.g. WAG and Pro-Act / Development Agencies [now defunct]) • Sector: SEMTA (Quango – sector skills council) • Private: Steel Companies, Metskill, EEF, Group Training Agencies, Apprenticeship Training Associations • Trade Unions: including specific initiatives (e.g. Union Learning Fund, Unionlearn) and private union owned training companies (e.g. Communitas)

6. Vocational Education and Training • A range of actors: • Government, including devolved administrations (Department of Business, Skills and Innovations & Department for Education) • Learning and Skills Councils,, FE Colleges, HEIs, Regional Skills Partnerships • Sectors (e.g. UKCES: SEMTA and Sector Strategy Groups, National Skill Academies) • Individual employers (e.g. Tata, Celsa, etc.) • Group Training Associations (Locally based) • Apprenticeship Training Associations (Locally based) • Professional bodies (e.g. EEF, CBI) • Inspectorates (e.g. OFSTED) • Awarding bodies (Qualification and Curriculum Authorities)

7. Vocational Education and Training • A Regional (National) Perspective: • England: World Class Skills • Northern Ireland: Success Through Skills • Scotland: Skills for Scotland • Wales: Skills that Work for Wales

8. Vocational Education and Training QUALIFICATIONS PROVIDERS Employer specified and state-regulated qualifications College, community and work based provision. GOVERNMENT Quality Assessment and Regulation QUALITY

9. The (Steelworker) Learner’s Journey Steel Employment Academic Education GCSE A level Degree WORK APPRENTICESHIP Junior, Modern and Advanced Foundation Degree WORK DIPLOMAS Diploma Advanced Diploma WORK FOUNDATION LEARNING Entry Level Educ. Entry to Work Skills for Life WORK

10. Learning Skills for Steel: A Case Study It took Teri under two years to complete her apprenticeship and achieve a Level 3 NVQ in Metal Processing and Allied Operations, an ONC in metallurgy and three Key Skills certificates. During that time she did four-month placements in different departments to get broad experience. She is now doing an HNC and aims to progress to a part-time degree in metallurgy with sponsorship from Corus – then maybe a Masters degree. Teri-Leigh Gillespie, 22 “After a two or three year training programme apprentices have a good knowledge of what we do and what our customers expect. The apprenticeship also gives them the opportunity to identify what department they might want to go into – a works-based or technical environment,” Jonathan explains. “It’s good to get the younger people coming through, doing their training and then hopefully getting them on to degrees.” Jonathan Dicox Quality Manager, Corus Engineering Steels

11. UK VET: Some of the Problems • Market Human Capital: A discourse of individualism. • Employers reluctant to train and invest. • Poor focus on work-process knowledge. • Vocational learning held in low regard (compared to academic routes). • Trade unions largely un-consulted and absent. • System is over-complicated and complex; too many qualifications and too many routes. Too many initiatives (e.g. Train to Gain, Individual Learning Accounts, University for Industry and so on). • Gender Segregation