Development of Cross Sectoral NOS and Qualifications linked to Sustainable Business Practice Consultation dates (revised Jan 2011) Belfast – 25th January 2011 Glasgow - 1st February 2011 Cardiff – 8th February 2011 Birmingham – 10th February 2011

Background
Cogent are leading a project within the UKCES Timelines Pilot.  The aim of the pilot is to test whether the new streamlined process, proposed by UKCES, is capable of reducing the development timeline for NOS and qualifications.  Cogent will test this process in the context of developing cross sector NOS and qualifications linked to ‘Sustainable Business Practice’. 

The project provides an opportunity to bring together a group of SSCs and other expert bodies to identify the common skills requirements in relation to Sustainable Business Practice.  All Businesses in the UK will need to develop their existing staff to enable them to exploit the opportunities linked to low carbon.  In different sectors this will mean different things, but across the economy as a whole staff at all levels will need to be able to:

• maximise the sustainable and efficient use of the resources available to them,
• innovate successfully to exploit the opportunities from sustainability
• implement and manage an environmental management system
• adapt to climate change,
• manage a supply chain within the context of sustainability,
• implement sustainable procurement practices
• conduct the business in a socially responsible manner

Objectives
The primary objective of the project is to develop a cross sectoral suite of NOS and qualifications linked to Sustainable Business Practice.  These will be generic in nature and will provide a bank of standards and QCF units which individual sectors can make use of as they are, or tailor to meet the needs of a particular industry.

Partnership Organisations
Lantra
Proskills
Semta
SkillsActive
EU Skills
ECITB
IEMA
Edexcel

Project Timescales
The Project began in September 2010 and is scheduled to complete its activities in March 2011.  The main consultation phase of the work will be in Jan-Feb 2011, at which point the draft NOS and qualifications will be made available to employers and other stakeholders for comment. 

For more information about the project, and to view the draft NOS and qualifications please click here to visit the project website. 

Alternatively, contact Dawn Hillier at Cogent, dawn.hillier@cogent-ssc.com or Tel 01925 515211.