OUR NEWS

Three Labour MPs got to see industry training at work with a visit to national infrastructure service provider, City Care Ltd, in Christchurch, organised by the Industry Training Federation (ITF) recently.

Ruth Dyson (Port Hills), Lianne Dalziel (Christchurch East), and Brendon Burns (Christchurch Central), took a tour of City Care's Christchurch Office and talked to trainees to find out about the benefits of industry training first hand.

The visit was organised by ITF as part of their Government lobbying strategy. It aimed to raise the profile of industry training in the Canterbury region and give the MPs a greater awareness of how Industry Training Organisations (ITOs), such as InfraTrain, work.

InfraTrain Regional Manager, Fiona Malloch, was delighted that City Care and InfraTrain were able to work with the ITF on this initiative. She explains, "The visit was a great way to raise the profile of the infrastructure industries in general, as well as showcasing the wide scope of work City Care does in the Canterbury region."

Fiona adds, "City Care is very supportive of industry training, which made them the ideal company to host the visit. They have a number of successful initiatives in place, including engaging youth through their pre-apprentice programme and recognition of current competencies and prior learning. They also have their own workplace assessors and mentors."

With around 1,000 staff nationwide, City Care is committed to the development of a highly skilled workforce and places a real importance on training and personal development. The company will continue to put training at the heart of its business, City Care's Chief Executive, Onno Mulder, says. "One of our objectives as an organisation is to get better and better. Training plays a big part in this. It's a good thing for staff and it's a good thing for the company."

Onno added that "InfraTrain has played a big part in helping City Care reach the standards and success we have achieved in education and training. Visit such as this one are a great opportunity to work together to highlight these achievements and to also raise awareness of future opportunities and challenges."

City Care currently has 25 active trainees enrolled with InfraTrain. These trainees are working towards 37 qualifications, covering areas including civil infrastructure, plant operation, infrastructure pipelaying, pavement surfacing, supervision, surveying and civil engineering. From 2005 to date, 62 trainees have completed 85 InfraTrain qualifications. City Care also work with a number of other ITOs.

The MPs also gained an insight into the textile industry with a visit to Weft Knitting (Apparel and Textile ITO), and into community support services with a visit to Horizons Day Options Trust (Careerforce).