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Adam Bannister is a contributor to IFSEC Global, having been in the role of Editor from 2014 through to November 2019. Adam also had stints as a journalist at cybersecurity publication, The Daily Swig, and as Managing Editor at Dynamis Online Media Group.
June 15, 2018

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Interview

“More fire and security apprentices than the whole of England”: New College Lanarkshire’s David Scott on solving the skills crisis

IFSEC Global spoke to David Scott, Curriculum & Quality Leader of Built Environment and Security Systems at New College Lanarkshire, about his own experience as an apprentice, the training on offer for aspiring installers and his role in addressing a chronic skills shortage in the sector.

David has been named in IFSEC Global’s security and fire influencers 2018 – System design, installation & integration category. Congratulations, David!

IFSEC Global: Hi, David. Tell me a bit about your background and how you got into the fire and security industry?

David Scott: I used to play professional football and I quickly realised it wasn’t working out for me. I was full time with a first division team but it wasn’t going anywhere.

I reached out for apprenticeships and it turned out my uncle was a manager with Forth Electrical Services in Stirling. He offered me to come in and trial the industry, not as an apprentice, but just to come in and learn.

After a year I got offered an apprenticeship and I worked with Forth Electrical Systems [FES] for around six or seven years doing a range of different systems: intruder, fire, CCTV, access control as well as a number of different products. FES did very large building sites, schools, colleges and universities.

IG: How was the apprenticeship?

David Scott: I loved it. I was very fortunate and I got to use a lot of different systems. It was at Motherwell College and my lecturer was Charlie Rooney who is still at the college now. We have a fantastic relationship.

When I was in my first year Charlie appreciated that I was a bit older than the rest of the class because I started my apprenticeship at 19. He said he would take me to IFSEC to compete in the skills competition in my third year.

I think I was one of the first from Motherwell College to go down and compete. I competed with another person called Stuart Bailey and we won the competition.

IG: What happened after the competition? 

David Scott: I graduated from Motherwell College as an apprentice and continued my career with Forth Electrical. During my apprenticeship I was a bit older so I did a management degree at Manchester University and that finished at the same time as my apprenticeship.

So I walked out of my apprenticeship with two qualifications and a year later a job came up at the college. I loved the tools but didn’t want to be on the tools forever and I saw it as an opportunity to earn more money and have a better quality working environment.

IG: So what have your roles at the college involved?

I was very keen to use the experience I had got from competing at IFSEC to try and improve the industry.

David Scott: When I took the job I wanted to focus on the apprenticeships. I was very keen to use the experience I had got from competing at IFSEC to try and improve the industry.

Since then I’ve been helping to write the NOS: the national occupational standards for the security industry.

I wrote the Scottish qualifications for the fire and security industry for the SQA [Scottish Qualifications Authority]. With Charlie I’ve developed the qualifications we deliver up here along with all learning materials and practical exercises.

I now audit the other four centres in Scotland that deliver the apprenticeship and make sure they deliver the qualifications to the right standard by giving the apprentices equal opportunities. I’ve been doing that for 4-5 years now.

In January 2017 I was promoted to a management post and my first agenda was to grow the fire and security section.

We now have a pre-apprenticeship programme for people who want to work in our industry but don’t have a job yet. We put them through a one-year, full time course and teach them how to install fire, intruder, CCTV and access control systems. And then at the end of that year we try and get them a job in the industry as a modern apprentice.

We’ve now gone through one full cycle and had 40 students start the course in August and 40 of them are currently out on work placement. At the end of that four weeks we hope all the companies supporting the apprenticeship take 40 students on as modern apprenticeships.

We then saw that there’s a huge skill shortage, but a lot of people are working in our industry with no qualifications. So we set up an adult apprenticeship that runs at night. We now have 22 adult apprentices who attend the college one night per week.

IG: How much progress do you think the industry has made in combatting the skills crisis?

David Scott: I think we still have a long way to go, but the work that’s been done will make a huge difference. I think companies and engineers are more aware of apprenticeships and the training available.

The fact that the government is funding these things is making it easier for companies to support it. It might cost them time and resources, but not money.

For some reason Scotland really supports the apprenticeship programme. We’ve noticed that apprentices do often move from company to company and it’s because of the skill shortage. So apprentices do have a bit of leverage because they can demand a bit more [in terms of salary].

Scottish employers are still supporting it. Many send us apprentices year on year and I think our total number just now is 162 apprentices over the three-year programme. And that means our college alone has more apprentices than the whole of England put together!

Our college alone has more apprentices than the whole of England put together!

IG: What has underpinned Motherwell College’s success in this area?

David Scott: Motherwell is very central between Edinburgh and Glasgow. It’s very easy to get to us. We also have accommodation here, so we have students that travel four hours to come to our course, stay overnight and then do the training and get back up the road that night.

So we have facilities that most training providers probably don’t have.

Our college promotes competition and competing. They regularly send students to the work skills competition.

The winners of that competition then compete in the Engineers of Tomorrow competition at IFSEC. Did competing at IFSEC help to make you a better apprentice?

David Scott: The work you actually do on the Engineers of Tomorrow is everything you need to be an engineer. You’re dealing with the customer because you’re audited by someone from NSI. So you have to talk to that person and explain what you’re doing on the day.

You’re designing, installing and testing a real live working system. And you’re under extreme pressure, which is the same pressure you should feel if you’re in a customer’s house getting paid for it.

So everything was valid and current, and it helped me to be more realistic.

IG: Why should anyone who is engineering-inclined consider a career in the fire and security industry?

David Scott: There’s so many reasons. One of the main ones is the fact it’s so technology driven. It’s a fun, lively, always changing industry.

When I first started in the industry – which wasn’t that long ago – it was analogue CCTV systems. Quite quickly it changed to IP, but the quality of IP systems was very poor.

Nowadays you’re looking at HD in some cases, and the quality is phenomenal. That change seemed to happen overnight.

If I was to speak to any young person out there, I would say: if you want a job that isn’t boring, work in the fire and security industry!

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