NSAR
Long-term thinking key to training, jobs and value for money NSAR’s Neil Robertson on the strategic approach needed to maintain rail’s momentum
We need to do more for existing staff, help them develop as leaders, develop their digital skills and also reskill people from other sectors
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he National Skills Academy for Rail’s (NSAR) Routes into Rail platform launched at NSAR’s Skills Symposium late last month (November 27) in a blaze of glory, accompanied by a keynote from physicist Brian Cox CBE FRS. The platform is a repository of all of the essential information and advice required by potential candidates exploring rail careers, salaries, where roles are geographically located and is backed up by NSAR’s powerful data. 48 | December 2020
Neil Robertson might not have the celebrity profile of ‘rock star scientist’ Cox, but his work and enthusiasm makes training, recruitment and upskilling the rail workforce an equally engaging and accessible science. Neil is NSAR’s Chief Executive and also Interim Chair of the Strategic Transport Apprenticeship Taskforce (STAT). During COVID-19, Neil and the NSAR team ensured that the 12,000 apprenticeships being undertaken were completed in 2020 as planned. 8,000 of these
were completed as a direct result of NSAR working with several hundred companies to put in place the necessary flexible and safe approaches to training. Strategy refresh Now, Neil is turning his attention to supporting the Department for Transport’s (DfT) essential refresh of STAT’s strategy and preparing for the new Chair. The strategy refresh has taken on even greater importance in light of the UK moving into railbusinessdaily.com
