L-R Access Training's Chris Barrass, Susan Harris of Durham Training and June Brewis of MPH Customer Centred Training

Access Training has won funding from the Learning and Skills Improvement Service (LSIS) to give free support to other training companies interested in alternative contracting models.

Access, based in north east England, has been approved by LSIS to provide consultancy on how to add value to a business by either becoming a lead provider, a sub contractor or a collaborative partner.

Access has a long history of collaborative working and recently entered into a partnership arrangement with MPH Customer Centred Training and Durham Training.

The LSIS funding will allow Access to support up to 12 training providers who are considering, or are involved in, collaborative or alternative contracting arrangements. The management team will share its expertise on selecting and approaching potential partners, developing draft heads of terms and a legally binding agreement, developing a quality framework, and creating positive relationships with partners.

Malcolm Armstrong, managing director at Access Training, said: "We are looking to share our experience with providers based in the north east, through workshops and one-to-one support. We will explain our model and facilitate discussion about other alternative contracting practices. Therefore, we welcome participants willing to share their own experiences and knowledge of other models.

"The fact that we are the only training company in Tyne and Wear to achieve the prestigious Training Quality Standard (TQS) demonstrates our commitment to helping raise standards in the independent training sector."

The assistance may be particularly helpful to providers that have been affected by the Skills Funding Agency's new minimum contract levels.

LSIS partnership advisor, John Sikora, adds: "This support presents a very valuable opportunity for providers to learn from the Access Training experience and gain valuable information and support to help develop good quality collaborative contracting practices."

A workshop is being held on 24 February but places are limited. Training providers who are interested in receiving support should call Malcolm Armstrong on 0191 490 4660 or email marmstrong@accesstraining.org

A Gateshead student has secured an apprenticeship that sees her helping other wannabe apprentices get a job.

Kate Veitch, 20, from Lobley Hill, has been appointed by Team Valley based Access Training as an administration apprentice. Her role involves providing support to the company's Business Solutions team which includes matching learners with apprenticeship opportunities on the National Apprenticeship Vacancy system and supporting learner inductions and interviews.

Access Training originally met Kate when she was just 16 and completing a one-day-a-week work placement with the company whilst she was a sixth form student at St Thomas More school. Four years later Kate was studying Fashion Marketing at college when an apprenticeship vacancy at Access came up. Kate jumped at the chance to swap studying for work-based training.

Kate said: "I'm so pleased to get this opportunity. It's a good feeling knowing I am helping other young people like myself realise their potential. Since doing my placement at Access when I was at school I knew that being in a real workplace really motivates me. I've always been a hands-on person."

Malcolm Armstrong, managing director at Access added: "Kate has already shown herself to be an excellent addition to our team. She is working through her Advanced Apprenticeship in Administration and we have high hopes that she will progress to a Higher Apprenticeship and possibly onto a part time degree in the next few years."

Access Training is the only training provider in Tyne and Wear to achieve the Training Quality Standard (TQS) and supports businesses to develop their people and take on apprentices.

The company has recently taken on four new staff, including Kate, and now employs 23 people.

Access Training provides apprenticeships in business administration, accounting, team leading & management, customer service, teaching & learning, manufacturing operations, security systems, engineering and warehousing & distribution.

For more information about Access Training call 0191490 4646 or email info@accesstraining.org

Access Training carried out its annual learner survey from September to November 2011. Learners were asked to complete a questionnaire grading us on a scale of 1 to 10 in 16 areas (with 1 = Very Poor, 5 = Satisfactory and 10 = Very Good)

85 questionnaires were completed with average scores for each area / question ranging from 8.63 to 9.67 out of 10. We were particularly pleased that scores improved from 2010 in 9 of the 16 areas with only 3 questions scoring less than 9 out of 10.

Learners were also asked to add comments on what they liked about Access. We had some wonderful feedback, including the following comments:

• Excellent experience, completing the qualification. I had a great deal of direction and learned a lot. I was made to think!'

• 'I like how friendly, considerate and helpful Access were when finding me a place of work'There when needed, treated like an adult, got through at my own speed.'The coaching and support is of an exceptional standard. Very flexible and tailored way of teaching.'

• 'enjoyed the friendly, personal care throughout the training programme'

• 'Couldn't have been treated any better'

• I liked the opportunities and the training. How fast things are (certificates).

• 'It helped me gain important qualifications, as well as having a job. All the people from Access are very helpful and friendly'

L-R: Susan Harris of Durham Training, Chris Barrass of Access Training and June Brewis of MPH Customer Centred Training.

A north east training company has created a new partnership which will secure 50 jobs in the region.

Access Training has won a £2m contract with the Skills Funding Agency (SFA) thanks to a partnership deal with two other training providers - Durham Training and MPH Customer Centred Training. The move has doubled its funding from the SFA which allocates £4bn of public funding per year for the training of adults in England.
In August the SFA significantly increased the minimum value of contracts it will award to any individual training provider which has left many smaller organisations struggling to secure funding and stay in business.

Gateshead-based Access, which has been in business for over 25 years, has launched a new partnerships division to offer subcontracts to other training companies.

The arrangement gives subcontractors security and efficiencies. On behalf of its new partners, Durham Training and MPH, Access draws down the SFA funding and carries out all the required auditing and performance and quality management.

Access' Chris Barrass has taken on the role of Partnerships Director to drive forward this new area of the business.

Chris said: "We have a long history of partnership working and saw the new SFA funding rules as an opportunity to grow our business by offering collaborative arrangements to others that safeguard their funding while providing additional support. It's a win-win for all partners. MPH and Durham Training both have excellent reputations in their own right and although it's early days we can already see some real benefits from working together. Our aim is that all partners will grow together over the next few years"

Follow us on Twitter @Access2Training

Access Training carried out its annual employer survey in October and November 2011. Employers were asked to complete a questionnaire (on line or paper versions were available) grading us on a scale of 1 to 10 in 16 areas (with 1 = Very Poor, 5 = Satisfactory and 10 = Very Good).

44 questionnaires were completed. We are very pleased with the feedback received and are able to report that average scores for each area/question ranged from 8.39 to 8.91 out of 10.

Employers were also asked to add comments on what they like about Access. We had some very pleasing feedback, including the following comments:

• 'Your Skills Advisers go beyond the minimum required to gain a new qualification and push our staff to extend their knowledge and learn new skills which are relevant to their activities at Peacocks' - Peacocks Medical Group


• 'They deliver what the students need and that makes our jobs easier as employers. We have dealt with them for a number of years and wouldn't change to any other Training Provider' - Elring Parts


• The personal service received from our assessor/We consider Access to be part of our company' - Apex Radio Systems


• 'Friendly approachable staff, from bottom to top level' - Tyneside Training Services


• 'Access have been very helpful within the organisation, encouraging many employees to continue to study and learn' - Valeo Engine Cooling


• 'Very easy recruitment process and very well handled' - Cottam Brush Ltd

What employers like about Access (summary):



• Helping staff to gain qualifications


• The professionalism and friendliness of Access staff


• The excellent relationships developed


• The flexibility and convenience of delivery


• The support and encouragement given to learners / staff


• The support provided in recruiting apprentices

Follow us on Twitter @Access2Training

L-R: Malcolm Armstrong, Donna Barker, Nicola Henderson, David Armstrong and Kate Veitch

Despite challenging times in the training sector, one north east company is bucking the trend by expanding, with the recruitment of four new staff.

Gateshead based Access Training has appointed Nicola Henderson as a Trainer, Donna Barker as Business Development Manager, David Armstrong as Assistant Finance Manager and Kate Veitch as an apprentice.

The company has seen recent growth thanks to the launch of training courses for the unemployed and the appointment of a number of subcontractors which has widened its services. Access, which is the only training provider in Tyne and Wear to achieve the Training Quality Standard, now has a total of 23 employees.

Business Development Manager, Donna Barker, from Wallsend said: "In this economy, having a skilled, reliable workforce has never been so important. My role is to work with businesses in the region to help them take on apprentices and develop their employees so they can be as competitive as possible."

Nicola Henderson will deliver sales and IT training to learners who are unemployed to help them get back into the workplace.

David Armstrong is the son of the company's Managing Director, Malcolm, and is key to the company's succession planning. David has been appointed to the finance department to work on supporting business growth.

Kate Veitch is an apprentice and responsible for administration and helping to link learners with apprenticeship opportunities on the National Apprenticeship Vacancy system. She supports learner inductions and arranges learner interviews.

L-R: Gerald Shearman-Earp, David Morley, Nicola Henderson and David Perry

Tyneside jobseekers are being offered free help to get back into work - thanks to two new training courses.

Access Training, in partnership with E-achieve, has launched an IT skills course for unemployed people, to help them with writing CVs and job applications and carrying out online job searches. A sales and customer services course is also set to begin, on 21 November, which will give jobseekers sought-after skills to make them more employable.

E-achieve has been providing the IT training in other parts of the region for three years and has now teamed up with Gateshead-based Access to launch the courses in Newcastle and Gateshead.

Chris Barrasss, Operations Director at Access Training said: "The IT course is specifically designed for people who need to learn new skills to be able to find a job. A lot of job searching is now done on the internet and applications are also often completed online so we teach people the necessary IT skills to be able to do this."

Learners achieve an Edexcel iTQ certificate on the four week IT course, which is available throughout Tyne and Wear. Learners must be over 19 to enrol and if they receive benefits such as job seeker's allowance the course is free.

Director at E-achieve, Gerald Shearman-Earp adds: "We are delighted to form a partnership with Access Training because it will allow us to help a lot more people to find work."

As a Training Provider we aim to provide a quality service to our customers. In order to do this we need to monitor and continuously improve our service.

An essential aspect of this process is gaining the views of those we train and we do this on an annual basis. Most of the people we train are employed so it is essential that our training also meets the needs of employers.

We have recently e-mailed our current employers with our survey which can also be accessed via the following link:

Employer survey

We will analyse the survey results and address any common concerns/issues so that the quality of training and support we offer employers can be further improved. A summary of key findings will be published via this website in November.

In the meantime if you wish to discuss any aspect of our service please feel free to contact Malcolm Armstrong (Managing Director) on 0191 4904660.

Security Apprentices, Alex Blakey, David Penman, Jordan Ringrose, Louis Taylor and Stephen Thompson have been wowed by the facilities available at the Skills Academy

A unique new partnership has provided opportunities for companies throughout the north east to offer apprenticeships in the growing security sector. Access have provided and managed apprenticeship programmes in the region for over 10 years but when they struggled to find delivery partners this year, it looked like they would have to disappoint some of the employers they have dealt with for a number of years and the young people they were looking to recruit.

However, they were to find the answer literally on their doorstep, the Gateshead Skills Academy. The Skills Academy, home for Access since 2008, is also the base for the Collective, a consortium of training providers which includes Gateshead College's work based learning unit. Discussions between the 2 organisations quickly led to the development of a programme managed by Access but delivered by a team of tutors from the college and specialist training provider Cablecom.

The first apprentices started their programme in October and have been wowed by the quality of the facilities available at the Skills Academy which includes a bungalow built in the middle of the centre, where apprentices are taught to install fire and burglar alarms, door entry systems and CCTV surveillance equipment.

Elaine Hall, Manager of Durham based security company CDS Limited, has 3 apprentices on the programme, Jordan Ringrose, 18 from Cramlington, Arron Lockey, 19 from Houghton le Spring and David Penman, 18 from Newcastle.

l-r Chelsea Cawthorn, Joe Clarkson, Iain Curry, Michelle Klitzke, Lorraine Robinson.


Newcastle-based, Apex Radio is a prime example of an employer who has invested in apprenticeships and subsequently reaped the benefits for their business.


Established in 1990, Apex's business is in the hire and sale of two-way radios and associated communications equipment. The company has built up a prestigious reputation throughout the country with many of Britain's blue chip companies as clients.


Access MD Malcolm Armstrong sat in on a recent meeting between Apex General Manager Ian Curry, apprentice Chelsea Cawthorn and Skills Adviser Lorraine Robinson and had this to say: "I observed a recent review meeting as part of our quality assurance measures and I have to say that while I was there mainly to check on the level of service we provide, I was actually knocked out by the enthusiasm Ian and his staff showed towards the apprenticeship programme. Apex have obviously embraced 'apprenticeships' and have used them to help formalise their recruitment and training processes. The support they offer to their apprentices is exceptional."

Whilst the economic slump has had a huge impact on the drinks industry in the area, one organisation has been working hard to ensure it is in the best possible position to see the downturn through.

Over the past year Waverley TBS, an independent drinks wholesaler based in Felling, have been carrying out some serious succession planning which has resulted in heavy investment in the development of their workforce.

Working with Access, 23 members of the company's staff have now embarked on Apprenticeship or NVQ training in areas including Management, Team Leading, Business Administration and Warehousing.
The senior management team are already delighted with the results as John Glass, Warehouse Operations Manager at Waverley, explained,

"The training programme began with the managers, team leaders and admin team and was then rolled out to the warehousing staff when they expressed an interest in taking part. This has been so successful that a second larger group of warehousing employees have just begun training programmes too.

We are pleased to announce that Issue 14 of our Newsletter is now available (please click on the link below to download a copy). The Newsletter contains information on what's been happening at Access in the past few months including some exciting new initiatives available for employers and learners.