Cogent: Jillian Bundy receives top honour for contribution to nuclear industry skills and training

Monday, 16 March 2009 12:00 AM

Jillian Bundy, the Manager for the Dounreay Training and Development Department, has received the Cogent SSC Award for Outstanding Leadership in Skills.

The Award was one of several handed out an Award Ceremony Dinner held by The National Skills Academy for Nuclear and Cogent Sector Skills Council, on March 12.

This was a high profile event in Manchester attended by nuclear employers. It provided a unique opportunity for key figures in the nuclear industry to join together to celebrate success in workforce development through a number of key awards. These included The Skills Academy's UK-wide Apprenticeship and Foundation Degree Student Awards.

The Outstanding Leadership in Skills Award recognises an individual who has demonstrated outstanding commitment to ensuring that the UK nuclear sector has the skills it needs to continue to be a world-class industry.

The judges were looking for someone who had led a skills project beyond their job description; who had driven forward innovation; who had contributed to the wider community and who had led a nationally driven initiative. There was stiff competition from many worthy candidates.

At the Dounreay Site, people are encouraged to shine and grow their talent and potential through the innovative Windmills programme to assist them in looking to their future. Jillian recognised that this is a high priority for a workforce going through change.

Jillian's team is also involved in working with Skills Development Scotland on an award winning project to assist children in their career planning, demonstrating her commitment to growing the talent of the future.

The national agenda is also a high priority, and Jillian is involved with the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority's (NDA) Skills Working Group. She also holds various Governance positions at North Highland College.

A huge challenge has been the relocation of the Training and Development Department off the Dounreay Site to a location in Thurso. This has made training more accessible to contractors and expanded the offer to local business supporting the community further. The Training department is also currently going through the approval process to become a Skills Academy Quality Assured Provider.

Cogent CEO, Joanna Woolf presented Jillian with her Award. She said: "The high standard of entries and the wealth of leadership across the nuclear skills agenda is a testament to the commitment of this industry's commitment to people. Jillian's entry stood out, she has shown significant commitment to workforce development engaging both employees and the local community in her efforts."

Photographs of the evening including the award winners are available.

About Dounreay Site Restoration

Dounreay Site Restoration Limited (DSRL) is the site licence company responsible for the closure programme at Britain's former centre of fast reactor research and development.

DSRL has held the site licence, waste disposal authorisation and other necessary legal permits for managing the site since April 1, 2008. Before then, the site was managed by the UK Atomic Energy Authority. DSRL is a wholly-owned subsidiary of UKAEA and operates under contract to the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority (NDA). Senior management positions within the company are occupied by staff seconded from UKAEA and its business partners AMEC and CH2MHILL. DSRL has a turnover in the region of £150 million a year and employs approximately 1000 people. It sub-contracts work to 50 or so companies in the supply chain and this provides employment for a similar number of people.

About Cogent

Cogent is the sector skills council for the chemicals, pharmaceuticals, nuclear, oil and gas, petroleum and polymer industries. It is the voice of employers in these sectors and is working with them to create a skills environment that businesses need to be innovative, competent, productive and sustainable.

Cogent's objectives are:

To improve productivity and business performance through skills development
To reduce skills gaps and shortages
To increase opportunities to boost skills
To influence skills supply across the training and education spectrum from schools to Higher Education

Cogent currently represents the interests of more than 20,000 businesses employing around 900,000 people. Since its creation it has been building on existing partnerships at regional and national level to drive forward the skills agenda in its science-using footprint.

For more on what we offer go to: www.cogent-ssc.com

The National Skills Academy network

The National Skills Academy network is the new gold standard for industry training, aiming to improve productivity and tackle skills shortages across England. Each National Skills Academy puts employers at the heart of skills training for their sector: they influence the curriculum to ensure it reflects employers' needs; get involved in the Academy's management; set standards and influence strategic direction.

National Skills Academies aim to:

• deliver high quality training for a specific sector
  
• provide first-class teaching in a modern learning environment
  
• be centres of innovation and creativity in skills development for their sector
  
• be flexible, sustaining the closest possible relationships with employers of all sizes
  
• build specialist networks with a range of other learning providers, so that new thinking, new methods and higher standards are shared, to the benefit of learners and employers.

The National Skills Academy network was initiated by the Government to address the need for a world class workforce with better skills than ever before. http://www.nuclear.nsacademy.co.uk/

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