On the eve of the general election, Brian Berry, chief executive, of the Federation of Master Builders, told the Express that without an adequate workforce, that the political pledges to fix the housing problem were at risk of failure.

The head of the trade body went on to say that the industry had to broaden its appeal to attract both young and mature talent into the sector.

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The first class of ex-offenders have graduated as scaffolders from a CISRS-certified training scheme.  

The initiative, which has been funded by CITB, and run by Fulcrum Scaffold Safety and Procure Plus, aims to provide ex-offenders with valuable skills and a second chance in life.

Dave Abrahams, managing director with Fulcrum said the training programme was “a massively successful recruitment route for the scaffolding sector.”

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The Electrotechnical Skills Partnership (TESP) has launched a marketing campaign warning against rogue trainers.

The trade body aims to raise awareness to training organisations that operate outside industry-approved schemes and offer unnecessary or unsuitable qualifications to those trying to enter the sector.

Ruth Devine, chair of TESP said: “We have a strong network of training providers doing the right thing, unfortunately there are some working outside of what we consider ethical practice and selling…unnecessary and unsuitable qualifications.”

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