Patrick Harvie MSP Minister for Zero Carbon Buildings, Active Travel and Tenants' Rights launches the Modern Apprenticeship Building Standards On-line Course on 23 November 2022.

LABSS Chair John Paul Breslin confirms support for this initiative and issues a plea for Local Authority support for 2023 and beyond.

John Paul was quoted as follows:

Thank you for the opportunity to say a few words on behalf of Local Authority Building Standards Scotland and thank you for taking time out of your busy schedules to officially launch the Building Standards Modern Apprenticeship course today. I am delighted to be here this morning to support the launch of the programme, a collaborative delivery with Fife and Inverness colleges, our colleagues at the Energy Skills partnership and the Building Standards Division. I would also like to take this opportunity to welcome along all of our cohort 1 Modern Apprentices that have kindly joined us today as well as offer my sincere thanks to the host local authorities for their commitment in creating the new Modern apprentice positions without whom our year 1 would not have commenced. This is a course which we see as one of the most significant steps taken in many years to promote and improve the service for everyone involved in both its delivery and use as well as to create a vital new entry route into the profession.

LABSS, and the building standards teams in the 32 authorities throughout Scotland, are only too aware of the workforce planning issues that we all face in maintaining and recruiting into our verifier services. It has taken many years to get to this point where we now have the next generation of Building Standard Surveyors starting out on this critical educational pathway. It is an extremely positive position to be in and will help verifiers recruit younger people into the workforce and allow investment in their development.  The success of this course as a continual entry point into the Building Standards sector is key to the future resilience of the profession. The introduction of the Modern Apprenticeship in Building Standards is the cornerstone of the future Building Standards workforce, and it underpins our aspirations to have a first class building standards service in Scotland.

I would therefore ask everyone in attendance today to think about how they can commit to cohort 2 next year and beyond, to ensure the continued success of the course as it delivers future members into the profession. The Building Standards community is small in comparison to other professions, and essentially we need every hand on deck to help us to move forward and ensure a steady intake of candidates to maintain this essential lifeline for our verifier workforce.

Once again I thank you for the opportunity to say a few words on behalf of LABSS and if anyone does wish to contact me in relation the many benefits in committing to sending a team member on the course in the future, I will be only too willing to discuss.