NITAL – the Northamptonshire Industrial Training Association Limited – entered 2019 with a special purpose. To celebrate 50 years of providing the county with expert technical apprenticeship training to local businesses.
From those humble beginnings, NITAL has an enviable fully equipped facility in Kettering supporting Northamptonshire’s business engineering and business needs through apprenticeship and commercial training programmes.
NITAL’s new CEO Paul Dunlop explained: “Our story began in 1969 under the Labour government leadership of Harold Wilson who identified that a skills shortage and lack of training was a major contributor to the industrial decline of the late 1960s. A company levy board was created and this led to the creation of a number of government Training Boards overseeing disciplines such as engineering.
“NITAL was formed as a charity to support local businesses who lacked the culture and infrastructure to deliver such training. Married couple Ken and Betty Sharp were the pioneers of NITAL in providing the much-needed skills training and administration between the government training initiatives and their businesses.
“Firstly, it is a privilege and an honour to be able to lead this business into its 50th golden anniversary. NITAL’s philosophy remains from the formation of the charity back in 1969. Our aim is to provide Northamptonshire’s businesses with the highest quality apprenticeship training to allow their businesses to grow with skilled staff. It hasn’t always been easy, but with our skilled staff and our own first class technical facility based in Kettering, I believe we are the best technical training provider out there.
“What’s really interesting it that the current government has gone full circle in terms of providing much needed technical skills to employers. They have introduced a business levy for instance, they have training boards like OFSTED that audit the teaching standards of educational facilities.
“So what’s changed? We’ll our principles remain the same as 50 years ago. Our aim is to provide Northamptonshire’s businesses with the highest-quality apprenticeship training to allow their businesses to grow with technically trained staff. It hasn’t always been easy, but with our skilled staff and our own first class technical facility based in Kettering, I believe we are the best technical training provider out there.
“The world is a smarter place than the late 1960s. Engineering and technology has advanced at a huge rate, so when we teach engineering, it’s current to the businesses of today: milling, turning, hand tools and electrical, alongside CAD design, hydraulics, pneumatics, business administration and team leading.”
NITAL is rated as Good by OFSTED, and is a registered charity whereby profits are always re-invested to ensure the facility provides the latest requirements to businesses.
For more information on our apprenticeship and commercial training courses, call 01536 921214.