As ever, the event was superbly organised within the plush surroundings of The Quadrangle Conference Centre. Chief executive David Greer, marshalling his first Skills event, did a tremendous job, speaking with genuine passion about why the industry needs to unlock its skills potential.
There was also a KeyNote Address by the Home Office’s Vernon Coaker, who had made it all the way from Westminster specially to discuss skills development in the industry. On top of that, there were excellent presentations from Dick Winterton (City & Guilds), Liz Hall (of Life Long Learning UK), the Learning and Skills Council’s Jaine Clarke, Mike Britnell (head of security at the Bank of England), Malcolm Baker of SO15, Skills’ own Mike Burke and Jeff Worthy from JobCentre Plus.
The content was fascinating, covering everything from the cost to corporate businesses of poor security through to the demographics of the industry’s future workforce and what specialist security skills will be needed to safeguard the 2012 Olympic Games. The speakers certainly told me a good deal that I wasn’t aware of.
Exhibitors at the event included ARC Training International, ASET, City & Guilds, ConflictPro, edexcel, FEDS Training, Maybo, PS5 Ltd, the National Open College Network, Perpetuity Training, Rutherford Training, SecurityOracle, Skills for Justice, Skillsmark, Tavcom Training, The Security Institute, Uniform Express and Weightmans. All of these organisations are trying to push back the boundaries and bring professionalism to the fore.
Why, then, did I leave Oxford in a rather sour frame of mind? My despair was brought on purely by looking around the conference room itself. Skills for Security told me this morning that 100 delegates attended. That number was swollen to just over 150 if you include sponsors and exhibitors. Where, though, were the managing directors and chief executives of the guarding companies? The organ grinders. The decision makers. I only counted three, with a mere ten contractors represented from a current pool of 400-plus ACS-registered companies. That is pretty shameful given this event was geared towards employers in the sector.
Make no mistake that the content of Dick Winterton’s presentation in particular deserved a wider audience.
In what was a shrewd move, David Greer brought forward the National Training Awards presentation to make sure those who have worked so hard to be recognised in the training sector weren’t receiving their cut-glass trophies in front of a dwindling, late-in-the-day audience.
As always, Skills for Security went to a great deal of trouble in organising this annual event for the industry. It was well publicised, and people knew about the date far in advance. There could have been little excuse for those among the Top 20 major companies (in particular) who weren’t present not to be there. They missed out on absolutely pivotal comment and opinion that would help frame and, indeed, energise their future business strategy.
It strikes me that too many people talk a good game in this industry but, when push comes to shove, they’re not around when it really matters. The security sector needs to help itself. Attendance at crucial conferences like this one are part of that self-help. Improvement does not happen by magic. It happens by learning and, thereafter, putting that learning into practice.
