fastFORWARD announces the "People Summit"

Graduate Supplement The Road Haulage Association, together with the Chartered Institute of Logistics and Transport, have worked together to create a crucial one-day seminar for the haulage and logistics industry - the People Summit.

To be held in Birmingham, on Wednesday 23rd September 2009: fastFORWARD is announcing today the details of this important business event.

Download the detailed flyer here.

fastFORWARD's new Graduate Supplement

Graduate Supplement Think logistics is just about trucks? Far from it. Logistics is a skill with vintage roots - the word derives from the art of keeping the armies of Greece and Rome supplied in ancient times. But things have moved on since the days of Imperial Rome: Now, applied science and technology have transformed logistics into the skill which underpins all global commerce today.

Maybe as a graduate you've not thought of logistics as a smart career? Then think again: logistics is huge, challenging and diverse; to help put you in the picture, fastFORWARD has created a special supplement about careers in logistics for graduates.

Download your copy here.

Countdown to Driver CPC

Learning Skills in the Cab Arguably the biggest change in driver training since the launch of the original HGV driving test in 1968 is about to hit the British transport industry: the introduction of the Driver Certificate of Professional Competence. Along with the upgrading of training vehicles to something actually resembling a working truck, which is due later this year, the Driver CPC should ensure that newly-qualified drivers are better equipped to work in the industry than ever before. New PCV drivers must acquire a Driver CPC if they take their tests from 10 September next year, while new LGV drivers come into scope exactly 12 months later. Furthermore, all existing qualified drivers enter a five-year compulsory training cycle on the same date. During this time, they must complete at least 35 hours of training with an approved provider, or lose their entitlement to work in the industry.

While many details of the Driver CPC still have to be decided, there's enough information out now to enable everyone to begin to prepare for its introduction. So, whether you are an operator, an agency, a training provider or a driver, you need to start to get yourself up to speed now.

At fastFORWARD we've gathered the information about CPC into a special supplement, which you can download here.

fastFORWARD's School-Leaver Special

School Leaver Special The launch issue of fastFORWARD includes a free special supplement for School and College students.

It's filled with vital information for school-leavers who are thinking of a career in the Logistics Industry.

We think it's so useful that we've provided a download link for anyone to get a pdf copy.

Get your copy online here.

fastFORWARD's Launch at CV Show

Advanced Skills in the Construction Industry FastFORWARD magazine was successfully launched on the opening day of the 2007 Commercial Vehicle Show at the NEC, Birmingham.

Performing the honours, DAF's Apprentice of the Year, Ross Green, said the magazine would be a welcome source of information about the transport and logistics industry. RHA chief executive Roger King thanked all the advertisers and supporting organisations for their help in launching the project.

The next issue of fastFORWARD will contain a special supplement on graduate courses and careers in road transport and logistics. Make sure you don't miss it: subscribe today!

Sfl sets target of 161,000 industry Level 2 Qualifications

Skills for Logistics, the Sector Skills Council for freight and logistics businesses, has set itself the ambitious target of reducing the number of people working in the sector without at least a Level 2 qualification by 40% by 2010. SfL estimates there are 272,000 drivers and 345,000 warehouse operatives without the qualification and that, to hit its target, it will have to deliver 161,000 Level 2 qualifications by 2010, and this will cost some Ł290 million - although funding will be available through the Learning and Skills Council's "Train to Gain" brokerage service.

The UK Logistics Skills Agreement is an attempt by SfL to break what it sees as a downward spiral which has so far frustrated attempts by the industry to recruit and retain high-quality staff. SfL has set itself three objectives:

>> To move logistics companies away from the ad hoc purchase of training and towards a culture of Continuous Professional Development (CPD).

>>>To develop an effective and responsive training supply industry which delivers programmes which are relevant and consistent across the UK, helping to make CPD support available to companies of all sizes.

>>>To help move the logistics industry towards being a sector with a professional image that people want to work in and stay in and which is seen as modern, progressive, attractive and central to the economic health of the UK.

Sfl describes what it calls the Professional Development Stairway, where employees can move from operative level, through junior and middle management to senior management, and and that this should be considered the single framework on which careers planning, manpower planning, CPD, qualifications, training programmes, funding and public policy are based.

Advanced Skills in the Construction Industry Sfl is conscious that the construction sector has a better training structure than logistics. It contrasts the rather random attitudes to recruitment, training and retention in the logistics area with the structured and successful approach of the construction and engineering industries. Here there is a balance between discretionary and mandatory training with a long tradition of apprenticeships and 'bringing people on in their craft' and there are publicly recognised qualifi cations (NVQs) embedded in career structures. Logistics, it says, tends to concentrate on mandatory training and focuses on basic competence rather than qualifications. SfL says the logistics sector is failing to pull in its share of subsidy for training, even though it is the fifth-largest sector in the world's fourth-largest economy.

See: www.skillsforlogistics.org and: www.traintogain.gov.uk