Toby France, Commercial Development Manager (East) for Arriva Midlands has been appointed Chair of the Network Operations Apprenticeship Trailblazers (NOAT) group, succeeding Crossrail’s Mark Griggs in the role.
The group, which was formed in 2016 as part government’s successful apprenticeship Trailblazers scheme, is tasked with setting the apprenticeship standard for those starting a career in scheduling and timetable design across bus, coach, and rail operations.
Says Toby: “Recruitment and retention of schedulers and planners is a challenge being faced across the industry, particularly as those trained under NBC are reaching retirement. The apprenticeship is an ideal way to introduce a new generation to the trade and help close the skills gap.
“As a cross-disciplinary working party we’ve built the standard around transferable skills applicable to all of the industry sectors whilst still allowing for specialisation within a learner’s chosen field; as such, the apprenticeship is also supported by both the Chartered Institute of Logistics and Transport and the Institution of Railway Operators.”
The Network Operations group is now seeking to engage with training providers and assessment organisations to ensure assignment of the correct funding band before the apprenticeship goes live.
