The government has announced that it will consult industry on the principle of the Engineering Construction Industry Training Board (ECITB) and the Construction Industry Training Board (CITB) forming a single training body.

The consultation is expected to run over 12 weeks and will be launched later this month.

Tim Balcon CEO of the CITB said: “Regardless of the outcome we must continue to work to tackle the joint needs of industry – we need to be providing standardised levels of competence, alternative routes into industry and making it easier to access high-quality training.

“We have been already working with the ECITB on a number of areas. An example of this is strategic skills planning for Sizewell C. Where we are developing whole-career training pathways and interventions that span both the civil and ECI phases of that project.

“Nuclear new build is a clear example where both the civil construction workforce and the ECI workforce work alongside each other.”