The Skills and IPP Board

Who makes up the board, and what do they do?

The team at the BPA and IPP drive forward with the day to day work under the close scrutiny and direction of a board which has been elected by members to serve the members best interests. The board work on a voluntary basis in addition to their day jobs, and bring a great deal of knowledge and experience to the table to inform our strategy and support our work going forward.

The merge of the Skills Board and the IPP Board in October 2009 bought these two closely linked work streams together and as a result a new board is now in place to take the work forward. Fresh ideas and an innovative approach will ensure that we maintain momentum through what are challenging times for all of us – so this was a key time to be getting things up to date.

The new board is formed as follows:

Chair – Nigel Williams - Parking Matters

Nigel has been actively involved in the Skills Agenda and the IPP since the very beginning. He has over 25 years experience in the parking sector and brings to the board a wealth of knowledge and an immense passion for the work we are doing. As chair person he ensures that we remain very focussed on meeting our sector's needs and achieving results.

Vice Chair – Ian Taylor – Tendring District Council

Ian was the former chair of the IPP board prior to the merger and believes passionately in the need for professionalism in the sector. His experience and knowledge of parking from the local authority view point is a huge help to us all, enabling us to achieve a sense of balance between commercial and public parking functions.

Lynn Witham – Parking Associates

Lynn has over 25 years experience working in parking, both in local authorities and the private sector and has worked with many local authorities involved with civil parking enforcement. She has also been involved with the skills agenda since its inception and is a fellow of the IPP. Lynn strongly believes that skills and qualifications are vital contributors to the continued professionalisation of the parking sector and will encourage staff at all levels to realise their potential, benefitting themselves and their employers.

Dawn Huish – DHH Training

Dawn joined the parking sector 16 years ago, initially working within the Notice Processing team and later moving into the learning & development world where she was able to pursue her passion for learning and sharing knowledge with others. Dawn has a wide breadth of experience in both designing & delivering qualifications and training programmes. Dawn is committed to and passionate about the work of the SKIPPS board and to extending opportunity and choice to all through education and development.

Engin Mustafa – APCOA Ltd

Engin has been involved in the BPA skills agenda since 2006 and has regular contributed to the boards discussions as well as setting up and chairing the Learning & Development Forum launched in September 2008.

Engin brings to the board his expertise in management and learning together with a strong academic background and holds fellowships’ for both the Institute for Learning and Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development.

Roy Tunstall – Liverpool Borough Council

Roy has been involved in the Parking Industry for 10 years, Roy has been chair of the BPA North West region for 4 years and has been actively involved in a number of national initiatives on tackling abuse of Blue badges and also chairs the North West Traffic Penalty Tribunal user group. Roy is passionate about improving the professionalism and quality of training within the parking sector.

Alan Wood – Marstons Group

Stuart Read –

Adam Bidder – Q Park

Barry Hopley – NSL Services

Barry is head of Learning & development at NSL services group, the largest provider of civil enforcement officers, parking attendants and traffic attendants in the UK. He has been involved with the parking sector for over 6 years and believes wholly in the importance of the development of people. Barry has been involved with the skills agenda for the past 2 years and brings a pragmatic perspective from the private sector.

Manny Rasores De Torro – MrParking

Renata Williams – Department for Transport

Richard Beamish – Asset Skills

Richard Beamish is Chief Executive of Asset Skills, our partner Sector Skills Council. Richard brings with him experience of skills development across several industries, including newspaper journalism, printing and social housing. He also has 15 years teaching experience, some of it working with children with learning and behavioural difficulties.

Our Business Aims

Merging the two work streams together has bought about some fantastic opportunities for both the Skills Agenda and the IPP. Not least, we have had the opportunity to review our business aims and ensure they meet with the changing needs of the sector.

The revised business aims for the new board are:

Establish the IPP as the recognised professional body promoting standards, skills and development for individuals working in the sector

Increase employer engagement in the knowledge, skills and professionalism agenda. Here the Board will work to increase both the supply and demand for learning

Increase opportunities for continuing professional development through the IPP

Build on the BPA’s existing understanding of workforce issues in the parking sector through ongoing research. Here the Board will monitor skills trends and develop standards

Develop a recognised career framework that is linked to both national and IPP approved qualifications. This will require the creation of learning opportunities for a wide range of occupational roles

Develop sustainable means to deliver the skills and professionalism agenda

What to look forward to in the future?

This renewed focus and drive will reflect in the deliverables as we strive onwards. Look out in the future for some of the following:

A renewed focus on supporting you in continuing professional development (CPD) as we aim to dispel the myths and make it easier for you to see the benefits of spending a little time on yourself.
A review of the membership grade structure for the IPP, realigning the grades with your real achievements and qualifications and making the IPP more relevant to all levels.
The development of new relationships with the Institute of Leadership and Management enabling the IPP to support and endorse first line management and supervisory level qualifications for use in the sector –giving you a clearer passage to a well rounded skills base.
Potential new qualifications for higher level managers combining the range of generic skills with specific parking knowledge.
A further developed suite of parking qualifications relevant to broader base of parking professionals, which might include:

Introduction of apprenticeship frameworks for those working in Notice Processing, backing up the technical parking knowledge with a broad base of Business and Administration skills.
Redevelopment of the existing level 2 award for Civil Enforcement Officers to include optional pathways for car park attendants and CCTV enforcement teams.
Potential introduction of a wider apprenticeship scheme to cover operational roles across the sector.

Please note that timescales for the outlined work programme vary and depend heavily on resource. This is an example of some items we hope to deliver within the coming 18 months.