Daniel's ECITB journey comes full circle as he joins the Board

Strategic Progamme Lead for our Engineering and Production Services business, Daniel Gear, has been named as one of five new Board members to lead the Engineering Construction Industry Training Board (ECITB).

Daniel, who began his own career with an ECITB-accredited apprenticeship in Engineering and Design and later won two ECITB awards, was appointed by the Apprenticeships and Skills Minister Gillian Keegan MP. Alongside his fellow Board members, Daniel will support the ECITB to champion its work as the statutory skills body for the engineering construction industry in England, Scotland and Wales.

The appointments come at a critical time for the industry as it deals with the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic and the low oil price. Trustees will lead the ECITB’s recently unveiled COVID-19 crisis response package, which involves a £4.5m ‘Train to Retain’ scheme for graduates and apprentices, a new ECITB scholarship design and measures to boost digital training and assessment.

Daniel, who is a core member of Petrofac’s Energy Transition steering committee said: “The Energy Transition represents a tremendous opportunity for UK industry, but will be fundamentally reliant on investment in technology and skills. Clean energy, and the expertise that goes with it, could be one of the UK’s most important exports within the next 20 years.

“Now Covid and the associated oil price volatility has strengthened my view that investment in skills is essential to UK industry in the long-run. Whilst investment in this climate can be challenging for employers, the ECITB is developing key programmes to help.

“Sitting on the board is a great opportunity to understand other industries, and to represent a view from Scotland, from the Oil & Gas industry, and from my vantage point within Petrofac. I’ve been on my own fantastic skills journey through the ECITB and Petrofac, and I’m looking forward to championing that journey to ensure others can be as fortunate as I have been.”

In 2017, Daniel was awarded the ECITB’s National Apprentice of the Year Award and, having been selected as the overall winner of the Apprentice, Graduate and Improver categories, was awarded the ECITB’s Learner of the Year Award.