The Federation of Master Builders (FMB) has urged the new Construction Industry Training Board Chair, Peter Lauener, to make the organisation's board more representative of the sector.

Mr Lauener was appointed by Apprenticeships and Skills Minister, Anne Milton, and will take up his new role on 01 May.

Brian Berry, Chief Executive of the FMB, said Mr Lauener will need to show "bold vision" in order to successfully reform CITB.

"Peter Lauener will be leading the CITB at a crucial time for the construction industry," he said.

"Skills shortages have never been so pronounced and with less than one year until Brexit, addressing these shortages is a priority for employers. Following last year's contentious CITB consensus process, Peter will need to show bold vision in order to deliver successfully the reform agenda. His previous roles with the Institute for Apprenticeships and the Department for Education should give Peter the right mix of skills and experience to navigate these challenges and we look forward to working with him."


Mr Berry added: "In his new role, we urge Peter to make it his mission to make the CITB Board more representative of the entire construction sector. This is starting to happen with the addition of one SME representative but we want the CITB to go much further.

"The CITB Board currently only has one person from an SME firm and that person is a Human Resources professional rather than someone with an SME contractor background. SME firms make up 98% of the construction industry and train two-thirds of all apprentices. It is therefore right that this is reflected at Board level with at least half of its members being SME contractor representatives.

"If we get the governance structure right, the CITB will automatically start to better reflect the needs of small construction firms and therefore the needs of the industry as a whole."

(LM/MH)