Posted By Colin Reed Lewis, I manage a consultancy that daily delivers various CITB accredited and company in-house training courses to a measurable, auditable and though I say it myself high standard. With regards to the subject of choice between CITB and In-House, provided that your In-House course syllabus matches that of the CITB accredited course and is being delivered by a tutor with the appropriate technical knowledge, qualification and ability then the choice of format is yours. However whether you train CITB or In-House, you will experience potentially costly down-time in your workforce in order to deliver the training etc. If you are a CITB registered company (I assume that you are in the construction industry) and you select your CITB accredited training provider carefully they will most certainly be able to offer CITB attendance and possibly acheivement grants for the training course which could assist in offsetting these "down-time" costs. You might also like to be aware that the CITB accredit private training companies to deliver training that is CITB accredited for Grant purposes. It is my experience that in many cases the private training organisations can very often offer the same training as the CITB at cheaper rates. The most important issue to be considered is the need for you to access quality training and achieve an appropriate level of competence for all delegates upon completion. (What Cost Safety?!!!!) If you want any further advice you can email me or call my office on 01223 863363. Regards Colin

Posted By Harry There is another factor to consider. The Major Contractors Group insist on CITB/CTA qualifications for the workforce and have indicated this is an essential requirement for operatives of tendering contractors to work on their sites. Without this contractors may run a risk of not being eligible to tender for some pretty beefy contracts. Whether this is enforceable is another matter. Harry