Training & qualifications – Approach
Section 1 of the Private Security Industry Act 2001 specifies that the functions of the SIA include “to set or approve standards of training” and “to make recommendations and proposals for the maintenance and improvements of standards in the provision of security industry services and other services involving the activities of security operatives”.
The Act continues, in Section 7 to state that licensing criteria “may include such criteria as the Authority considers appropriate for securing that those persons have the training and skills necessary to engage in the conduct for which they are licensed” and later in Section 9, that the Authority may “prescribe or impose conditions as to training”.
National Occupational Standards
In approving standards, the SIA has taken into consideration the existing National Occupational Standards (NOS). NOS are statements of competence and are written to measure performance outcomes. NOS must be considered one of the most important factors in future planning. The primary function of the standards is as a key component for qualifications. However, they have many other uses including training design, training needs analysis, appraisals, recruitment, skills matrices, skills benchmarking and quality assurance. Throughout this specification, when and where applicable, the training and qualification has been mapped against existing NOS with the relevant standard and standard setting body indicated.