Government appoints new trades registration board

Michael Cullen

The Government today appointed a new registration board for plumbers, gasfitters and drainlayers after Tertiary Education minister Michael Cullen sacked the old one because it allegedly allowed the number of new entrants to drop despite increased funding for training.

Associate Health Minister Damien O'Connor said the challenge for the new board was to boost the number of qualified people in the industry.

Mr O'Connor has responsibility for the board because drains are a public health matter. Michael Cullen is responsible for the training of apprentices.

Earlier today Dr Cullen said the board was sacked because the Government put $24 million into training over the last six years and the number of apprentices who were registered by the board after completing their courses had gone down.

This happened despite most of the apprentices gaining their national certificate qualifications.

Ministers acted on an independent report which said training and registration procedures were not properly aligned.

The chairman of the sacked board, Terry Wynyard, disputed its finding and blamed the Industry Training Organisation (ITO) for failing to deliver properly trained apprentices for registration.

The board had set up its own exams for apprentices -- which many of them failed.

Mr O'Connor said the new board would have to build a strong relationship with the ITO and focus on measures to improve the pass rate.

"The board plays a critical role in ensuring we are appropriately training and skilling sufficient New Zealanders in these trades to meet our current and future needs," he said.

"Most importantly, the board will be able to address the critical task of working closely with the industry to boost our numbers of qualified plumbers, gasfitters and drainlayers."

The new board members are:

* Neil Burrow (Dunedin), director of Burrow Plumbing Ltd;

* Anthony Salisbury (New Plymouth), training co-ordinator and product manager with the Gas and Petrochemical ITO;

* Rodney Miller (Masterton), managing director of Water-Mart Wairarapa Ltd;

* Graham Owen (Auckland), a technical officer for Rheem New Zealand;

* David Coxhead (Tauranga), owner of Coxhead Plumbing Ltd;

* Paul Warren (Kaiwaka), general manager of Power Drainage Ltd;

* Penny Nicholas (Te Puke), co-ordinator of the Te Toi Huarewa Trust;

* Marjorie Noble (Auckland), self-employed tax agent and administrator; and

* Stephen Parker (Wellington), executive director of the Gas Association of New Zealand.

Mr O'Connor's statement did not say who the new board chairman would be.

National's education spokesman, Bill English, said the board had been sacked because of its commitment to high standards of workmanship.

"Labour want big numbers through trade training courses but the plumbers won't allow the quality of workmanship to be sacrificed in order to meet Labour's targets," he said.

"The board insisted on apprentices passing exams only if they were competent."

- NZPA