As the employers’ side of the CSCS board, Building’s news article on 3 December dismays us (“Unions attack CITB over £5m deficit in CSCS scheme”, page 9). It is worth remembering that the “Qualifying the Workforce” initiative, led by employers with enthusiastic support from the unions, has resulted in more than 700,000 CSCS cards being issued. This is a marvellous achievement and demonstrates the professionalism of the industry.

CITB–ConstructionSkills has played a pivotal role in the success of CSCS. It has ploughed substantial sums of our levy payments into developing the scheme, including major investment in the CSCS call centre, its records centre and the training and assessment framework to support the scheme.

At a recent meeting of the owners, employers and unions agreed to develop a strategy for continuing growth of the scheme. This work is now in progress. As employers, we are united in our commitment to growing and developing the scheme, in partnership with the unions, and with CITB-ConstructionSkills.

Stephen Ratcliffe, chief executive of the Construction ConfederationIan Davis, director general of the Federation of Master Builders

Postscript

Suzannah Nichol, chief executive of the National Specialist Contractors Council

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