Friday 29th January,  BIS confirming approval of the Express Delivery Driver standard, subject to some final amendments.

Gerry Swift, Standards Development Team. BIS/DfE Apprenticeships Unit

Congratulations on having the standard approved and many thanks to you and the rest of the group for all your hard work on this.’

IOC Chairman Carl Lomas comments

This is a great step for our future workforce in express delivery and courier, Justin Moore City Sprint chaired the employer group meetings, outstanding contributions from so many employers, nationals, networks and local SMEs. The standard that will set the future qualification for our sector. It’s a big thank-you all round for everyone who has made this possible. Broad input came in from the LEP teams D2N2, LLEP, SEMLEP, NLEP and more with education advice and support from Universities including Derby, SHU and LMU. This will be a vocational qualification for our front-line teams delivering at the client face.

First emails following the Friday afternoon news...

Patrick Gallagher, CitySprint, ‘Great news, congratulations.’ Alastair Brooks Manchester college, ‘Fantastic news, congratulations.’ Sarah Maddox, UK Mail. ‘Great news.’ Sharon Davies, DHL, ‘Well done.’ Elaine Harris, Action Express, ‘Fantastic’. Marjorie Semple, principle West Thames college Heathrow, ‘Fantastic news – well done for getting that through.’  Stephen Ram Kissun, AELP. ‘Well done looks very promising to seal of approval from BIS.’ Andrew Lowery TNT, ‘Brilliant  - not every Friday you get a green light like this.’  Patrick Henry, Grimsby ac ‘That's good news well done’. Pierre de Carteret, ‘Congratulations, that is excellent news!’.  Stewart Segal AELP ‘Congratulations.  I am sure it will prove very beneficial for the sector.'

More as they come in...

Jill Godard, Findafuture, ‘Excellent news - well done to you and your team and your industry colleagues. A great start to 2016!’  Professor Rod Dubrow-Marshall Univ Derby, ‘This is really great news’.

Steve May NCDA, Sameday Company, ‘Excellent News, Congratulations, everyone should be applauded for the hard work.’ Lisa Smailes Pearson-Edexcel, ‘That's great news that the standard has now been approved, congratulations!’ Professor Liz Barnes, Deputy VC, Sheffield Hallam Unv, ‘Great news! Well done.’