Member Article

Minister for Skills and Equalities opens new £500k Blueline Training Academy in Newcastle

Nick Boles MP, Minister of State for Skills and Equalities will officially open the new £500k Blueline Training Academy in Newcastle on Monday, 16 March 2015.

The training academy is part of the new Blueline Business Development Centre located on Shields Road, Walkergate.

Blueline has worked in partnership with its training provider, Northumberland College, to deliver nationally recognised vocational training to help get local people back into work since January 2013.

Since the first taxi driver-training course was run at Blueline Taxis’ offices in Wallsend, more than 150 people have completed the course and gone on to become licensed taxi drivers.

A further 41 are currently on the course or in the process of being licensed by the council.

Following the overwhelming success of the taxi driver training courses, Blueline Taxis and Northumberland College launched a training course for call centre staff in August 2014.

After only five courses, 35 of the 45 people who completed the course have already secured work.

Ian Shanks, Managing Director of the Blueline Group, said: “By working with Northumberland College, we have been able to create a learning and skills pathway that puts local people, who want to work, on the road to a new career.

“We are delighted that Nick Boles MP, Minister of State for Skills and Equalities will be visiting on Monday to officially open the academy and to meet some of the local people who have secured work as a result of this training programme.”