Semta

An Established Pedigree

Semta is a well-established organisation, formed in July 1991, with origins going back to the mid-sixties and the Industrial Training Act of 1964.

1964  Engineering Industry Training Board
The EITB  had the power to impose a financial training levy on employers over a certain size.
Employers who could prove a good track record of training activity could be granted exemption from most of the levy.

1991 The Engineering Training Authority
The Engineering Training Authority was spun off from the EITB and allocated some of its assets. A new voluntary organisation was created called EnTra, the Engineering Training Authority, which had no statutory levy-raising powers.

1996  EMTA
A merger with the Marine and Engineering Training Association, spawned EMTA, which took responsibility for engineering and manufacturing skills, as one of more than 70 National Training Organisations. These were effectivelly taken out by the Government in March 2002 when their support funding was withdrawn. In 1997 EAL was spun off from EMTA as a separate commercial activity - now a Semta subsidiary whose profits are invested back into the sector.

2003  Semta
In 2003 Semta successfully bid for a licence as a sector skills council following the merger of EMTA with the Science Technology and Mathematics Council. In 2005 Semta merged with Metskill and in 2006 set up the National Skills Academy for Manufacturing to help raise the sector's global competitiveness by developing top quality, fit-for-purpose solutions to critical training and development needs.

In 2005 Semta underwent a review by the National Audit Office and was successfully relicensed.

As a government-licensed sector skills council, Semta performs many essential roles, including the development of comprehensive National Occupational Standards and apprenticeship frameworks that can be practically applied by employers and the design and development of skills solutions which satisfy employers' needs.