They have a passionate belief in supporting their colleagues and have faced numerous challenges since the merger of the two heritage businesses, each with their own training methods and practices. To further develop their customer service training, they knew they needed to radically change the way they developed the capability of their practice colleagues adopting not just a ‘Best of Both' but a ‘Better than Both' approach to the challenge. Historically D&A had operated a compulsory NVQ programme for all of its practice colleagues whilst Boots had adopted a less structured but customer-led approach. To best support their colleagues the decision was taken to retain the formal NVQ approach. They also decided to make the programmes increasingly flexible and fit for purpose in a fast moving sector. So last year they made the Level 2 NVQ apprenticeship programme compulsory for all new joins - 400 new apprentices each year with capacity to flex up to over 600, and to ensure a consistent training experience for all learners whether full time or part time, government funded or non funded. In the last year, with the mission to ensure successful take up of the NVQ programme, they have opened five new satellite or regional training centres across the country. These have been carefully sited to ensure that all colleagues are within reasonable travelling distance of a centre, and that their Optical Consultant population do not have to stay overnight. This is particularly important given the number of part-time colleagues and colleagues with families, for whom residential training is extremely difficult. The company have invested large amounts in facilities, equipment and staff for these centres and they have all been created with colleagues' personal needs in mind. They want to ensure all of their colleagues have the knowledge they need to succeed in their role and the opportunity to develop themselves personally while at work, and the apprenticeship programme is just one example of that.

They have a passionate belief in supporting their colleagues and have faced numerous challenges since the merger of the two heritage businesses, each with their own training methods and practices. To further develop their customer service training, they knew they needed to radically change the way they developed the capability of their practice colleagues adopting not just a ‘Best of Both' but a ‘Better than Both' approach to the challenge. Historically D&A had operated a compulsory NVQ programme for all of its practice colleagues whilst Boots had adopted a less structured but customer-led approach. To best support their colleagues the decision was taken to retain the formal NVQ approach. They also decided to make the programmes increasingly flexible and fit for purpose in a fast moving sector. So last year they made the Level 2 NVQ apprenticeship programme compulsory for all new joins - 400 new apprentices each year with capacity to flex up to over 600, and to ensure a consistent training experience for all learners whether full time or part time, government funded or non funded. In the last year, with the mission to ensure successful take up of the NVQ programme, they have opened five new satellite or regional training centres across the country. These have been carefully sited to ensure that all colleagues are within reasonable travelling distance of a centre, and that their Optical Consultant population do not have to stay overnight. This is particularly important given the number of part-time colleagues and colleagues with families, for whom residential training is extremely difficult. The company have invested large amounts in facilities, equipment and staff for these centres and they have all been created with colleagues' personal needs in mind. They want to ensure all of their colleagues have the knowledge they need to succeed in their role and the opportunity to develop themselves personally while at work, and the apprenticeship programme is just one example of that.

They have a passionate belief in supporting their colleagues and have faced numerous challenges since the merger of the two heritage businesses, each with their own training methods and practices. To further develop their customer service training, they knew they needed to radically change the way they developed the capability of their practice colleagues adopting not just a ‘Best of Both' but a ‘Better than Both' approach to the challenge. Historically D&A had operated a compulsory NVQ programme for all of its practice colleagues whilst Boots had adopted a less structured but customer-led approach. To best support their colleagues the decision was taken to retain the formal NVQ approach. They also decided to make the programmes increasingly flexible and fit for purpose in a fast moving sector. So last year they made the Level 2 NVQ apprenticeship programme compulsory for all new joins - 400 new apprentices each year with capacity to flex up to over 600, and to ensure a consistent training experience for all learners whether full time or part time, government funded or non funded. In the last year, with the mission to ensure successful take up of the NVQ programme, they have opened five new satellite or regional training centres across the country. These have been carefully sited to ensure that all colleagues are within reasonable travelling distance of a centre, and that their Optical Consultant population do not have to stay overnight. This is particularly important given the number of part-time colleagues and colleagues with families, for whom residential training is extremely difficult. The company have invested large amounts in facilities, equipment and staff for these centres and they have all been created with colleagues' personal needs in mind. They want to ensure all of their colleagues have the knowledge they need to succeed in their role and the opportunity to develop themselves personally while at work, and the apprenticeship programme is just one example of that.