Sarah Hall, director of B&FC for Business at Blackpool and The Fylde College
The biggest change we’re seeing is the understanding that tech and AI are happening. Businesses are still in this understanding phase - what does it look like what does it feel like?
Employees are already using AI tools, so what is important for business is how AI should be rolled out strategically.
Increasingly, more roles will have digital skills requirements and that applies whether it’s in manufacturing or the service sector or any other role.
Employers want shorter, modular courses with flexibility – how can we upskill across the business in places with shift workers or on production lines? Because of the speed of technological movements, it’s not clear what new skills gaps will emerge, which is why trusted partners are becoming increasingly important and colleges are those partners. We can help guide employers through the noise.
Most young people don’t have access to part time jobs until they’re 16 and that’s how they develop employability skills. We know this is what employees want – we do everything we can to get students work ready.
Neil Burrows, director of skills and innovation, Burnley College
When it comes to 16-18-year-olds, to get them interested in engineering apprenticeships we have to go into the schools, to start to understand what they want.
We’re doing some things right, trying to have those discussions with young people in school and engaging with parents as well.
It is about advising the mums and dads, talking to them about the opportunities, what an apprenticeship is and how to enrol for one.
We can also have conversations with an employer and deliver a skill solution for them, asking what they need over the next 12 months to five years and looking at supporting that journey.
We’ve got apprenticeships that can be a starting point to grow that business. We’ve got T Level placements and a T Level student could be the next apprentice for that business at a higher level or level 4.
We’ve got boot camps, we’ve got short courses, we’ve got modular courses. The colleges work so hard to get an offer for all our businesses.
Sophie Addison, group marketing and ESG director, Addison Academy
Trying to employ people and bring people into roles, it’s very difficult. We have to reach out and go into schools. That includes primary schools because it has to start there.
We have our own academy that trains our people and we’ve seen the potential for an external academy, using eLearning.
We recognised it would work externally but we’re going a step further, because we’ve got to grow our own talent as well. It’s not just the pipeline coming in from apprenticeships and the younger level, it’s also the people you’re going to lose at the other end and the demands on your senior team if you’re bringing in apprentices.
The onsite training and innovation centre is a collaborative piece of work. We’re running the proposal and will be looking after it, very much in partnership with Blackpool and the Fylde College and some of the universities we’ve been engaged with. We’ve got AMRC involved. It’s designed to be a bridge between industry and education.
All can benefit from say an apprenticeship scheme that isn’t just linked to one business. We’re seeing it as a whole eco-system.
Sara Gaskell, manager, Lancashire Skills Hub
We are seeing significant reduction in the take up of apprenticeships for young people. Compared to this time last year, we are 290 young people short. The drop is a concern.
There is a lack of vacancies for young people. Businesses are looking at the growth in National Insurance, rising business rates and all of that, and also the fact that the apprenticeship world is changing.
They don’t just have to use the levy for apprenticeships; they can go for short training courses. There are going to be foundation apprenticeships, a lot of things are coming.
We’re finding in some of our conversations with businesses that they are just taking their foot off the pedal while they see what the landscape is going to look like.
There are now fewer and fewer young people getting apprenticeships and the competition is massive.
Many businesses are saying that young people aren’t work ready so, along with our careers hub colleagues, we’ve produced the ‘Work Ready Lancashire’ system.
When SMEs get it right with apprenticeships, it’s business changing for them.
Linda Dean, managing director, Lancashire and Cumbria Institute of Technology
Government data has shown that 70 per cent of businesses see clear productivity gains from their engagement with apprenticeships.
And 93 per cent of businesses say apprenticeships are fundamental to the talent pipeline and those apprentices who qualified in 2019/2020, by 2029, will have added £7bn to the economy.
Continued on Page 46 LANCASHIREBUSINES SV
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