Doncaster Chamber Chief Exec Dan Fell will be part of a panel discussion about skills this week when the Northern Research Group returns to the city bringing together Government Ministers,MPs and influential business leaders
For the second year in a row, the NRG will meet at the city’s famous racecourse. The group’s annual conference, launched last year, is a forum for sharing insights and generating ideas that will ultimately contribute to northern prosperity. For the 2023 event, many of the confirmed delegates are high-profile speakers from the government, such as the Under-Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Dehenna Davison MP, and former Chancellor of the Exchequer, George Osborne.
Mr Fell said: “We constantly hear from businesses about what they deem to be their greatest challenges and, across all different sectors, no single issue rears its head more often than that of skills.
“Many local employers are finding it difficult to fill their outstanding vacancies and to attract the talent they need in order to grow, innovate and thrive. Meanwhile, a lot of South Yorkshire’s residents are simply not equipped with the skills they need to make themselves viable candidates for the best jobs available in the region.
“While this is certainly a problem that we — as a voice for business — want to get on top of, there is a danger that we get too dispirited here and overlook all of the amazing programmes, institutions, and education providers in our region that are already delivering excellent skills activities. Indeed, the situation is not as bleak as we sometimes imagine it to be, and there are a lot of great things happening right on our doorstep in South Yorkshire.
“For example, we have the Advanced Manufacturing Research Centre (AMRC). A world-class partnership between the University of Sheffield and various heavyweight companies — like Rolls Royce, Boeing and McLaren — this institution is creating plenty of opportunities and opening doors for those who want to get into the manufacturing industry.
“Elsewhere, South Yorkshire is home to three brilliant University Technical Colleges (UTCs), the newest of which is over-subscribed twofold, owing to high demand for its excellent provision and well-established employer relationships. Not to mention, the rest of our region’s further education colleges are ranked Ofsted good or better as well.
“In addition to boasting these exemplary providers, South Yorkshire has also negotiated an Adult Education Budget that — when coupled with our upcoming Local Skills Improvement Plan — will enable more agile and innovative skills commissioning.
“In short, although it cannot be ignored that there are major skills-related challenges, both here and across the UK in general, we have some great practice and innovative solutions in South Yorkshire that should be acknowledged.
“I am greatly looking forward to highlighting these at the Northern Research Group conference, to discussing how they can be built upon and replicated elsewhere, and to injecting a little more positivity into the skills debate.”
