Skills Awards 2009
North West Celebrates
Local Government Skills About 100 guests from almost 30 organisations, including friends and supporters from regional and national organisations, joined a host of Award Winners on Tuesday, 30 June 2009 for a Celebration Luncheon and to hear how authorities in the North West are successfully addressing the skills needs of their workforces.
Congratulations go to Bolton, Bury, Knowsley Salford and Stockport, all of whom were presented with their Awards by Alan Dean, Chair of North West Employers, who said:
“Today I am pleased to be celebrating the excellent work of Bolton, Bury, Knowsley, Salford and Stockport who have been working closely in partnership with learning providers, trade unions and others to ensure employees have the opportunities they need to develop the skills necessary to ensure prosperity.” Stockport’s achievement of the North West GO Award could finally be rewarded, over a year after they were assessed - unfortunately the timing of the last Celebration Event was just before they formally achieved the GO Award, but their achievement is no less worthy for the time elapsed.
Bolton, Bury, Knowsley and Salford became the first authorities to achieve the brand new North West Local Government Skills Award, which was formally launched at the event.
Liz McQue, Chief Executive of NWEO, congratulated all winners and highlighted that this recognition confirmed that
“…their excellent work and the effort in this skills development area demonstrates real opportunity for transformational change for individuals, the organisation and the community.”
The awarded authorities described how they are reaping the benefits of their commitment to learning and development for all, as well as how they have benefited from close working relationships with trade union partners, which has helped to engage learners, address barriers to skills development and address tricky workforce issues.
Delegates at the event were able to listen to the experiences of all five winners and to consider how their own authority will be able to take advantage of the framework of the new Award to embed Skills for Life into the workforce development plans and people strategies and meet Skills Pledge commitments.
Regional partners present included Judith Swift of unionlearn and Sue Price of the National Apprenticeship Service (NAS). Judith reiterated the
“…crucial role of working in partnership”, whilst Sue Price talked of
“…the importance of Apprenticeships to succession planning and developing a committed workforce.”
Liz also thanked the awarded authorities and the Assessors
“…for their support and patience during the last few months of the development of the Skills Award.”
The event was also an opportunity for authorities to sign up to the new Skills Award and we were pleased that Barrow in Furness, Blackburn with Darwen, Hyndburn, Preston, and South Lakeland were all in attendance to sign up to the Award, whilst Jeff Bright, Assistant Director for Personnel and Performance at Barrow in Furness, signed on behalf of all the Cumbrian authorities (Allerdale, Barrow, Carlisle, Copeland, Cumbria County, Eden, Lake District National Park, South Lakeland), as a public display of commitment to skills development and workforce planning in the sub region.
A 2-course lunch, plus music from the Marple Hall School Band, Stockport, and the Knowsley Singers all added to a day of success and achievement.
Congratulations again to all the authorities who achieved, or signed up on the day and thanks to everyone who helped to organise the event.
Here’s to next year!
Skills Celebration PhotographsClick
here for presentations from the day, and click
here to view video clips.
For more information, please contact
Skills.