Employment Events News Public News Skills

December Skills Forum – Th. Dec 16th 09:30-11:30

If you’d like an opportunity to share and discuss the current situation with skills recruitment and retention across the area please join us: Date: Th. Dec 16thTime: 09:30-11:30Online: via Zoom/TeamsBooking: Use this link here Agenda Items: As we come to the end of 2021, and with the increased availability of the Severn Beach Line trains, what can we do to improve accessibility into the area? How has recruitment and retention changed over the last few months? How can we encourage investment into the PAS Academy-without-walls?What can you do to support SevernNet as we work to enhance the sense of place across Portbury Avonmouth Severnside?
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Circular Economy Community Economy Employment Events Jobs Members News Public News Skills Transport Uncategorised

Economic Recovery & Renewal across Portbury Avonmouth Severnside

July Business Breakfast – Thurs. Jul. 22nd 2021 from 08:00 to 09:00. We were delighted to be joined by Stephen Peacock. Stephen is an Executive Director at Bristol City Council responsible for Regeneration & Growth. We’d like to offer our thanks once again to Stephen for taking the time to join us. It was much appreciated. We hope that the event has helped understanding of the area and of the opportunities we all have to work together; and we look forward to further discussion. SevernNet presented a ‘Future for Portbury Avonmouth Severnside’. We welcome any comments or thoughts you may have on this; and would like to use it as a basis for developing a collaborative shared vision and for discussion around place making. Do please get involved and get in touch (info@severnnet.org). We discussed the Bristol One City Economic Recovery and Renewal strategy which was published in October last year. Here’s a link. This includes Avonmouth as one of Bristol’s seven priority places. The aim is to develop an area based economic strategy for Avonmouth which maximises the locational advantages and sectoral strengths It’s good to see that there are many shared goals and aspirations between the SevernNet presentation and the strategy above; and the recognition that more needs to be done to break down some of the silos created by local authority (LA) boundaries, and within LAs themselves. We need to see better integration between the needs of Transport, Employment & Skills and Circular Economy and how they can come together to support placemaking and strengthening the community. Progressing the Portbury Avonmouth Severnside Transport Strategy must also be seen as a priority, along with the M49 Junction, and the need for orbital as well as radial routes to support the area. Please follow up with us if you would like to discuss further and/or get more involved; and thanks to everyone who attended for a very worthwhile event. The next Business Breakfast is on Thursday September 23rd. Our guest will be Dan Norris, the newly elected Mayor of the West of England Combined Authority (WECA). The link to sign up is here. Please join us.
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Economy Employment Jobs News Public News Skills

Apprentice and Skills News

One of the best business decisions I have made in recent years was to hire an apprentice.Weston College: “We’re seeing increased demand from employers looking to build their team for the future, so we’ve committed to creating 300 apprenticeships in just 100 days.” For more information contact Dave Crew at Weston CollegeWhy not upskill a current employee?Anyone can be an apprentice, even if they are already employed by you. By upskilling current staff, you can eliminate the cost of recruiting and training someone new and allow current employees to gain new skills and knowledge and keep your staff motivated, as well as promoting internal progression and reducing staff turnover.For more information contact Simon Arnold at City of Bristol CollegeGift your apprenticeship levyApprenticeship levy transfer is an excellent way to encourage potentially lost Apprenticeship funding to stay or be imported locally.For more information contact Steve Gale at Western Training Providers Network Workforce for the Future … see separate post
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Economy Employment News Public News Skills

Workforce for the Future

Get support from the West of England Combined Authority’s expert partners to ensure your business can identify ongoing skills needs, unlock opportunities, drive change and invest in your current and future workforce.  Workforce for the Future is a free service that gives you free tailored, in-depth support to help your business plan and adapt both now and for the future. What will I get? 1. Workforce development planning2. Access to training such as digital skills development3. Access to new resource such as apprentices, interns or work placements4. Talent retention strategy5. Strategic planning and guidance on change management6. Access to education and skills pathways  Download the brochure for more information or visit the West of England Growth Hub for more information and to arrange a call-back.  Alternatively please follow the Combined Authority’s business support service the West of England Growth Hub on Twitter and/or LinkedIn, where you can easily share any and all posts relating to this programme and our other services.
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Employment News Public News Severn Ride & Stride Transport

GWR Reduction in services due to staff shortages

From GWR …From Monday 26th July, our Bristol to Weston services will be cancelled on weekdays and Saturdays. We will be putting in additional stops on our local services to ensure stations on this line are still served. We will also be removing two journeys in each direction from Bristol Parkway to London Paddington. An hourly service will remain on this route throughout the day.For clarification Bristol-Weston local services will not run, instead our Bristol-Taunton services will call additionally at stations between Bristol and Weston. Our High Speed train services between London-Weston/Taunton will continue to operate as planned. We will make customers aware of these changes through our website, media, station posters, on board announcements and have liaised with Network Rail to update journey planners as quickly as possible so that the correct timetable is available through online journey planners by Saturday morning.  We will also be contacting customers directly where they booked online and will be offering customers with Advance purchase tickets the opportunity to use their tickets on the nearest alternative services, or offering full refunds. Making these changes now will mean that we can reduce ad hoc, last minute cancellations, helping customers to better plan for their journey.   We are continuing to monitor the situation with test and trace and will restore these services as soon as we can.Please also see item below relating to impact of the Bristol Rail Regeneration programme and disruptions.
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Community Employment Health & Safety Health & Wellbeing News Public News

NHS Avonmouth Vaccination Clinic

The NHS Avonmouth Vaccination Clinic is sited at Evans House on Third Way, BS11 9YL. Find out more below. We are using a local online booking system for appointments rather than the National Booking System at this clinic. Your employees can book a vaccination themselves directly using this link: .Alternatively, you can use the link to arrange for employees to book through their line managers so that you can manage the days and times of vaccination, yourselves. We’d like to remind you that vaccination is an individual’s choice and request that you encourage, but do not put any pressure on workforce to be vaccinated. The intention of this clinic is to make vaccination as easy as possible for people who may not be able to take time off work, easily, or who’s shift patterns make finding an appointment difficult. If your workforce would like more information about Covid Vaccination, we have provided links at the end of this article. The clinic’s initial opening hours (opened on 28th June) are from 9:00-16:00. Please get in touch if you think evening clinics would be helpful to accommodate shift patterns or if you wish to work with us to offer dedicated clinics on specific days or times. We are happy to work with you to make it as easy as possible for you and your employees to be vaccinated. Information for your employees is available in various languages on the BNSSG Healthier Together website:  https://bnssghealthiertogether.org.uk/covid-19/ . If you have questions or suggestions about any aspect of this Avonmouth Vaccination Clinic, please call the site on 07526 971 975 or contact our Operational Manager on 07968 511 474.
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Economy Employment Events News Public News Skills

Regional Recovery Plan, help for business and boosting local skills

Summary of SevernNet Business Breakfast – 26th Nov. 20 Thanks to everyone who participated. It was a very interesting and informative event and good to see the investments being made in business support and improving skills. Avonmouth Ward C19 Task Force Invitation The Avonmouth Ward are seeing high levels of infection and Bristol City Council’s Public Health is working with the local community to set up a localised approach to outbreak management. Businesses are invited to participate in a Zoom meeting on Tues 1st December at 13:30. More information here. Regional Recovery Fund – Increasing support for businesses and residents WECA’s Director of Business & Skills, Stephen Bashford, provided a clear overview of the various support mechanisms available for businesses and the various skills and training programmes. We encourage you to have a look and share within your businesses and communities, and where relevant, with colleagues who might benefit from the skills opportunities. Stephens’s presentation is available here, and a summary document here. You can keep up to date with the latest news from WECA and the West of England LEP by signing up here. Career College and Logistics Simon Arnold, Managing Director of Partners in Bristol at City of Bristol College introduced the Career College for Logistics. This collaboration between seven colleges in the UK and STC college in Rotterdam is aiming to address the lack of ambition and knowledge young people have about the career opportunities in the logistics sector. Providing a vehicle to bring new talent into logistics, each college will offer new Level 2 and 3 qualifications in Logistics and International Supply Chain Management. Find out more here. Ways2Work and the new One Front Door Chris Mitchell (Employer Account Officer, Bristol City Council) explained the changes introduced to Ways2Work to enable a greater focus on supporting individuals seeking work as well as support to employers. Schemes include Move in and Move Up to support the homeless, One Front Door which provides more intense support for individuals, an easier way for SMEs to access Kickstart and ‘WE WORK for Everyone’ which is a scheme for young people with Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND). You can find out more from the presentation available here. Skilling up for high value green industry careers Mark Pepper, Development Manager at Ambition Lawrence Weston shared an update on delivering the Lawrence Weston Community Plan. Significant progress is being made including: Planning permission gained for a community owned on-shore wind turbine in Avonmouth which, when completed, will deliver renewable energy and sustainable income to the communityFacilitating more affordable and good quality homes to be built and working with Housing Associations etc.Finalising plans for a £1.7m Community Hub including training facilities and workshopsAddressing the massive skills gap in the area The ambition is to introduce a sector based academy that can deliver the skills needed for local people to develop careers in the renewables sector and in the developing field of MMC (Modern Methods of Construction). Discussion and conclusions An interesting discussion followed including: Steven King from Kings Heavy Haulage shared the benefits they have gained from training up young people who can then progress through the business.The need for communication to be improved around the various schemes within the business and residential communities was raised and noted by WECA.Sam Marsh (Severn Ride&Stride) noted that e-bikes/bikes were available to help people get to work across the area and other support is available. More here.SevernNet is organising an Economy, Employment and Skills Forum for December/January to bring stakeholders together from across the area. There is an opportunity to progress the SevernNet area (Portbury, Avonmouth, Severnside) Skills Academy concept to benefit businesses, local people and training providers.More information on skills, employment and business support will also be provided on SevernNet website. Road Safety Campaign and ‘No Need to Speed’ Neil Stradling, Avon Fire & Rescue emphasised the message from last weeks Road Safety week campaign. ‘No Need to Speed’. Please share this within your businesses and organisations. Next Business Breakfast Next Business Breakfast will be on Jan 28th 2021. SevernNet wish everyone all the best for what remains of 2020 and a better, we hope, 2021.
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Economy Employment Jobs News Public News Skills

The Kickstart Scheme

The Kickstart Scheme provides funding to employers to create new 6-month job placements for young people (16-24 year olds) who are currently on Universal Credit and at risk of long-term unemployment. This is part of the government’s Plan for Jobs and aims to create hundreds and thousands of new, fully funded jobs across England, Scotland and Wales. The first placements are likely to be available from November.Funding will cover for each job placement: 100% of the relevant National Minimum Wage for 25 hours a weekthe associated employer National Insurance contributionsemployer minimum automatic enrolment contributions There will also be extra funding to support young people to build their experience and help them move into sustained employment after they have completed their Kickstart Scheme funded job.Young people can find out more about the Kickstart Scheme at the jobhelp site. More information for employers is available here.
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Circular Economy Economy Employment Events Members News Public News

Celebrate local business and ‘Trade Local’ – Virtual Business Breakfast – Th. 24-09-20

Date: Thurs. Sept 24th from 08:00 to 09:00.Venue: Zoom – link to be sent with Joining Instructions on 23rd SeptHost:   SevernNet There are a myriad of brilliant businesses and enterprises across Portbury, Avonmouth and Severnside and we’d like to do more to celebrate and promote you all. Please join us via Zoom. Let’s share our experiences of local businesses, big, SME and micro who can strengthen our circular economy and support our needs for materials, goods and services. Register here for September’s Business Breakfast This has been a difficult year for some and diversification and innovation may be critical. How can we better connect potential supply and demand; and understand the depth of capability and skills locally? How can we get to know our ‘hidden gems’? We’d love to hear about the ‘gems’ you’re working with; or what ‘gems’ you can offer others; and how we can work together towards a thriving circular economy. We look forward to seeing youas we kick off our Autumn/Winter Breakfast season Register here for September’s Business Breakfast SevernNet Virtual Business Breakfast’s are an opportunity to meet and collaborate with local businesses and stakeholders. There’ll be an opportunity for everyone to introduce yourself and your business. You’ll have to bring your own breakfast! Please note, we depend on our subscribing members to fund our work for you and the area. There is more information about Membership and a Membership Form here or you can join online here.
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Employment Health & Wellbeing News Public News Severn Ride & Stride Transport Uncategorised

Active October Challenge – 1st to 31st October 2020

Travelwest’s annual challenge is back for Active October to give you and your colleagues some motivation throughout Autumn to stay active and use sustainable travel. The event will be running from 1st – 31st October, but you and your colleagues can register to take part NOW! This year we have partnered with Sustrans for Active October to encourage businesses across the West of England to compete by getting the highest numbers of their staff to keep active and log their journeys into an online portal. It’s free to participate, and in doing so you could encourage your staff to make long term behavioural changes when it comes to their travel choices – benefitting health, reducing carbon emissions, and cutting travel costs for them and your business. This year, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, we also recognise that many of the businesses we work with (including ourselves at Travelwest!) have changed their commuting behaviour. It’s therefore even more important for our physical and mental health to incorporate some activity into our working day, whether it’s cycling, scooting, running or walking! Furthermore, for those journeys that still need to be made, we will be encouraging public transport, and lift-sharing – both great ways to reduce congestion and save money. All this helps you get fitter, feel good, and what’s more, there’s plenty of prizes up for grabs! All you need to do is sign up as a user, and it will prompt you to register your organisation’s details. It takes 2 minutes and you’ll be able to feature your workplace on the leaderboards, and be entered into workplace prizes! Once you’ve registered, there are downloadable materials on the website HERE to start promoting to colleagues and we’ve attached a suggested email template to this email for you to send to your colleagues!
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