Issue - meetings

The Board received a report from the Strategic Director – Enterprise, Community and Resources which introduced Mr Phil Atkinson from the Science Technology Facilities Council, who presented an update on the development of a Talent and Skills Strategy at Sci-Tech Daresbury.

It was reported that the Talent and Skills Strategy responded to the objective of growing the campus to 10,000 – 15,000 people by 2037.  The Strategy helped understand what the skills challenges were; how interventions would benefit the campus; and what evidence was available to support these interventions.  Further, the aim of the Strategy was to attract, develop and retain the wide range of sector talent and skills essential to Sci-Tech Daresbury, Halton, the Liverpool City Region and beyond.

It was noted that the focus would be to enable science and technology companies on Campus to readily access the talent and skills necessary, to enable their growth and scale up.  The report provided details of the focus of the Strategy, its actions and the intended outcomes.

Following Members’ questions, the following additional information was noted:

·       A jobs portal was being developed as part of the Strategy and a link to jobs/careers would be on the Daresbury Sci-Tech website as well.  The Divisional Manager for Employment, Learning and Skills also received job vacancy alerts from Daresbury Sci-Tech which were circulated locally;

·       One aspect of the Strategy was to give advice to SME’s that were struggling to expand due to lack of locally skilled staff;

·       Outreach work within the community was being focussed on to highlight the opportunities available to young people by involving local schools, teachers and parents etc; and

·       Open days at the site had taken place previously and more were planned in the future – an open week was planned for 2020, more details would be provided to Members when finalised.

RESOLVED:   That the Board notes the presentation and comments made.