Community Conference tackles skills shortages
Organisations from across the St Albans District came together at this year’s Community
Conference.
The annual event is organised by the St Albans and District Local Strategic Partnership and took place at Rothamsted Conference Centre in Harpenden.
The conference theme was: “Will local skills shortages affect you?”
Councillor Julian Daly, Leader of St Albans City and District Council and Chair of the Partnership, said the area had strong economic growth.
Speaking as a member of the Hertfordshire Local Enterprise Board, he said one effect of this was that local businesses are reporting difficulty in recruiting skilled workers.
Cllr Daly stressed that companies need to make educational establishments aware of their future workforce needs. This will help the training sector identify where local job opportunities are likely to be, so they can run matching courses.
Karl Wilding, the National Council for Voluntary Organisations’ Director of Public Policy, said the voluntary sector tried to tap into the abundance of skills in the District.
He said voluntary groups were increasingly reliant on help from those with business and commercial experience.
"Volunteering and local charities are one of the things that make St Albans such a great place to live in,” he added.
“We’re lucky that so many people want to make a difference to the community and I hope we can make sharing our time and skills even easier in future."
Professor Ian Campbell, the University of Hertfordshire’s Deputy Vice-Chancellor, talked about the importance of being a leading business-facing University. He said the University was committed to working closely with the private sector to ensure its students were better prepared to enter the workforce.
Prof Campbell also said the University made a major contribution to training for the public sector in areas such as teaching and nursing.
The conference, on Thursday 26 November, included break-out groups where attendees discussed these themes and raised others from their own experiences.
They looked at the issues from the differing perspectives of business as well as voluntary and public sector organisations. Challenges highlighted included:
• Promoting St Albans as a place to work and volunteer as well as the advantages to residents of working locally, rather than commuting;
• The sharing and trading of skills that can come from business and voluntary organisations working together;
• Matching the work of voluntary organisations with the skills of those living in the District; and
• Raising awareness of apprenticeships within the District.
The Partnership is to review the ideas and suggestions from the conference and identify actions.
Councillor Daly said: “This conference was aimed at celebrating the work of the Strategic Partnership while looking to the future.
“The conference gave us the chance to seek views from a wide and diverse range of groups within our community. The Strategic Partnership will now look at how we can take some of those ideas forward.”
The Partnership is a group of public, private, voluntary and community sector organisations that work together to improve the quality of life for everyone in the District.
For more information, see: https://www.stalbans.gov.uk/partnership-and-community-projects
Councillor contact:
Cllr Julian Daly, Executive Leader and Portfolio Holder for Planning and Conservation, St Albans City and District Council
Tel: 01582 715645 Email: Cllr.J.Daly@stalbans.gov.uk
Contact for the media:
John McJannet, Principal Communications Officer, St Albans City District Council
Tel: 01727 296130
E-mail: john.mcjannet@stalbans.gov.uk