Gloucestershire wins Government investment to create tech jobs
If you are running a business in Gloucestershire and are looking to grow, you should read this, it’s brilliant news – particularly if you're in the cyber or digital sector and need new talent.
Dear Readers,
On Monday we chose to go big on a forthcoming business awards for Gloucestershire, the Cirencester Chamber of Commerce Business Awards.
The Raikes Journal has partnered with the chamber to help flag the event (which we love because it is all about community and all about business) and to let everyone know that the closing date for entries is nigh!
You can find out more - and a link to the chamber’s website with even more information on - right here.
We also highlighted another closing date for another brilliant event - the Gloucester 10k, that gives you the chance to not just challenge yourself against the distance, but to raise funds for the county charities The Hollie Gazzard Trust, Sunflowers Suicide Support and The Chamwell Centre. You can read that story right here.
Speaking of charities, we’ve dispensed with the usual briefing notes/news shorts today as our charity story is a tad longer than usual, but we think it is worth it. If you ever needed inspiration and reminding that life is for living - Ann Pope provides it in spades here.
Please do send us your story ideas to andrew.merrell@raikesjournal.co.uk. Or telephone 07956 926061.
* Everything you read on Raikes is made possible by the generous support of our partners (we’ve already let you know about QuoLux, Willans LLP and Gloucestershire College, and more partners will be revealed over the coming weeks) our founding members and our paid-up subscribers. A massive ‘thank you’ to all our other subscribers too. The support from all of you is invaluable! For commercial opportunities visit our About us page or email andrew.merrell@raikesjournal.co.uk.
Why today’s main story?
We hope you have had a great week so far.
Today’s edition is usually paywalled for members as we seek encourage more paying subscribers to make sustainable this community interest company dedicated to delivering some real journalism for Gloucestershire and supporting the county’s business, charities and education and training sectors.
But we’ve lifted the paywall because our main story involves one of our Founding Partners, Gloucestershire College - one of the businesses you can thank for The Raikes Journal being in existence to do all of the above.
But we’ve also lifted the paywall because we want the word to spread about the initiative the college and its partners, CyNam and the South West Apprenticeship Company, are delivering.
We think it is more positive news for the county, supports one of our fastest-growing sectors (cyber) and signposts every other business to the apprenticeship support on offer through the college to help them succeed.
But first, here's that charity story!
A truly inspirational story - about charity and the human spirit
You couldn’t make it up. You contact the son of an 81-year-old planning a charity skydive - first just to check it is true, but also to ask if it is okay to speak to her for your story. He agrees – and then texts to warn you off, with the last excuse you imagine!
‘You won’t be able to reach her at the moment. She’s at the gym,” was pretty much what her son, Kevin Pope’s message said.
He posted the news about his mother, Ann Pope (picture below, right), and her plans on social media hoping it would help her raise a target of £2,000 towards Teckels Animal Sanctuary in Gloucester.
“One of my dogs has come from there. It’s a brilliant place. We had a fundraising do to raise money for it last year, with Jason Leonard the former England Rugby player,” said the businessman, the boss of Gloucester-based ProTrack and Biostart Security.
Mrs Pope then won a Christmas hamper in recognition of her generous nature and support, which includes such efforts as unpaid care work supporting her neighbour, and said she wanted to do something to give back to Teckels too.
“When she was 80 last year she actually did a zip wire ride. So one of my friends suggested she go one better and try a skydive, just as a joke. But she really liked the idea, and here we are,” said Pope, clearly no stranger to his mother’s intrepid nature - and no stranger to jumping out of planes himself having served in the Armed Forces.
“I’m going to be doing the jump with her too, but not for charity. I’ll push any funds anyone offers her way. I’m just there to keep her company.”
Explaining why she chose Teckels, Ann said: “It’s easy to know which people to raise money for. People can speak up for themselves or get someone to do it for them. Animals can’t. They have to rely on our help.
“When I was at the gym earlier I mentioned it to the lady who runs it (Ladyshape, in Westgate Street, Gloucester) and she said I should bring the form in and see if any other ladies want to support it. Which was very good of her. Even if everyone just gives one pound, every little bit helps.”
You can find Ann Pope’s Gofundme page here.
Gloucestershire wins Government investment to create tech jobs
If you are running a business in Gloucestershire and are looking to grow, you should read this, it’s brilliant news – particularly if you’re in the cyber or digital sector and need new talent.
By Andrew Merrell
This morning (Thursday 18 April 2024) at the Hub8 workspace in Cheltenham’s Brewery Quarter the team that runs the ridiculously well-connected CyNam networking group - dedicated to the county’s cyber and digital sector - unveiled something rather special.
Together with its partners it revealed that Gloucestershire has won Government-funding to provide an initiative that will not only help businesses find new staff in the form of apprentices, but employ them so firms don’t have to, provide the right training to suit business needs, pay for that, and provide support throughout.
The new initiative, called Tech Talent Lab, is aimed at helping SMEs and startups maximise the benefits of IT and cyber apprenticeships and tackle a huge skills gap in one of the county’s fastest-growing sectors.
Tech Talent Lab is the result of joined-up thinking by CyNam, Gloucestershire College (one of our Founding Partners here at The Raikes Journal) and the South West Apprenticeship Company (SWAC), with the trio winning the funding from the Department for Science Innovation and Technology (DSIT).
The focus on cyber and the Government willingness to invest in Gloucestershire can be seen as more proof of how important the sector has become to the county, and how important the ecosystem here is to the UK as a whole.
It is no secret the county has the biggest collection of cyber firms in the UK outside of London, clustering here because of Government ‘listening post’ GCHQ, creating an ecosystem Cheltenham Borough Council plans to provide a permanent home for with its forthcoming £1 billion Golden Valley Development to the West of the town.
The issues for those like CyNam are not just how to help that cluster become a meaningful community, but also how to help those businesses flourish by finding new talent to grow. Which is where Tech Talent Lab comes in.
Tim Atkins, head of partnerships at CyNam, which has more than 5,000 members from businesses big and small stretching across the United Kingdom and beyond, said: “There are only about a third of available roles in cyber being filled. That means two-thirds of roles are not. There is simply huge demand there.
“We live in a county where there are a massive number of jobs being created and after talking to businesses we think apprenticeships are a really good route to those jobs and for the businesses too.
“We want to try and help small and medium-sized businesses and to ease the burden on them and we know SWAC and Gloucestershire College can do that.”
Speaking to the gathering of business people at Hub8, an event which is part of CyNam’s monthly Cyber Sips programme of networking events staged in partnership with Hub8 and Brink Coffee, Clare Vertigen, managing director of SWAC outlined the role her business would play in the scheme.
“We will talk to your business, look at what skills gap you have and see if that matches with an apprenticeship. We will help write the job description to make sure it matches up to the job itself,” said Vertigen.
“We will then work with the college to look at training provision and make sure it is right for the role. Once we have done that we also check the CV’s, do the recruitment and we employ the apprentice and deal with the HR side too.
“The apprentice gets a mentor and an assessor. We hand-hold all the way through and do regular early assessments to make sure they are right for the role and progressing, and if it does not work out we deal with that for you too.
"We can often place apprentices in other roles if it does not work out so they can continue to progress, and the company does not have to worry.”
Dawn Morgan, business development manager at Gloucestershire College, which was earlier this year named National Training Provider of the Year, National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) certification and Tech Industry Gold accreditation, said: “This is all about helping employers grow their businesses and find the talent for the future.
“We are here at the training provider. We offer three key apprenticeships; Cyber Security Technician, Level 3, Cyber Development Technician, Level 3, and the DevOps Engineer, Level 4.
“Our cyber training also takes place in our £3 million advanced digital academy at our Cheltenham campus, beside the doughnut (GCHQ.)
“All of these start in September. If you are interested in an apprentice, we work with A-Level students, school leavers and career changers too. If you are looking to test the water, this is a really good time to start talking to us and see what we can do to help.
“You will speak to a skilled member of staff that will work with you to understand your business model and what you need.”
Aside from the Tech Talent Lab apprenticeships, Gloucestershire College also delivers a Cyber Degree Apprenticeship and provides apprenticeship services and training covering almost all employment areas.
According to SWAC 98 per cent of apprentices that come through its books are employed after qualifying.
Despite the success of the bid to fund the new programme, it was acknowledged there remained some way to go in convincing everyone apprenticeships are the way forward.
“Young people seem to have got it and understand. Parents as well. Some of the issues are still around convincing schools, which might have a vested interest in being able to say the majority of their students go on to Russell Group universities.
“Some of it is about making it easier for very business fast-growing companies. And that is what this is all about,” said Charlotte Smith, cyber skills growth lead and enterprise co-ordinator at CyNam.
Andrew Bates, vice principal of Gloucestershire College, said: “Tech Talent Lab is a great example of collaborative thinking between education and industry, and as the training provider, we are thrilled to support employers by delivering award-winning digital apprenticeships.
“With the rapidly evolving IT and cyber skills landscape, we firmly believe that apprenticeships are a great asset in employers' skills development strategies, and lead to growth, diversity, and innovation.
“We only have a limited number of places available for this exclusive package of support for local employers, and we expect these to get snapped up quickly.”
Figures from the NCSC (National Cyber Security Centre) help explain just how significant the sector has become to the UK and is likely to become even more so.
“It is estimated that the UK cyber security sector is now worth £10.5 billion, with close to 2,000 firms in the UK now actively providing cyber security products and services, employing over 58,000 people – an increase of over 5,000 jobs over the past year,” said a report by the NCSC.
“The sector is growing, as is the need for talented professionals. Cyber security remains the largest UK security exports sub-sector, with UK cyber exports increasing from £4 billion in 2020 to £5 billion in 2021, a growth rate of 20 per cent.”
To find out more about the Tech Talent Lab programme and how to get started click here. To contact Gloucestershire College about apprenticeships click here.
* Everything you read on Raikes is made possible by the generous support of our Founding Partners (we’ve already let you know about QuoLux, Gloucestershire College and Willans LLP and more will be revealed over the coming weeks) our founding members and our paid-up subscribers. A massive ‘thank you’ to all our other subscribers too. The support of all of you is invaluable!
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