If you didn't get chance to join the Colleague Webinar on Wednesday 17th July, click here to watch back the recording - or click the image below.
We hope it gave you an understanding of the priorities and activities we are working towards following the General Election.
We'd love to hear your feedback on how you found the session - please let us have your thoughts in this short survey.
Here are the links mentioned in the webinar:
- Complete this form if you wish to take part in the Doncaster Pride Parade walk
- Complete this form if you wish to take part in the Manchester Pride Parade walk
- Small Changes, Big Impact
- Dignity at Work Campaign
- South Asian Heritage Month Activities
Question and Answers
During the webinar SMT members, Mark Hughes (Chief Executive), Anne Buckley (Executive Director of Business Development) and Carla Nuttall (Executive Director of Corporate Affairs and Marketing) answered questions that you asked them. The below are answers to questions they were unable to answer during the webinar.
(Q) Are there any plans for GC as an organisation to take on more international work and grow more in that sector?
(A) We already operate internationally in some areas of the businesses and will continue with this work. Where opportunities arise to grow our work, we will review and assess using our bid/growth decision making criteria.
(Q) With respect to redundancies, what is the predicted timeline - e.g. for contracts completing in March?
(A) We are awaiting further information from our commissioners about the future funding for some of our programmes. We believe there are optimistic signs for our UK Shared Prosperity Funded activity and our Ministry of Justice work. As soon as this information becomes available, we will share with impacted teams.
(Q) How are you going to combat the company's increase in carbon emissions that will be produced from AI?
(A) We already have a carbon reduction plan in place which outlines the steps we’ll take to achieve our net zero goals, this can be found on our GC website. As part of our regular reporting and monitoring, we’ll be monitoring closely the impact that AI will have on our overall goals.
(Q) Due to the Labour Party being elected to power and their new strategy for building more affordable housing. Is Enhancing learner’s employability in construction adding brick laying to the curriculum at level 1 leading to level 2 in training centre’s across GC part of the medium, or long-term plans?
(A) We are responsive to employer and client needs and will review our curriculum as appropriate to ensure it aligns.
(Q) Has GC had any conversations with Andy Burnham since the election and if so, what steer was he able to give about GMCA priorities in relation to the new administration?
(A) GC is in regular dialogue with all our commissioners and partners. We expect GMCA to focus on supporting Labour to achieve their national missions as well as delivering Andy’s manifesto pledges, as outlined in the presentation slides shared during the webinar, which you can access here.
(Q) Thank you to all for the Webinar, presenting the issues and challenges facing GC moving forward in light of a new Government with new priorities.
I was hoping to hear that as a business we would be evolving our operational and strategic structure in anticipation of forthcoming changes, many of which can be broadly predicted even now.
I feel that as a business we need to operate in a leaner and more agile fashion to deal with what will be a fast moving environment in the next 12-24 months.
To do that I suppose a Manager may feel that where we currently operate in distinct and separate identities (Employment, Education, SME, etc) we could realise some significant financial savings to reinvest in operational deployment but perhaps more importantly we could evolve delivery to allow divisions to work in an integrated fashion.
By this I mean that the Education section would work with Employment where the latter identifies the need and the former supplies a solution. This would of course also work well with employers who can direct bespoke but also benchmarked delivery of course allowing certification of outcomes with a solid guarantee of a potential job.
Can GC inform if this more adept working methodology is being considered moving forward?
(A) We are working hard and have made huge steps forward in this but at the same time we recognise there is more that we can do to support integration across the group, and this is highlighted in this year’s Business Plan. We are also currently investing in a new data-led project to support our cross-GC employer engagement approach.
An example of how Employment and Skills have worked together is through support established for the recruitment of staff for Co-op Live, Manchester’s new indoor arena. The group included Co-op Live, Growth Company, DWP, Manchester City Council and Tameside Council. A key emphasis was placed on the importance of providing support and opportunity for local unemployed residents as part of Co-Op Live’s commitment to delivering social value. Those residents who already had the skills and experience needed to work in a spectator-led environment, applied directly.
To support those with less experience, pre-recruitment training programmes were designed and delivered ahead of interview. Courses of two weeks in length ran at multiple locations across the area and covered the key knowledge and skills needed by Co-op Live to run the venue to the highest standards. Those successfully completing the learning programme received certificates in Spectator Safety and/or BSIA Security Licences. 273 people completed training of which 143 were offered work.
Please get in touch at communications@growthco.uk with any ideas you have to develop this area further.