Skills Cymru - Over 20,000 in three days.....

That's a lot of talking and a lot of freebies!

It took a bit of coordinating to say the least but we got there. And what an amazing turn out.

Thanks to an fantastic response from staff in all departments of Taff, Cadwyn and United Welsh we had a diverse range of skills and experience represented at Skills Cymru 2010.

Skills Cymru was an event launched by the Welsh Assembly Government earlier this year to promote the skills base and opportunities available within Wales. Integrate and a few of its members agreed to take part in order to show that a career within a Housing Association is not limited to being a lettings officer or carrying out repairs.

Our stand was not as elaborate as some, well most to be honest however I’m sure spending thousands of pounds on a display stand is not the best use of our money. We spoke to hundreds of people over the three days. The team nabbed teenagers looking for a freebie to have a chat, we spoke to college students looking for ideas of what to do next. All of whom were astonished at what really is involved in housing.

There was a large attendance on Saturday of people who were looking to retrain or change direction following being made redundant or loss of business for the self employed.

The event as a whole has been celebrated as a real success and I believe the coming together of Integrate members, though this was a huge laearning curve was a credit to those involved.

THANK YOU ALL

Great clipping - Ministers visit Jacksons Quay

Deputy Minister for Housing and Regeneration Jocelyn Davies AM today showed Budget Minister Jane Hutt the Jackson's Quay development in Barry where public money has helped to create job and training opportunities. It is hoped the principles used on the development can be used on other Welsh Assembly Government contracts to create even more opportunities.

Newydd Housing Association’s Jacksons Quay development in Barry has been built using the i2i Can Do Toolkit which provides guidance to Registered Social Landlords working towards the Welsh Housing Quality Standard (WHQS) on making targeted recruitment and training a requirement of contracts.

The contractors at Jackson’s Quay, Mi-Space, have employed five apprentices during the building project as a result of the guidance. One apprentice has used the opportunity to develop his experience through further work placements with the construction team.

Students at Barry College have also been using the site on a regular basis as part of their studies, for example twenty-five Construction Design Technology students have been able to experience ‘tool box talks’ where they visit a site at all stages of construction to see the development at first hand.
A report on the first year of the Can Do Toolkit (Sept 2008 -2009) shows that 487 job and training opportunities have been created in the twelve organisations that have adopted the model. The report concludes that if the model was used across the £4bn annual public sector expenditure in Wales, this would create 4000 job and training opportunities a year.

The Deputy Minister said, “This is an excellent example of how an innovative approach can bring real benefits and contribute far more than just a roof over people’s heads.

“Wales is leading the way with this and is taking the model further to help small and medium enterprises and local employers to benefit from the investment we and our partners are making in Housing. I am delighted that I have been able to show the Business and Budget Minister how this scheme is working and how other areas where the Assembly Government is involved in letting contracts could follow this excellent model.”

Paul Roberts, Chief Executive of Newydd Housing Association said:

“We are delighted to be welcoming Jocelyn Davies AM, Deputy Minister for Housing and Regeneration and Jane Hutt AM, Minister for Budget and Business, to our exciting new housing development at Jackson’s Quay, Barry Waterfront.

“The Jackson’s Quay development, and all our developments across south Wales, reflects our commitment to tackling deprivation and economic inactivity by offering recruitment and training opportunities in partnership with our contractors.
"Working in partnership with contractors using the i2i project and the Can Do Toolkit means that together we are able to support the community ensuring that local people are given vital opportunities to learn and work in their own locality.”

Who said Young People don't want to work?

Well, I can’t think of a funny title for this one off the top of my head. But Overwhelmed would be appropriate if not amusing.

SMK Building and Maintenance are about to take on two more apprentices to add to their staff and existing apprenticeship commitment. Through contracts with Taff Housing, CCHA and Cadwyn two more opportunities have been created for apprenticeships in the Taff Housing Community.

Through advertising in the Taff Housing newsletter and throughout community groups we had the most amazing response. That’s part one of the “overwhelmed” theme. In all we had 58 CV’s and countless more enquiries from young people chomping at the bit to take up these apprenticeships. The phone rang off the hook for days!

Last night we held an event in Butetown to meet the candidates who were invited to meet the contractor (SMK). Twenty young people from local communities had the opportunity to talk to Shaun and Al from SMK and get the lowdown on what they might expect from an apprenticeship. They also had chance to find out about Construction Skills, the benefits of registering and how to go about it from Kevin www.cskills.org.
Gareth from Careers Wales was on hand to give advice on “what’s next?” if this doesn’t work out. Gareth said “It’s so amazing to get to meet so many young people who are so enthusiastic and really want to get into work” www.careerswales.com

You guessed it, this was part two of the “overwhelmed” theme. The enthusiasm, positive reactions to all the contributors and a real determination to make the best of this opportunity was amazing to witness.

I believe everyone benefited from one part of the session or another.

We will be interviewing shortly to get our two apprentices and give them a chance to spend some time at SMK before they start college in September.

I will keep you posted on what happens next.