Clifton Green Primary School has won the small business category at the regional National Apprenticeship Awards.
The school, which has 11 apprentices out of a total of 80 staff, will go forward to the national finals in London on 27 November after being recognised for its work supporting apprentices.
Natasha Palmer, Minster FM’s Digital Content Producer, won the Higher or Degree Apprentice of the Year category.
Alan Milner, a Digital Content Executive from LNER, who completed his apprenticeship at City of York Council, was highly commended for his work in championing apprentices.
Lisa Green, Business Manager at Clifton Green Primary School, said: We are thrilled to be recognised for our work with apprentices. Apprenticeships offer us as a school, the opportunity to find the best people for the role, to upskill existing members of staff and support our local community in to work. This recognition and the chance to travel to the national awards compliments our motto ‘Better Never Stops’.”
Cllr Andrew Waller, Executive Member for Economy and Strategic Development, City of York Council, said: “We have a really strong track record of creating high quality apprenticeships in York and I’m delighted that this has been reflected with local success in the regional awards. Apprenticeships can provide a stepping stone to a wide variety of different careers and are a great way for businesses to develop local talent in-house.
“I’d like to wish our ‘York’ finalists the very best of luck in the national finals.”
Anyone wanting further information in recruiting apprentices or finding an apprenticeship in York should contact York Apprenticeship Hub on 01904 553732 or email york.apprenticeships@york.gov.uk
A road, access bridge and rail link essential to the development of York Central have moved a step closer with the announcement that City of York Council has selected John Sisk & Son as construction partner to deliver infrastructure to open up the site.
The contract, the first to be awarded, is for a detailed design review which will lead to a Reserved Matters planning application, due later this financial year.
The approved plans for the York Central site include proposals to build up to 2,500 homes, and a commercial quarter creating up to 6,500 jobs adding a £1.16 billion boost to the economy.
John Sisk & Son will work with the council and partners to refine and finalise the design of the first phase of essential infrastructure for the access bridge, the spine road and the NRM rail link. This will inform a decision by Executive to proceed with a costed construction programme for York Central enabling infrastructure.
Cllr Keith Aspden, Leader of the council, said; “The delivery of York Central is a once in a lifetime opportunity to build much needed affordable homes and new public spaces, attract better paid jobs, and create sustainable transport links for the city.
“We look forward to working with the York Central Partnership to secure further improvements to the scheme and with Sisk to begin this essential first phase of work in preparing the York Central site for development.”
Ian Gray, Homes England on behalf of York Central Partnership, said: “This is a really exciting and important milestone towards the delivery of our ambitious plans at York Central.
“A lot of hard work has been put in by York Central Partnership to get this far and this contract demonstrates our commitment to delivering the ambition and vision for the site.”
Paul Brown, Managing Director, UK Civils at John Sisk & Son, said:
“We are delighted to have been selected by the City of York Council to work with the stakeholders on this exciting project and to progress the design of some of the key enabling infrastructure. This is a project of huge ambition which will transform underused land in the centre of York into vibrant and distinctive residential neighbourhoods, cultural spaces and a high-quality commercial quarter. We are really excited to be able to bring our broad range of experience and commitment to a collaborative approach to the project.”
The budget necessary to commission this work was agreed by Executive in July 2019.
The York Central Partnership (YCP) members, Homes England, Network Rail, the National Railway Museum and City of York Council, have been working collaboratively for the past four years to develop proposals to unlock the potential of the brownfield site.
The partnership has secured planning approval, subject to the finalisation of the S106 agreement, for its outline planning application and assembled a potential £155m funding package for infrastructure works.
This includes £23.5m of a total of £37.2m from the West Yorkshire-plus Transport Fund and Leeds City Region Growth Deal, which will also fund the ambitious plans to transform the front of the railway station.
The West Yorkshire-plus Transport Fund has been part-funded through the Leeds City Region Enterprise Partnership (LEP) Growth Deal, a £1 billion package of Government funding to drive growth and job creation across the Leeds City Region. The aim is to create around 20,000 new jobs and add £2.4 billion a year to the economy by the mid-2030s.
City of York Council has also received a Local Growth Fund contribution of £3.1m, from York, North Yorkshire and East Riding LEP and has agreed to borrow £35m to be repaid using retained business rates from the York Central Enterprise Zone.
The council’s £77.1m bid for the government’s Housing Infrastructure Fund is at an advanced stage, with a decision expected in the autumn.
Around 700 visitors are expected to visit York Job Fair later this month, where they will have the chance to meet 70 employers and training providers from across the region.
Held at York Railway Institute, Queen’s Street, on 25 September between 10am and 2pm, the popular event brings together employers, employment support agencies, education and training providers to offer local people job opportunities, information and advice
The fair is aimed at those looking for employment, considering a change of job or career and those who would like to develop new skills and gain new qualifications.
The event is funded by City of York Council and organised by York Learning in partnership with Job Centre Plus.
Cllr Keith Aspden, Leader of City of York Council, said: “The York Job Fairs are always hugely popular both with employers and prospective employees and I’m delighted at how much they’ve grown since our first one in 2012.
“It’s fantastic to see how many local and regional businesses have signed up to attend the event. By supporting the fair they are providing more jobs for people in York.”
I’d encourage anyone who is looking for employment, considering a career change or who wants to gain new qualifications, to go along.”
City of York Council is encouraging local construction businesses to bid for, and win, a contract to become a supplier with the council.
Local suppliers can find out more about the procurement process and how to tender for work with the council, through a free workshop taking place on Monday 19 August at West Offices.
Cllr Andrew Waller, Executive Member for Economy and Strategic Planning, at City of York Council, said: “This is a great opportunity for local construction businesses to find out about the procurement process and how they can access the council contracts.”
The procurement team will be on hand to talk through the procurement processes and how to tender for work including, information on:
Yortender, how to use the system
quality elements, what information we look out for
general procurement support
construction Line
upcoming work
The workshop will be split in two sessions, morning and afternoon. The morning session will begin at 9.30 till 12 noon and the afternoon session will begin at 1.30pm till 4pm.
Suppliers can either drop in at any time, or book a place with chloe.wilcox@york.gov.uk
Subcontractors can also attend but please email their details across in advance so the team is able to contact them and provide them the information of the event.
A Council official has agreed, at another “behind closed doors” meeting, to contribute £350,000 towards the provision of new “wayfinding” signs in the City centre.
The total cost of the project is £700,000 with the York Business Improvement District (BID) contributing half.
The plan has prompted a mixed reaction in the past. The new LibDem led Council administration had been expected to review the proposals, along with other expenditure commitments – like the £20 million Guildhall project – which it inherited in May.
However, that hasn’t happened, with the new administration
adopting a very low-profile approach to public service reforms.
The decision notice says, “The February 2019 Budget Council
meeting included the following …. this scheme will allow the Council and York
BID to proceed with full implementation of a new Wayfinding scheme starting in
Spring 2019, following a detailed consultation exercise. Works will include the
removal of 60 current heritage fingerposts to reduce street clutter, and
installation of 36 new totem signs, 14 fingerpost signs, and 13 wall signs.
York BID have committed £350k to the full implementation, which will be matched
by the Council as part of this scheme”.
Opinions on the design of the new signs – one of which is located
outside the Mansion House – have been mixed with same favouring the more traditional
“finger” signs.
However, the main area of contention relates to prioritisation
at a time when an increasing number of visitors to the City depend on smartphone
features like Google Maps to find their way around.
While Visit York has a goodwebsite, there is scope for a more specialised smartphone app.
There are several commercial applications available with some
depending on advertising revenue. Currently Visit York doesn’t provide a list
of approved Apps that are available. Anyone accessing the iTunes store and
entering “York” will be offered only 2 options. One of these is currently unavailable.
Visit York should commission an official real time “walking
tour” type guide and promote its use via its web site, social media and at
entry points to the City.
Meanwhile, many will take the view that £350,000 might be better invested in ensuring that the City is weed and litter free, and that street furniture like bins and seats are kept in good condition.
The Council should also finally deliver a replacement for the real time car parking space availability signs, and “on line” service, which was lost some 8 years ago.
Such a “clean and seen” campaign must include the main road and rail routes into the City which are so important in forming a visitors “first impression” of York.
City of York Council and Jobcentre Plus are teaming up to help promote the support on offer to York-based SuperBreak employees, made redundant, when the firm went into administration last week.
This includes helping those affected with tailored support, including how to write a great CV and with interviewing skills, while jobseekers are notified of new employment opportunities in the locality.
York remains a highly sought after location for investment and the council has a strong track record of working alongside business to create new employment opportunities that supports a strong and vibrant economy.
Latest unemployment figures show only 1.3% are out of work in York.
This is significantly below the national figure of 2.7%.
There are 676 York job vacancies registered on the governments “find a job” website today. Some have been unfilled for several months now. The number of vacancies exceeds the number of people claiming job seekers allowance (550).
The latest Job Densityfigures available confirm that there were more jobs available than in other parts of the country
York 0.89
Yorkshire 0.81
Great Britain 0.86
!Density figures represent
the ratio of total jobs to population aged 16-65)
Most York jobs these days are in the retail, tourism, education
and social care sectors.
The high number of job vacancies is likely to inhibit growth prospects for the York economy
Buckingham Group Contracting (currently building York Stadium Leisure Complex at Monks Cross) is offering a second Apprenticeship Taster Day on Tuesday 28 May.
The Taster Day is a perfect opportunity for any Year 11 interested in a career in both technical and trade construction occupations.
The young people who get to attend will find out what it’s like in a real construction environment around employees and apprentices working on the Community Stadium.
Places are limited and students will be given places on a first come, first serve basis. If you would like to apply for this taster, please visitwww.york.gov.uk/apprenticeshipevents
For more information, or to find out how to be involved in 2020’s Year 11 Taster Day in January, contact the York Apprenticeship Hub onyork.apprenticeships@york.gov.uk or 01904 553732
Hundreds of young people and parents attended the York apprenticeship recruitment event on March 6 2019, organised by City of York Council and the Apprenticeship Hub.
More than 400 people came to the event which showcased over 100 apprenticeship vacancies across the city, in addition to the 30 employers and training providers who were on hand to offer advice to young people aged 16 to 24.
Recruiting employers included City of York Council, Nestlé, LNER, Fera Science Ltd, Buckingham Group, Garbutt & Elliott, Army Careers and many more, with vacancies in business and finance, construction, retail, hospitality, digital & IT, engineering, law & childcare.
The Make it York organisation, which is partly funded by York
taxpayers, is reporting that it has made a £140,714 profit so far this year. That is £71,900 above budget expectations
They currently have a balance sheet surplus of £330,000
The organisation reports that it had a successful Christmas
and claims “continuing strong performance from Shambles Market, City Centre
Activities and Visit York Membership”
No detail is provided on the Shambles market performance.
Thebrief reportto a “shareholder “ meeting also says that the “York Pass” initiative has been less successful than hoped.
Looking to the future the report says, “MIY currently runs or facilitates a range of events which animate the
public realm and make the city vibrant and interesting for visitors and
residents. There is scope though to use the “stage” provided to do, and to
facilitate, a great deal more, the ultimate objective being to ensure a daily
“wow” factor”
