Helping businesses get skills they need
Orchard Facilities Management managing director Gareth Henderson (centre) with Huddersfield Town commercial director Sean Jarvis and senior commercial manager Tracey Nelson A FIRM providing secure and essential communications is set to go it alone following a decision to dissolve its parent group.
Adare SEC, based at Clayton West, and sister company Adare International, based in Hampshire, will become standalone companies when Adare Group ceases to exist at the end of this month.
Group chief executive Robert Whiteside said: “During the formative years of Adare, the group function provided very close, hands-on support, guidance and strategic input to its subsidiaries.
“We are now at a point, however, where we have two strong and quite different businesses, each with its own clear strategy and very capable management team and so it is now time to move forward into the next exciting phase of our evolution.
Richard Slee becomes chief executive at Adare SEC, which employs 502 people and produces secure and essential communications such as election voting forms, visitor passes, cheque books and patient records for organisations including banks, hospitals and local and central government departments.
Andrew Dutton becomes chief executive at Basingstoke-based Adare International, which has more than 500 employees and provides marketing services for clients in sectors including healthcare, retail, leisure and hospitality. Mr Whiteside becomes chairman of both Adare International and Adare SEC. in the first phase of this ambitious programme. To hear how businesses of all types have benefited, from manufacturers to creative agencies, highlights not only the diverse business landscape of the region but also how much appetite there is from companies to invest in the skills of their staff.”
Clr Susan Hinchcliffe, skills lead for the LEP and leader of Bradford Council, said: “I’m delighted that almost 7,500 employees across the region have had the opportunity to develop their skills. Improving skills is high on our agenda so we need to build on this success. We expect additional funding for skills to become available later this year. I would urge businesses to get in touch with the team of skills advisors sooner rather than later to ensure they are best placed to apply.” The LEP skills service supports businesses across the Leeds City Region, including Kirklees, to identify appropriate training, find training provision and align staff development with overall business plans. The first phase of the skills service ran from 2015 to 2017. The LEP offers support services enabling employers to source and finance the training their business needs. Eligible businesses were supported with grants of between £500 and £50,000 to access training, with an objective to enable businesses (mainly SMEs) to have more effective “purchasing power” in the skills market.
Businesses were able to design their own solutions and plug gaps in the mainstream offer. Skills service priority sectors are: Creative and digital, finance and business, hospitality and tourism, low carbon and construction, manufacturing and engineering, transport and logistics and medical technology.
Businesses can still work with skills advisors to develop a skills plan and access support in identifying training and/or training providers. This will also put them in a strong position to apply for future funding.
Contact the LEP skills service on skills@the-lep.com, phone 0113 386 1910 or visit www.the-lep.com/ skillsservice for more details.