The Royal Docks is embarking on an exciting new chapter, with over £8bn being invested in the area over the next 20 years. National Maritime has been discussing with partners about the creation of a destination for London’s Historic Boat collection. A collection of vessels associated with Ports, Rivers, Canals, Docks and trades of London which will be used to develop a tourism, skills and education offer. A creation of linear open-air heritage collection of boats, artefacts, objects and landscape running from East India Dock Basin through to Trinity Buoy Wharf and possibly beyond. Vessels displayed ashore, on river pier structures and afloat to suit age and condition and access. The Draft Masterplan is now out for public consultation. The message coming through is that the public want history of the docks and heritage vessels to be included. Join us, National Historic Ships and the Maritime Heritage Trust in voicing your support too. Have your say on what you think should happen.

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The Swansea Bay City Deal’s Joint Committee has signed-off a detailed business case for the £60 million Pembroke Dock Marine project, which will now be submitted to the UK Government and Welsh Government for final approval.

Led by the private sector and supported by Pembrokeshire County Council, Pembroke Dock Marine is expected to be worth over 1,800 jobs and £73.5 million a year to the Swansea Bay City Region’s economy.

The project is made up of four elements:

• A Marine Energy Test Area (META) led by Marine Energy Wales within the Milford Haven Waterway, enabling technology developers to test their devices near their base of operation. META phase one was officially opened for business in September 2019.
• The Pembrokeshire Demonstration Zone (PDZ) delivered by Wave Hub Limited for the testing of full-scale wave and floating wind energy technologies. Located 13 miles off the South Pembrokeshire coast, the 90 square kilometer facility would be the largest of its kind in the world.
• A Marine Energy Engineering Centre of Excellence (MEECE) delivered by offshore wind, wave and tidal energy specialists ORE Catapult. Based at Pembroke Port, MEECE will be a collaboration between ORE Catapult and Welsh universities, providing expert knowledge for the marine energy industry. MEECE will also carry out life testing of marine energy components to boost their longevity.
• Pembroke Dock Infrastructure, led by the Port of Milford Haven, will redevelop gate four at Pembroke Port to create large construction and laydown areas for marine energy devices, helping meet the needs of modern industry. A supersize slipway will be developed alongside extension of berthing space for use by marine energy work boats to meet the demands of the industry as it continues to mature.

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Apprenticeships, easy you don’t need an apprenticeship strategy you just hire a young person and sign them up to college – don’t you?

Well yes, you could adopt this approach, but I strongly recommend you don’t. Would you be this flippant with purchasing a new piece of equipment for your business, I doubt it, so why would you take this approach with hiring an apprentice?

Hiring an apprentice is an investment and like any other business investment you would carry out due diligence, and the same approach needs to be applied to your apprenticeship programme.

Start by looking at the short, mid and long-term business needs ensuring you align your apprenticeship programme to your succession plan, especially for hard to recruit for areas. Once you have identified the needs and aim of the apprenticeship, you will have the basis for your apprentice strategy.

Communication is a key element of the strategy, make sure you share the aims of the apprenticeship throughout the business, especially to those the apprentice will be working with, and invite them to get involved at the early stages to help shape the on-site training the apprentice will need to complete.

Remember an apprenticeship is a collaboration between the apprentice, the business and the training provider, don’t put the onus on one element along, they are all vital components of any apprenticeship.

Sue Potter set up SPotter Talent as a consultancy with a vision to create learning cultures within business, and a mission to motivate, inspire and empower people to do things they never thought were possible.

With over 10 years’ experience in leading apprenticeship programmes, Sue is a strong advocate for apprenticeships, and wants to spread the word to non-levy payers that they can tap into the levy funding.

If you would like to find out how Sue can help your business, get in contact with her via email: info@spottertalent.com, telephone 07486 073844 or via her website www.spottertalent.com

In January 2019 the government published the ambitious Maritime 2050 strategy, setting out a long-term vision for the future of the UK maritime sector. The maritime sector is likely to undergo significant changes as technology revolutionises the way the sector operates and environmental concerns create new and more stringent requirements for the maritime industry.

The Department for Transport (DfT) is keen to continue to engage with industry to promote the development of technological innovation in UK maritime. For this reason, the DfT is launching a call of £1M called the Technology and Innovation in UK Maritime Call. The call will fund innovative solutions within mid TRL (TRL 3-7) to demonstrate potential applications for innovative technology or for proof of concept of new ideas in this field. £1M is available for competition, which administered by MarRI-UK.

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Did you know?

1. The apprenticeship levy was implemented on 6th April 2017, to support the Government’s commitment to improving productivity by increasing the quantity and quality of apprenticeships and their commitment of 3 million apprentices by 2020
2. All UK employers in the public and private sector with a pay bill of £3 million have to pay 0.5% on their annual pay bill into their levy fund
3. From April 2019, the Government implemented two changes to the apprenticeship levy:
   • They increased the amount Levy payers can transfer of the unused levy fund to non-levy paying companies from 10% to 25%, which can be used to pay for training and assessment of new starters
   • They decreased the contribution non-levy payers have to pay for apprenticeships standards from 10% to 5%
4. The Government will waive the co-investment requirement if you employ less than 50 employees and the apprentice is 16-18 years old or an eligible 19-24 year old (formerly in care or have an education and health care plan)
5. If you recruit a 16-18 year old apprentice you will also receive a £1,000 incentive payment.  Paid in two halves at 3 and 12 months
6. Apprenticeship are open to everyone, whether you are a school leaver, improving your current skill set or looking to retrain and start a new career

Sue Potter set up SPotter Talent as a consultancy with a vision to create learning cultures within business, and a mission to motivate, inspire and empower people to do things they never thought were possible.

With over 10 years’ experience in leading apprenticeship programmes, Sue is a strong advocate for apprenticeships, and wants to spread the word to non-levy payers that they can tap into the levy funding.

If you would like to find out how Sue can help your business, get in contact with her via email: info@spottertalent.com, telephone 07486 073844 or via her website www.spottertalent.com