Skills Awards 2010

North West Celebrates Local Government Skills

About 130 guests from almost 30 organisations, including friends and supporters from regional and national organisations, joined a host of Award Winners on Friday, 2nd July 2010 for a Celebration Luncheon and to hear how authorities in the North West are successfully addressing the skills needs of their workforces.

Congratulations go to a whole list of authorities:

Blackburn with Darwen BC
Burnley BC
Carlisle City Council
Cumbria CC
Eden DC
Hyndburn BC
Knowsley PCT
Lancashire CC
Sefton Council
South Lakeland DC
St Helens Council
Tameside MBC
Wirral Council

All of whom were presented with their Skills Awards by Liz McQue, Chief Executive of North West Employers and Nigel Carruthers from IDeA. Many of the authorities also received the Get On Excellence Award from the IDeA.

Knowsley PCT became the first Primary Care Trust to achieve the North West Local Government Skills Award and we hope many more will follow.

Liz McQue, congratulated all winners and highlighted that this recognition confirmed that:

...their excellent work and the effort in this skills development area, demonstrates real opportunity for transformational change for individuals, the organisation and the community.

The awarded authorities described, in a diverse range of presentations, how they are reaping the benefits of their commitment to learning and development. They expressed how they had benefited from close working relationships with trade union partners, which helped to engage learners, address barriers to skills development and adress tricky workforce issues.

Delegates at the event were able to listen to the experiences of all thirteen winners, and learned how their own authority will be able to take advantage of the framework in order to embed Skills for Life into the workforce development plans, people strategies and to meet Skills Pledge commitments.

Liz also thanked the awarded authorities and the Assessors. She particularly welcomed and thanked the newly trained peer verifiers from amongst those authorities who achieved the Skills Award last year. This will ensure a more sustainable and relevant approach to authorities assessments.

The event was also an opportunity for authorities to sign up to the new Skills Award and we were pleased that Matthew Hebden from Cheshire East Authority took this opportunity explaining the newly formed authority's commitment to skills development.

A 2-course lunch, plus music from the Manor Green Primary School Brass Band and the Burnley College Cheerleaders all added to a day of success and achievement.

Congratulations again to all the authorities who achieved, or signed up on the day and thanks to everyone who helped to organise the event.

Here's to next year!

For further information: 

Contact Skills