An Academy To Train Drivers Of Heavy Goods Vehicles Is Looking For Funding In Mid And East Antrim
It is one of a number of academies that have been facilitated by the local authority in sectors including health and social care, hospitality, childminding, welding, and retail, and it has resulted in almost half of the participants gaining employment, with 63 of 135 trainees securing jobs. These sectors include:
Monday evening's meeting of the Borough Growth Committee of the council resulted in the approval of funding in the amount of £72k for additional academies to be established during the academic year 2022/23 in fields that are experiencing "significant staff shortages."
It is hoped that the new Labor Market Partnership program will provide funding for any future academies that may be established.
Councillor William McCaughey, who serves as Mayor of Mid and East Antrim, was quoted as saying, "The more we can deliver, the better." I am more than happy to give my approval to the delivery of what is actually required in the professional community.
Cllr Timothy Gaston of the Bannside TUV made the following observation: "Targeting the skills shortage that is out there is very important for the flourishing of our businesses and for having that skill set available to them."
We are going to need the Northern Regional College to participate in their own way. If we want our economy to get off the ground, we need people with the appropriate skills.
At the moment, 18 individuals are participating in the pilot pre-employment HGV Training Driver Academy in order to obtain an HGV Category C (Class 2) license. It is anticipated that these individuals will finish the program by the end of the year.
Recent comments made by Seamus Leheny, policy manager for Northern Ireland at Logistics UK, indicate that there is a severe lack of HGV training near me drivers in Northern Ireland. It is estimated that we will require approximately 2,000. Covid has had an effect, and as a result of Brexit, EU nationals can no longer come to Northern Ireland to work as HGV drivers, which is a position on which many businesses relied.
Because only 0.8 percent of heavy-goods vehicle drivers in Northern Ireland are under the age of 25, and more than 50 percent of drivers are over the age of 50, it is essential to recruit new drivers into the workforce.
After two local restaurants were forced to close their doors due to a lack of staff, councillors at a previous meeting for Borough Growth in September sounded an urgent warning over the hospitality industry. They voiced concern over a knock-on effect for other businesses in the area and said that the government needs to intervene.
According to the results of a poll administered to members of Hospitality Ulster, seventy-two percent of respondents believe that the proposed imposition of Covid Passports would "inflict further damage to an industry that is still on its knees with businesses fighting for survival."
Hospitality Ulster has made a request to the Executive, asking for more information regarding the proposed Covid Passports, and has also strongly urged the Executive to publish their economic impact assessment, stating that the industry is at its most vulnerable point at any time during the crisis.
"Businesses in the industry are fighting for their very survival and cannot support additional measures that single them out and bring further damage to the sector," said Colin Neill, chief executive officer of Hospitality Ulster.
The Covid Passport and the rationale behind it have been topics of conversation for some time, but we have not yet received word from the executive team regarding the financial and operational repercussions that will result from its implementation, and this comes just before the crucial holiday shopping season.
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