Beacon training facility Catch is closing in on expanding its workforce by more than 50 per cent, after opening up in-house apprenticeships, and expanding the cohort.
The not-for-profit membership and training organisation has gone from 29 staff to 40 in recent months, with five further vacancies still to fill.
It follows the launch of the new courses in late 2021 , with more than 100 new apprentices starting at the Stallingborough site in September. Initial thoughts had been on 60 joining the 16-year-old Humber Bank organisation - until now a facilitator of third party training.
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James McIntosh, chief operating officer, said the people at Catch were the company's “greatest asset” and “essential to the growth”. “The growing demand for highly skilled people in industry is only going to increase, we have a highly talented team, with the majority of our people being specialists in their area,” he said.
“Catch plays a key part in our regional economy and industry, and we need to attract new team members to support the ever growing skills needs of our members. Our region is seeing billions of pounds of investment, and with that comes the challenge of retaining and upskilling existing staff, but also attracting new people and young people into industry.”
Catch provides specialist training and apprenticeships for the process, energy, engineering and renewable industries. It is still looking for teaching staff, a learning and safeguarding lead and an apprenticeship centre manager.
The summer push comes after Michael Gove made a visit one of his last - if not the last - in office.
He toured the site before a round table skills discussion at Grimsby Town Hall, just a day before his firing from the role of Levelling Up Secretary by the Prime Minister. It was prompted by him having urged Boris Johnson to resign. Mr Johnson went on to announce his intention to step down the following day.
The visit, overshadowed by the events in Westminster - with those involved no doubt hoping to feature in any handover memo - focused on the challenging skills gap and what is required for the region’s NetZero Future.
Chief executive of Catch, David Talbot, highlighted how “Catch is at full capacity” to the senior Conservative. He said: “It was a pleasure to welcome the Secretary of State, so we could present the fantastic facilities we have here at Catch. It was great to showcase our unique training environment, from our introduction to industry experience programme leading to our apprenticeship provision and upskilling and reskilling adults in a fully emulated process operations environment. The Secretary of State heard about the challenges faced by industry and was shown firsthand how we are helping to plug the gap right here in Stallingborough.”
He said discussions during the tour focused on engaging young people into high skilled jobs and the importance of vocational training in the high hazard industries.
A vision for a regional industrial decarbonisation centre was raised, which will incorporate a low carbon skills hub to support the huge investment opportunities in the region around carbon capture and energy transition.
Former Business Secretary Greg Clark has picked up the portfolio, no stranger to the area in his time in office. Grimsby MP Lia Nici has also joined the department as a junior minister.
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