South Yorkshire PolicyPod

Developed by the three Chambers of Commerce for South Yorkshire (those being the ones for Sheffield, Barnsley & Rotherham, as well as Doncaster) this podcast series focusses on the most pressing issues of the day for local businesses. 

For this fourth episode — hosted by Andy Gates, Assistant Director of External Affairs at the South Yorkshire Mayoral Combined Authority — we take a deep dive into the topic of workplace training, and how we can unlock the latent potential of our region. 

Here, Andy is joined by experts Dan Fell, Chief Exec of Doncaster Chamber, and Naomi Clayton, Deputy Director at the Learning and Work Institute, for an in-depth conversation about skills. 

Covering everything from how we can better incentivise employers to invest in staff development, to how the South Yorkshire Local Skills Improvement Plan (LSIP) aims to improve training provision in the region, the episode goes into plenty of detail on this vital subject. 

For those who are interested in the future of South Yorkshire and its talent, this is an absolute must-listen. 

Through this podcast, you will discover what the Mayor of South Yorkshire, Oliver Coppard’s top priorities are. James Marriott, podcast host, and Louisa Harrison-Walker, Executive Director at Sheffield Chamber of Commerce, put forward questions based on the findings of the quarter 2 South Yorkshire Quarterly Economic Survey. Gain real insight from the mayor himself, responding to what you believe should be the priorities for his first 100 days in office.

The podcast, part of the Quarterly Economic Survey (QES) undertaken by the Chambers, is a new platform which will allow listeners to hear from experts, leaders and critical thinkers from institutions, organisations, and businesses here in South Yorkshire. The three South Yorkshire Chambers launched the “South Yorkshire PolicyPod” in January to champion change, analyse trends, and highlight the disparities which affect businesses and Chamber members in the South Yorkshire region.

The survey for Q1 of this year, was specifically geared towards the theme of “Innovation”, asking what motivates businesses to innovate in the first place, how much they spend on it and who they turn to for support.

To explore these findings, the three South Yorkshire chambers assembled a panel of experts for the new Policy Pod episode. Laura Bennett, from TEAM SY (which stands for Tech Ecosystem Acceleration and Market Making in South Yorkshire) is one of the guests here. With a deep understanding of the entrepreneurial world– she is writing a PHD thesis on this subject as well – she is certainly an authority in this area.

Laura was joined by Tom Rumboll, who is the Chief Executive of SYNETIQ. Dedicated to doing the right thing by the environment, this automotive salvage, dismantling and recycling business has been at the cutting edge for a number of years and so Tom was definitely in a good position to talk about innovation on the podcast.

Finally, rounding out the panel was Steve Foxley from Advance Manufacturing Research Centre (AMCR) in Sheffield. As the CEO for an industry-leading company that carries out studies into the fields of machining, manufacturing and materials, Steve had plenty of insights to offer as well.

Together, these professionals covered a lot of ground. Among other things, they spoke about how the regional economy would benefit from innovation being a higher priority for companies, what the biggest drivers for innovation are in the UK, and why some industries are seemingly better at it than others.

The podcast, part of the Quarterly Economic Survey (QES) undertaken by the Chambers, is a new platform which will allow listeners to hear from experts, leaders and critical thinkers from institutions, organisations, and businesses here in South Yorkshire. The three South Yorkshire Chamber launched the “South Yorkshire PolicyPod” in January to champion change, analyse trends, and highlight the disparities which affect businesses and Chamber members in the South Yorkshire region.

In the first episode of the South Yorkshire PolicyPod, the Chambers were joined by guests including Yiannis Koursis - Barnsley College Principal and Chief Executive, Oli de Botton - CEO The Careers & Enterprise Company, Kirstie Donnelly, MBE - Chief Executive Officer at City & Guilds Group, Karen Beardsley - Business Transformation Director at Unipart Rail and finally Andrew Denniff Barnsley & Rotherham Chamber CEO as they discuss the findings of the Quarterly Economic Survey.

The discussion in this episode focused specifically on the skills agenda in South Yorkshire which was a key metric highlighted in the quarter 4 2021 survey. The question posed to guests was “What can the education and training sectors learn from employers on workforce skills?” and with a range of expertise around the table this led to a frank discussion on where the skills agenda currently is in South Yorkshire, what our educational institutions can do to collaborate with businesses, what businesses expect from the Skills pipeline and finally what the role the Chambers play in bringing these parties together so real tangible change can happen.