The lens of Government is on Grimsby, as the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, RT Hon Michael Gove, visited the North East Lincolnshire region today. Part of the visit focused on the challenging skills gap and the skills required for the region’s NetZero Future.

The Secretary of State took time to visit CATCH where he was hosted by CEO David Talbot and Head of Operations Paul Snowden.  Mr Gove was shown around the world class facilities on site and discovered how CATCH supports the region’s industry.  David highlighted that “CATCH is at full capacity”  during the tour, which included the National Centre for Process and Manufacturing, the state art facility at CATCH offering ‘real world’ experience.

David commented, “It was a pleasure to welcome the Secretary of State, so we could present the fantastic facilities we have here at CATCH.   I 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”.

Discussions during the tour focused on engaging young people into high skilled jobs and the importance of vocational training in the high hazard industries.  The CATCH vision for a regional Industrial Decarbonisation Center 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.

Later, stakeholders including our CEO, joined RT Hon Michael Gove for a round table skills discussion at Grimsby Town Hall.  Conversation focused on the importance of industry reach back into schools, and support to the key industries in the region from seafood to chemical and petrochemical processing and the burgeoning offshore wind sector.

David Talbot, CEO and Alistair Ware, Director of Strategic Projects had the opportunity to attend the Industrial Decarbonisation Research and Innovation Conference (IDRIC) held on the Heriot-Watt University Edinburgh campus week beginning 6 June.  David was an invitee speaking on the Skills & Training Panel on Day 1 of the Industrial Decarbonisation Showcase sessions.  He was accompanied on the panel by speakers from Atkins, ECITB, the New Economics Foundation and the University of Chester.  At points, the debate centered around the volume issue relating to the need for skilled tradespeople, with David highlighting the lead time needs.  There was some concurrence on a seeming lack of a central strategy or coordination, though Jenny Young of the ECITB did mention the Green Jobs Delivery Group, the Infrastructure & Projects Authority and the Future Skills work of the Dept. for Education in London.   In concluding, there was reference to the apprenticeships pipeline and levy funding limitations, linked to an immediate need for skills.

Alistair, Edinburgh based usually, continued with the further conference days encountering panels on:- Low Carbon Technologies; Social & Public Engagement; Systems & Scale-Up; Environmental Considerations; and Policy & Regulation.  The third day introduced elements of feedback on the IDRIC Wave 1 research projects’ gaps, potentially pointing towards the forthcoming Wave 2 research/projects call anticipated in the near months.  The IDRIC event brought contact for CATCH with potential Wave 2 interested organisations and their researchers.  Our relationship is on the one hand an informative one in multi-directions, as a key industrial member-based entity on the Humber.  On the other hand, there might be participative merit in CATCH being included in a relevant, likely partnered, project submission when the call is made.  There would be fit too with the Humber Industrial Decarbonisation Centre (HIDC) concept.

CATCH member company Evides Industriewater was also present, with Colin Robinson, UK Business Development Manager speaking on the Environmental Considerations panel along with SEPA and Project Energy representatives – Project Energy being linked to the Northwest Cluster/Hynet.  Jonathan Oxley of the Humber Industrial Cluster Plan (HICP) spoke on the Social & Public Engagement panel.  From the CATCH member universities, Peter Taylor, Professor of Sustainable Energy Systems of Leeds University spoke on the Policy & Regulation panel, whilst Dr Carolina Font-Palmer, Lecturer in Mechanical Engineering of the University of Hull Dept. of Engineering and Dr Aliyu Aliyu, Senior Lecturer in Sustainable Energy of the University of Lincoln School of Engineering were also present at the event.

The group is attended by CATCH member companies drawn from site and asset protection and fire and security personnel and from Humberside Fire & Rescue Service and Police Counter Terrorism Services.

At this meeting Anthony Jackson from CTSA gave an update on current security threats to the sector and our region.  Recent activity in some industrial cluster by the action group Just Stop Oil has seen disruption targeting oil and gas installations under the ‘disobey the dock’ and ‘stop fossil fuels’ campaigns.  The group are currently less active in the Humber region.

Steve Hellewell gave an update from HFRS.  New foam monitors are being procured for Immingham with 10,000 litres/minute capacity, complimenting foam stocks already situated at the station.  The service recently donated 1500 fire kits to Ukraine.

Katie and Steve reminded the group that HFR Solutions are offering a free fire protection audit for sites (audit attached) please contact Katie if you want to take up this offer.

Tony gave an introduction to a hostile reconnaissance video that has been developed to assist sites.  The video can be accessed here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qkgN4Bwhpf8

Please get in touch with Tony for more information and to book a hostile reconnaissance session at your site.

Katie reminded the group to visit www.goinstayintunein.org to review the COMAH communications information for their site.  Please update Katie with any details that are out of date.

The next meeting will be held in November (date TBC)– please contact Katie with any requests for future topics.

CATCH launched their first Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Network on Tuesday 24 May.  The meeting was attended by 20 delegates drawn from CATCH member companies and was held in person at CATCH and via Teams.

The topic of equality, diversity and inclusion in industry has been considered and discussed at a number of the CATCH Network groups including the HR Managers in Humber and West Yorkshire and the Humber Industrial Decarbonisation Network.  The inaugural meeting was chaired by David Talbot, CATCH CEO.

The first speaker for the session was Dr Sarah Connelly, Innovation Lead for Transforming Foundation Industries at UK Research & Innovation who gave a presentation on how to drive change through the TFI challenge fund.  Sarah gave an insight into how different approaches are being taken to build the talent pipeline from primary through to post 18 education.  Sarah highlighted a key message for 16-18 age group is building their understanding of the workplace opportunities through green transition jobs.  If you are interested in positive action in recruitment to support upskilling the workforce please drop Sarah an email to get on the distribution list for this work strand.

Sarah took questions and the group discussed the need for more industry science and engineering role models from a diversity of backgrounds and carefully considered the cultural differences between school, college and university approaches to EDI and how younger people coming into the workplace already bring fresh views and have higher expectations that can support a cultural transition in the more established industries.

Kerry Doherty, HR Business Partner with BASF gave a presentation on the companies’ new DEI initiatives and their progress to date.  The company has embraced different approaches to remote working and more flexible work patterns that are more considerate to employees with particular childcare needs.  The management team has responded positively to employees from ethnic and LGBT+ communities which has led to the creation of new action groups for Gender, Race and LGBT+ across their sites.  Kerry explained it is important to promote what we are doing and how this brings a positive impact for employees and future recruits.

Kerry and Karen Harper (Head of HR at BASF) took questions and the group discussed what a tremendous impact the company has had over 5 years and how different members of staff have engaged, from senior leadership to operators working on shifts.  The group agreed there was much to learn on the topics and that the network would provide an excellent place to start sharing best practice to improve equality, diversity and inclusion in the region.

For more information about the network or to join us please contact lisa.buck@catchuk.org

• Concom Apprentice of the Year Awards 2022

The interviews for the awards were held at Catch. The 5 candidates had been asked to prepare and give a 15 minute presentation followed by a chat about themselves.  This year, we gave awards and £1000 in cash to 1^st, 2^nd and 3^rd places.

The results letters have been emailed out now to all 5 attendees of the awards. The 3 committee members and Dave Evans listened to & discussed with them their presentations and chatted about their futures, why they wanted to be in engineering, what they got from their work, etc.   We were all blown away with the quality of their presentations and answers.  We have no doubt that there continues to be a very high standard of engineering skills and competency for those apprentices coming through, and it is a reflection of the quality of training and experience our Concom client and contractor members both expect and give their trainees. The standards were high once again this year and all of our candidates can be proud of what they are achieving. It was a pleasure to meet them all and see the future is in good hands!

Therefore we are delighted to announce this year’s winners. It was once again a close year for all the finalists, but after interviewing the 5 apprentices, 3 were chosen for the awards: –

In 3rd place………Charlie Flemming of EP SHB Ltd – Electrical
In 2nd place……..Will Lambert, Prax Lindsey Oil Refinery – C&P

And this year’s Concom Apprentice of the Year is……..

Matthew Lister…….Testex NDT Ltd – Level 3 NDT Technician

Many congratulations to Matt, Will and Charlie and will shall be seeing them at our Awards ceremony next month where they will receive their trophies and prize money!

• Concom Forum

We welcomed Dean Miles of EP SHB Ltd to give us a presentation and share the journey the power station went on regarding their mental health awareness – particularly appropriate as this week was mental health awareness week

Concom issued a survey in March.  This was to all of our contractor members with regards to any skills shortages they may be experiencing and a direct result from discussions held at the  Humber Engineering Managers Forum.  The results were analysed and it is clear that there are already shortages in certain skill sets which are expected to become worse as a result of the hydrogen and carbon capture projects starting in the area.  An overview will be given next month’s forum following the feedback presentation at May’s HEMF.

Key organisations involved in decarbonisation projects across the Humber region will come together for the first time to promote opportunities for students and businesses.

Phillips 66, SSE, Drax, Centrica, Equinor, National Grid Ventures and VPI-Immingham will be among those exhibiting at the first Humber Industrial Decarbonisation Conference, being held as part of Humber Business Week.

The free event will take place at the Baths Hall in Scunthorpe on Tuesday, 7^th June.

In the morning, hundreds of students from schools and colleges across the region will have a chance to discuss careers in decarbonisation.

The afternoon will give the opportunity for SME and supply chain businesses to understand the impact of these huge, multi-billion-pound infrastructure projects, which will capture carbon dioxide before it goes into the atmosphere as a greenhouse gas.

The Humber emits 40% of the nation’s total carbon emissions and holds a key to the Government hitting its 2050 net zero ambition.

The conference is being organised by the Humber Industrial Cluster Plan (HICP), supported by Phillips 66 and VPI combined heat and power plant.

Katie Hedges, Director of Low Carbon Strategy at CATCH in Stallingborough and engaged by the HICP, was delighted by the interest generated by the conference.

“This event will bring together key stakeholders who are actively involved with decarbonisation activities and projects in the Humber region,” she said.

“The Humber: A 2030 Vision for Industrial Decarbonisation Map, created in collaboration with Marketing Humber, is being brought to life, with companies featured on the map taking exhibition space and hosting breakout sessions.

“The Humber Industrial Cluster plan, led by the HEY LEP and CATCH, alongside industrial partners, will showcase what is happening in the region, the opportunities available and provide visitors with access to key people from prominent companies across the decarbonisation space.”

The map brings together the breath of infrastructure, carbon sequestration capacity, hydrogen storage and production plus highlights the vast potential for skills, job creation and huge investment bolstering the local and UK economy.

Nina Stobart, External Communications and Public Affairs Lead at Phillips 66, had the idea of bringing the decarbonisation map to life.

“We are particularly keen to engage with the region’s schools, sixth forms and FE colleges, their careers advisers and STEM teachers, to explain the opportunities coming the Humber’s way,” she said.

“Decarbonisation is going to create thousands of jobs and we want to support young people in their career choices.

“The opportunities go beyond just STEM subjects, as there will be a range of disciplines employed in decarbonisation in the future.

“The Humber’s in a unique place to capitalise on this new sector because of the amount of high energy industry and its proximity to safe storage under the North Sea.”

Schools, academies, sixth forms and FE colleges across the Humber have been invited to the event, with the offer of free travel.

Those who would like to book their students a place for the morning session, which will run between 9.30am and 11.30am, should email lisa.buck@catchuk.org

Businesses who wish to attend the afternoon session, between 12.30 and 4pm, should book via https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/humber-industrial-decarbonisation-conference-exhibition-registration-320688216087

8th June, 10am – 12 noon
In person and online places available

Celebrating our 10th year supporting Humber Business Week we are hosting the Humber Environmental Managers Conference that will provide an update on the Environment Bill, exploring how businesses can meet the biodiversity net gain aspects in the Bill and how projects in our region are developing nature-based solutions and responding to wider drivers for a more circular economy.

When enacted in 2023, the Environment Bill requires all development to deliver a minimum uplift of 10% in the amount of biodiversity as a result of the developer’s activity – called Biodiversity Net Gain.  This event will provide an opportunity to understand how,  through partnership, the region is working to ensure a vibrant and prosperous green investment economy that delivers for people and wildlife.  Delegates will hear about work being carried out in Greater Lincolnshire to create a fair, equitable and transparent market in natural environment asset trading.  If successful, this work will provide a template for a much wider approach.

A further objective of the conference is to assess how decarbonising of the Humber region can be effectively progressed through nature-based solutions and resource efficiency, and the benefits which can be obtained for the local community, economy and nature.

Our conference is an annual event of the Humber Environmental Managers’ Network, which is organised by CATCH and the Humber Nature Partnership (HNP).  CATCH is an industry-led partnership supporting the process, energy, engineering and renewable industries in Yorkshire and Lincolnshire.  HNP is one of the 48 Local Nature Partnerships covering England, which were established following the 2011 Environment White Paper.

To register your place, please email katie.hedges@catchuk.org stating if you would like to attend in person or via teams.

CATCH Ex services personnel, Alan Boyington, Rois Lorenz, John Morris, Mark Booth, David Talbot, Andy Naden

CATCH has pledged its support for the armed forces and veterans by signing the Armed Forces Covenant.  The Armed Forces Covenant is a promise from the nation to those who serve or who have served, and their families, which says we will do all we can to ensure they are treated fairly and are not disadvantaged in their day-to-day lives.  The Armed Forces Covenant relies on the people, communities, and businesses of the UK to actively support it in order to make a difference.

CATCH has agreed to ensure that no member of the Armed Forces Community should face disadvantage compared to any other citizen. We will promote that we are armed forces friendly, support our veterans through employment whilst supporting service spouses and partners. We will encourage our staff members to become involved with local cadet organisations, and recognize national armed forces events, including supporting associated charities.

Mark, Training Delivery Manager at CATCH said, “CATCH in recent years has greatly benefited from the skills, training, and expertise of ex-forces personnel gained in service, employing six members of staff with a military background across the business – including our CEO!  We are looking forward to strengthening our pledge further –  The Employer Recognition Scheme (ERS) encourages employers to support defense and inspire other organisations to do the same. Therefore we have submitted an application to receive a  bronze award. This award recognises commitments to support the Armed Forces, including existing or prospective employees,  promote being Armed Forces-friendly, and that we are open to employing Reservists, Armed Forces  Veterans (including the wounded, injured and  sick), Cadet Instructors, and military spouses/partners”

CATCH is also delighted to announce that as part of our pledge, we will provide a 10% discount to ex forces personnel on our CATCH Skills courses (excluding accredited courses).

For more about the Covenant and what it means for you, visit  www.gov.uk/government/policies/armed-forces-covenant