Meet the team...

Fay Winterburn 

          

Lead Commissioner, Employability and Skills

I manage the Warwickshire Skills Hub team and lead on the shaping and delivery of our services.

As Warwickshire's economy continues to evolve, especially in light of the pandemic, I work with others to assess the skills needed to develop a workforce well-equipped to meet the needs of our businesses.

To ensure our skills offer remains relevant and locally responsive, I engage closely with business groups, strategic partners and education providers. We work collaboratively to shape business skills support packages and careers and employment activities, along with a variety of projects and campaigns delivered by our Warwickshire Skills Hub team and externally commissioned partners.

My role allows me to bring together my previous skills experience and my inbuilt passion to create barrier-breaking and economically effective support for Warwickshire - the place I love to call home!

Vicki Haslam

Senior Business Skills Advisor

I provide specialist skills advice and support to businesses to help them grow and prosper. I coordinate the team of Business Skills Advisors who engage with businesses to gain an understanding of their requirements and effectively support them in accessing skills-centred initiatives and resources.

I have a background in employability, training and skills and am passionate about helping businesses develop skills to futureproof their business and support growth and development. I take great pride in the role our team plays in supporting local businesses to grow their workforce!

I am currently involved in the rollout of the Warwickshire Small Business Apprenticeship and Apprenticeship Progression programmes. I also lead on the Build Back Stronger campaign, a series of workshops designed to provide information and support to employers as we emerge from lockdown.

Since I joined the Warwickshire Skills Hub Team I have been working from home, so am very much looking forward to getting into the Skills Hub Office and physically meeting the team (although technology has been great at enabling me to get to know everyone, it is not the same!). I'm also so looking forward to being able to go out and meet Warwickshire businesses on their premises to gain an understanding of  how they operate.

Heather Docksey

Business Skills Support Officer

With a background of over 20 years in further education, commercial training and apprenticeships, I am now really enjoying bringing all that experience together as a Business Skills Support Officer with the Skills Hub in beautiful Warwickshire.

Joining this team has given me an exciting opportunity to bring all my skills and knowledge together and broaden my reach to support local businesses. I work mainly on apprenticeship projects, so support businesses with all kinds of incentives as they explore taking on new
apprentices or progressing existing apprentices...there is so much on offer right now!

I also help businesses with a lot of the legwork when looking for a new training provider. I'll gather the business needs and then reach out to the provider network on the business' behalf to explore who will be the best fit. It is always rewarding to see how much difference our support can make to a small business - it's why I love what I do.

Our team is so creative, shaping a continuous stream of ideas that quickly get converted into projects that we know will benefit businesses and their employees.

Throughout my career I've met some incredible people from businesses of all sizes across the sectors and sometimes I don't think we appreciate just how many skilled and talented people are living and working in the UK. It's a privilege to have a role which supports such people in Warwickshire.

Emma Neale

Schools and Careers Co-ordinator

My role is to support schools to access the council's Skills For Employment Programme.

The programme is annually shaped to meet the needs and development of schools career programmes. It helps to connect businesses and enable them to access additional supportive links to strengthen the transition of young people from school into the world of work.

During the pandemic I have worked closely with the schools on the Future Careers project. This has enabled schools to gain up to £2,000 funding to re-create careers programmes to be COVID secure through digital delivery, or to supply technology to support students gaining much-needed careers interaction.

I have a youth worker background and a passion for helping young people find their best way forward, so find it very rewarding to have a job which supports careers leaders in Warwickshire. I love playing an active role in shaping the council's work and building relationships with schools across the county.

Niki Takhar

Employability & Skills Project Officer

My role is extremely varied...no two days are ever the same!

It is a versatile role which involves designing, planning and implementing projects across the area of employability and skills, focusing in particular on careers and school-based projects.

Recent projects I have worked on have included the Future Careers support, in particular the Future Careers Filming: Digital Marketplace project. This has been a great project as I get to go along to see different business and meet with some really inspiring people. I know if I saw these great film pieces at school, I’d want to chose those featured careers!

I have a varied background in Higher Education, working at universities across Recruitment, HR, Academic Research, IT Systems Projects and Careers and Corporate Relations. The role of Project Officer encompasses all my personal skills and things I enjoy – planning, meeting different people, and working with schools and other careers groups to help the young people of Warwickshire.

I love working on different projects with different aims but my favourite part of the job is seeing how our work can really help young people in the community and in schools.

Alice Edwards

Employability & Skills Project Officer

As a project officer, I support the team on various programmes and schemes to support businesses and employment across the county.

The Apprenticeship Progression Programme and Coventry and Warwickshire Redundancy Support Service have been key projects for me. It has been really interesting to support in the development of very responsive projects to local need...it certainly keeps me on my toes!

It is absolutely key that we engage with all areas of communities across Warwickshire to shape a skilled population with lots of opportunities available, so I am really enjoying working on projects to support businesses to attract the best people through their doors (or via Teams!) and upskill their current workforce at the same time.

I come from a background in employee and personal wellbeing and mental health, so I am excited to embed this passion into the work that we do to encourage the Warwickshire workforce to be a happy and skilled one with endless opportunities.