JAGUAR LAND ROVER UNVEILS FUTURE SKILLS PROGRAMME TO TRAIN 29,000 FOR ALL-ELECTRIC FUTURE

Coventry manufacturer Jaguar Land Rover has announced a global up-skilling drive in a bid to train 29,000 people in the next three years for its connected and data capabilities, and to support the rapid transition to electrification.

The company’s Future Skills Programme will see more than 10,000 Jaguar Land Rover and franchised retailer employees in the UK, and nearly 19,000 across the rest of the world, trained in skills vital to electrification, digital and autonomous cars.

Barbara Bergmeier, Jaguar Land Rover Industrial Operations Executive Director, said: “We are rapidly scaling up our future skills training programme to ensure we have the right talent to deliver the world’s most desirable modern luxury electric vehicles.

“I’m proud to say we are committing to help plug the electric and digital skills gap with a comprehensive, global training programme, which will power charge electrification both here in the UK and abroad.”

Currently around 80 per cent of nearly 1,300 franchised Jaguar Land Rover retailers around the world offer electric vehicle servicing, so to tackle the skills gaps, the company is ensuring the majority of servicing technicians will receive electrification training this year.

As well as technicians, Jaguar Land Rover plans to retrain thousands of automotive engineers and production employees, who previously worked on the development of internal combustion cars, to specialise in electrification, digital and autonomous cars.

Bristol-based Bud secures £3M investment from Maven

Bristol based Bud, which provides specialised software as a service to apprenticeship and other training organisations to enable the delivery of highquality, compliant training whilst improving the visibility of progress and performance, has secured £3 million investment from venture capital company Maven.

Bud brings together learners, training providers and employers from enrolment through to reporting and regulatory compliance.

The company was co-founded by Heather Frankham, who has a successful track record in the training sector, having founded, grown and exited the UK’s largest apprenticeship provider, Lifetime Training.

Since then, she has supported educational business and charities, helping them to drive high quality scalable operations most notably chairing the turnaround of Paragon Skills.

Heather remains with Bud as a NonExecutive Director. Bud CEO John Ingram is also experienced in the education sector having scaled and exited businesses in the space, most recently at Pamoja Education which was sold to Faria Education in 2020.

Hartpury named as number one specialist STEM university for local growth and regeneration

Hartpury has been named as the top specialist science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) university for local growth and regeneration.

The finding was made in the second publication of Knowledge Exchange Framework (KEF) results released by Research England, which placed Hartpury in the highest possible band for Local Growth and Regeneration.

The institution has also improved on its 2021 performance in the Working with Business and Working with the Public and Third Sector.

The KEF celebrates the breadth of how English universities serve the economy and society, for the benefit of the public, business and communities.

The results follow a busy 12-month period in which Hartpury has helped to secure £20 million from the Government’s Levelling Up Fund.

Improvements in the Working with Business category have been bolstered by the launch of the £2 million Tech Box Park at Hartpury, part of a 10-year strategic vision to provide a world-class hub for agricultural facilities, education and research.

The Tech Box Park is home to the Agri-Tech Centre, a hub for agri-technologies that encourages innovative tech companies to collaborate and grow through shared knowledge.

Support Charity

Oxfordshire firm Hedges Law has raised more than £2,000 for the grief support charity SeeSaw.

The latest fundraising effort saw two members of the Oxfordshire law firm’s team, Head of Business Development, Rebecca Kashti and Trainee Solicitor, James Overton sky dive.

Jumping from 10,000 feet and freefalling at more than 120mph, the pair had originally set out to raise £400. However, thanks to colleagues, friends, family and members of the public, they smashed their original target.

Rebecca said: “SeeSaw is a fantastic local Oxfordshire-based charity, providing essential support to young members of the community and their families at a time of such uncertainty, worry and sadness.

“Jumping from 13,000 feet was daunting, but worth it to know we were doing what we could to help these families at a time they are experiencing the loss of a loved one.”

Further fundraising at Hedges Law is taking place later this year. This month, Director of Culture and Innovation, Nicola Poole, is heading to Africa to take on the Sahara Trek, an expedition taking place in the Moroccan Sahara, covering around 50km in temperatures of up to 40c.

Clare Mather Allkins, Fundraising Manager said “As a small charity, SeeSaw relies on the support of countless individuals, families, community groups, businesses and schools to keep going.

“Fundraising is essential to SeeSaw so we can continue to give vital support to young people and their families, in the community.”

Bishop Fleming expands in Gloucestershire

Bishop Fleming is merging Gloucestershire practice Bespoke Tax Accountants into its business as part of an ambitious strategy to double the firm’s size over the next few years.

It will be integrating the business of Bespoke Tax Accountants, adding its Cheltenham base to its offices in Bath, Bristol, Exeter, Plymouth, Torquay, Truro and Worcester.

Thursfields corporate team set for record year

Thursfields has helped close deals totalling more than £100 million in the first six months of its financial year – almost as much as it achieved in the whole of its last financial year.

Gareth Burge, director and head of corporate at the Worcestershireheadquartered law firm, said:

“The team has had a great start to the financial year, picking up a number of significant buy and sell side instructions for our SME and investor client base.

“Despite economic uncertainty, the outlook is still looking positive, with deals in the pipeline.

A selection of the deals completed in the first half of 2022 include Thursfields advising the shareholders of Demma Group on its sale to Swedish private equity backed Nordomatic Group, the shareholders of Compco Fire on their sale to Irish private equity backed Writech and Questgates on several acquisitions.

Other deals include advising on the sales of Wiper Blades to AIM-listed Vertu Motors plc, PJM Properties to FTSE 250 listed LondonMetric Property plc and Network Catering Engineers to Airdale Group.

The move comes on the back of impressive financial results which saw fees grow by nearly 19 per cent, in 2021-2022, led by considerable growth by its Bristol and Worcester operations.

Bishop Fleming’s Manager Partner Andrew Sandiford, said: “It has been a long-term strategic ambition to strengthen our footprint between our Bristol and

Worcester offices, not only as a platform for further growth, but now also to meet the economic challenges that lie ahead.

“Integrating Bespoke as our new Cheltenham office provides the perfect foundation to support and grow our clients in the three counties of Herefordshire, Gloucestershire, and Worcestershire.”