I would like to start by congratulating all MPs who have been elected following yesterday’s General Election.
Worcestershire is continuing to grow its international status as a fantastic location to live, work and invest, and this week we have been delighted to welcome American visitors from Maryland to the county as part of a return cyber trade mission. I joined partners in welcoming the US delegates to this year’s Infosecurity event, before showcasing some of the world class cyber businesses we have in the county and it has been great to see the relationships between Worcestershire and the United States develop further.
We are also seeing progress being made on local Growth Deal projects, including the unveiling of the new £120million Worcester Six units, the new SEN facilities at Heart of Worcestershire college and the new North Worcestershire Engineering Centre of Excellence. These projects will be hugely important in helping to provide Worcestershire with the skills and jobs required to grow. Local companies are also benefiting from the extension of the Superfast Worcestershire programme, including Belbroughton-based Redhead Business Films who now receive up to 42mbps in download speeds and 9.2mbps in upload speeds. An upcoming FinditinWorcestershire event will also provide local businesses with the opportunity to meet with Buckingham Group Contracting, the constructors for Worcestershire Parkway Station.
Last week I was delighted to meet with all three previous winners of Worcestershire Apprentice of the Year. Pippa, Victoria and Ryan have all seen incredible success in the early stages of their careers since winning Worcestershire Apprentice of the Year, and they are now encouraging local apprentices to get their entries in for Worcestershire Apprenticeship Awards 2017. I would certainly urge all apprentices, apprenticeship employers, schools and training providers to submit their entries at the earliest opportunity, ahead of the 30 June deadline.
Finally, cyber security has been prominent in the national news in the last month and I’m therefore pleased to announce that we and our partners are launching a new free Cyber eLearning package for businesses. The package is designed for the non-technical community and will help to make Worcestershire an even safer place to do business, with more information available in this newsletter.
