Andy Burnham, Mayor of Greater Manchester: Skills Bootcamps are really important to us because here in Greater Manchester we're growing faster than the rest of the UK economy at the moment. There are more new jobs coming on stream here even than in London, and the risk to us is, if we don't help our residents get the skills they need to get those jobs, we may leave employers with vacancies and that would risk the growing success in the Greater Manchester economy. So, these courses are critical for us at a kind of macro level in Greater Manchester, but also it's about our residents having the support to access the amazing opportunities that are out there in Greater Manchester.
Vicky Burgess, Work and Skills Officer at Rochdale Council: Skills Bootcamps are a great way for people to enter into a specific sector that they might not have considered before. It gives some flexibility around learning that short, sharp and intense courses that really give people skills to access the workforce. For employers, it's a great way of filling vacancies.
They can work specifically on skills that are lacking in their workforce and give people an opportunity to progress within work, gain additional skills. So they're a great flexible approach to learning that you wouldn't get necessarily on an apprenticeship or an alternative learning pathway. They're a great way to enter an apprenticeship. You can gain basic skills and head off on a pathway into a career, and it's the flexibility, I think, around bootcamps that's exciting for us.
Venetia Knight, Head of Employment and Enterprise at Groundwork Manchester: So I think Skills Bootcamps are really important at the moment because we've got some really significant skill shortages in Greater Manchester. There are certain sectors like construction, digital of certain manufacturing industries where people are crying out for people with the right skills. We also have people who are looking for work and enable people to come together to get a really good training to fill those job vacancies. Otherwise, if we don't, if we don't fill vacancies so that employers are going to really struggle and you know, they may end up leaving Greater Manchester if they can't get the right people for their business.
Andy: Now is the right time for Skills Bootcamps. Because of the way the economy is changing, many people may have trained in traditional skills, let's say in traditional mechanics or bricklaying, construction, whatever that might be. But of course, the world is going digital, the world is going green, and many people will need to take a step from where they are, a sidestep into into those new industries. And that's what we're trying to do here, to make sure there's a place for everybody in the new economy.
