Taking place during National Oil and Gas week, the Norfolk Chamber held an Oil and Gas Debate: Great Yarmouth Business Breakfast sponsored by Ashton KCJ on 13 November at the Race Course.
John Morse, President of the Great Yarmouth Chamber Council & Commercial Director of Gardline hosted the breakfast and led a discussion on the skills gap in the oil and gas industry. ‘A fantastic, insightful, concise briefing which highlighted the skills gap and discussed potential ways to move forward.’ Ian McInally, Ormiston Venture Academy said.
John Morse discussed the need for local businesses to create worthwhile work experience opportunities for students. He provided tips to help local businesses ensure they are offering valuable work experience placements and provided insight in engaging women in the industry.
Petans, Opito and EEEGR joined the debate, contributing with perspective and knowledge to the issues facing skills in the oil and gas industy. Simon Gray, EEEGR discussed how there was a lack of engineers in the nation and how students interested in pursuing a career as an engineer were encouraged to take GCSE Maths and Science. Eric Burgess, Canham Consulting attended and said: ‘This was a useful event in terms of networking and making new contacts. It was good to see young people promoted in the discussions.’
Over 75 local businesses were represented, including a mixture of businesses who are and who are not directly involved in the oil and gas industry. Delegates found the breakfast to be a helpful update and great opportunity to network with a variety of the local businesses.
