New commission seeks to ease financial talent shortage in Yorkshire
A new commission has been set up to improve the supply of skills for the financial and professional services industry in Yorkshire and the Humber.
The Yorkshire and the Humber Financial and Professional Services Skills Commission, made up of senior leaders in financial and related professional services, education and local government, aims to create a shared understanding of the skills the industry needs in the region and to develop a plan to close the gap.
Over the next six months it will conduct evidence sessions with relevant experts, engage widely with business leaders and others, and conduct focus groups with the public to inform its work.
Financial and professional services employ around 150,000 people in Yorkshire and the Humber, and make up around 9% of its economy.
This includes centuries old building societies, cutting edge fintech firms and major offices for some of the UK’s biggest finance, legal and consulting firms.
Recent years have also seen government institutions focused on finance, such as the National Infrastructure Bank, the Centre for Finance, Innovation and Technology, and the northern hub of the Bank of England become established in the region.
The Commission has been convened by Yorkshire Building Society and will be chaired by John Heaps, the chair of Yorkshire Building Society. It is being delivered with the support of industry bodies TheCityUK, the City of London Corporation, and The Financial Services Skills Commission, with public policy specialists Public First leading the research.
It aims to publish a report setting out its findings in the autumn.
Commenting on the launch of the Commission, Mr Heaps said: “Financial and professional services play a critical role in the success of Yorkshire and the Humber – employing around 150,000 people in the region and making up around 9% of its economy – but the sector faces significant challenges in securing the skills and talent needed if it is to grow as strongly as predicted.
“The work of the Commission therefore is vital in determining the priorities we need to improve the skills of the region’s workforce for the future and I’m confident, with cross-industry collaboration, it will result in meaningful recommendations that will enable a talent pipeline for financial and professional services that will benefit the region’s economy.”
The commissioners are:
Liz Dean, director of Redmayne Bentley; Stefan Haase, director of Whitecap Consulting Limited; Olivia Larkin, head of skills policy at the City of London Corporation; Claire Tunley, chief executive of the Financial Services Skills Commission; Rachel Elwell, chief executive Officer of Border to Coast Pensions Partnership, Ben Still, chief executive of West Yorkshire Combined Authority; Armoghan Mohammed, regional chair for the North at PWC; Adam Greenwood, assistant director of skills and employment at South Yorkshire Mayoral Combined Authority; Jennifer Hall, employment tax director at Deloitte; Paul Cotton, senior partner atEversheds Sutherland; John Walsh, TheCityUK chair in Yorkshire & The Humber; Peter O’Brien, executive director of Yorkshire Universities; and Bill Jones, chief executive and principal at Leeds City College.
