Employment & Skills Committee
The Employment and Skills Committee exists to ensure that Greater Manchester businesses have their say on this important issue. The Committee not only discusses and analyses key concerns, but also gives members the chance to take action, in the event that new laws have a detrimental effect on industry.
Meet the Committee
Samantha Dunbar, Policy Manager - Employment, Skills and Workplace Legislation, Greater Manchester Chamber of Commerce
Samantha graduated in English Language and Literature from the University of Manchester in 1999. After a spell at New College, University of Oxford, she returned to Manchester University, qualifying as a secondary school teacher in 2001.
Following a successful career as a classroom practitioner and Key Stage 3 Manager, she joined the international NGO Save the Children as Educational Development Officer for the North West. Whilst in post, she worked on various research projects, policy issues and campaigns aimed at bringing about improvements in educational standards regionally and nationally.
Prior to joining the Chamber, Samantha was Education Programme Manager at Manchester United, working as part of the senior management team at the club's charitable Foundation.
Having worked in the public, third and private sectors on a range of policy issues and projects, Samantha is well placed to represent the views of business to key decision-makers in local and national Government.
Joanne Lynch, Chair; HR Manager, Thomas Storey Fabrications
Ceri Hughes - Associate (Employment) Addleshaw Goddard
Ceri trained with Eversheds and qualified as a solicitor in September 2002. She joined Addleshaw Goddard in June 2006. Ceri advises public and private sector clients on a variety of contentious and non-contentious employment matters, including, for example, unfair dismissal, disciplinary and grievance procedures, redundancy, family friendly rights, discrimination, absence issues, performance management, compromise agreements, contract and policy reviews and drafting. Ceri also advises in relation to strategic matters, in particular, TUPE related issues including those arising in connection with corporate acquisitions and outsourcing arrangements. Ceri is experienced in advising on the employment aspects of public sector projects (including NHS PFIs, street lighting projects, social housing schemes, and building schools for the future projects). Ceri is also a member of the Employment Lawyers' Association.
David Walton, Partner (Employment), Gorvins
David Fox, Managing Director, Tampopo
David Fox is a Chartered Accountant having worked with PriceWaterhouseCoopers for eight years. Initially in audit and tax David also created and ran training programmes as well as graduate recruitment.
For his last three years at PWC, David worked in Corporate Finance and was involved in a the disposal of a number of businesses and advised on a number of management buy-outs.
Since setting up Tampopo restaurants (www.tampopo.co.uk) with a friend in 1997, David has traveled extensively around SE Asia. David has attended cooking courses in Indonesia (Bali), Thailand (Chiang Mai and Bangkok) and Vietnam (Hanoi).
Carole Fossey, Managing Director, beResources
Carole Fossey is MD of beResources - a specialist recruitment, HR and training company and award winning ecommerce site, www.JustaboutBags.com.
She has been involved with the Chamber since 2002 and on the board since 2005. Since her move from advertising into recruitment in the early 90's, she has passionately pursued the skills for employment agenda.
Carole believes only those countries that commit to skilling their future workforce - and strive to get it right - will secure their own future. She believes it is employers, not Government departments, who are best placed to advise what skills are required in the workplace. That is why the Chamber is, and should be, so heavily involved in the skills agenda in Greater Manchester.
Dave Harrison, Regional Director, Fairplace
Dave is a Regional Director for Fairplace, which is a Talent and Career Management organisation. This includes helping organizations implement a strategy in identifying, attracting and retaining talent within their organization.
Dave manages a team of consultants for delivery of various projects and has managed a large number of redundancy programmes for organizations by providing Outplacement and Career Transition services. In addition he has also facilitated leadership, career management and coaching interventions within organisations.
Dave brings together his management studies from completing a BA Honours Degree at Manchester to the practical application in understanding both organisational change and enhancing individual and organisational performance. He is currently studying for an MBA at Henley Business School. Dave is also a qualified Coach.
Deborah Hely, Partner (Employment), Beachcrofts LLP
Deborah qualified as a barrister in 1988 and trained as a solicitor in London. She advises on a wide range of employment law issues including TUPE, large scale redundancies, disability discrimination claims, unfair dismissal, High Court injunctions, Restrictive Covenants, Data Protection and Race and Sex discrimination. She has represented clients at mediations and is an experienced advocate before employment tribunals.
Deborah has given seminars and lectures for Greater Manchester Chamber of Commerce and Industry. She also regularly runs practical training sessions on employment law issues.
She was a part time lecturer at Manchester Metropolitan University in employment law and has taught advocacy to trainee solicitors on behalf of Manchester Law Society. She has also appeared on TV programmes for Granada and the BBC where she advised on employment and contract matters.
Roger Langford, Regional Skills Manager North West, The National Skills Academy Process Industries
Roger has over 10 years Technical and 15 years Operations Management experience in S.M.E. and blue chip companies in the Manufacturing sector. In that time he was instrumental in implementing World Class Manufacturing, ISO9000, as well as company-wide NVQ programs and developing self-managed teams. He also has experience of MRPII, B.P.R. Just-in-Time and Lean Manufacturing. This was followed by 11 years experience in organisational development within the government's national business support infrastructure.
He is an accredited Adviser and Assessor for the Investor in People standard, an Advisor for the Management & Leadership and Work-Life Balance stretch modules. He is an N.L.P. Practitioner, is listed as a Technology Means Business Adviser and is accredited to deliver Business Excellence Through Action Adviser training (BETA Plus, Business Excellence). He also assesses organisations against the Investor in Excellence model. Roger has developed and delivered Business Improvement workshops and is experienced in Strategic Organisation and Leadership development. More recently he has been accredited as a member of the TMSDI network and is also accredited to deliver a number of their integrated suite of diagnostic tools to facilitate individual, team and organisational development.
He has worked with many organisations in both the public sector (schools, Health Authorities, Child Care nurseries, medical practices) and the private sector (including most aspects of manufacturing, service, warehouse, retail and distribution, I.T. construction and not-for-profit/charity) on organisational development and performance improvement with some notable success.
Roger currently holds a Diploma in Systems Thinking & Practice, is in the sixth year of a BSC (Hons.) in Business Studies and was recently accredited to Level 7 in Executive Coaching and Mentoring with the Institute of Leadership and Management.
Mark Leach, Partner (Employment), Weightmans
Mark joined Weightmans in January 2008 and heads up the employment team in Manchester.
Before joining Weightmans, Mark was with DLA Piper for 12 years, seven of which as a Partner. Mark has specialised in employment law since qualifying in 1990 and is recommended as an employment law specialist in the latest editions of Chambers and Legal 500 where he is recognised as a "reliable and practical " adviser.
Recent instructions have included - acting for local authorities in ongoing equal pay litigation; advising large telecoms company in relation to restructuring; advising a university on a range of issues with academic and non academic staff; acting for a number of FE colleges including in relation to redundancy/restructuring exercises; advising both local authorities and external provider organisations on staff issues arising on outsourcing of local government services; advising publicly quoted companies on the terms and method of termination of executive and non executive directors; advising NHS trust on issues arising from the transfer of services and staff between the client and another NHS trust and advising a range of organisations in the public, private and voluntary sectors on compliance with the Employment Equality (Age) Regulations 2006.
Elaine Walsh, Chief Executive, ProCo North West
Elaine Walsh is CEO of ProCo NW Ltd. which is a work-based learning provider based in Wigan. She has extensive experience in the field of education - starting her professional career as a teacher and then moving to the Education Advisory Service. A leap into the world of TECs and post 16 Education lead to her current role. She has been involved with the Chamber of Commerce for many years working to improve the relations between employers and educators at all levels.
Elaine feels that the benefits of economic growth have not been fairly distributed across society and that the lack of skills is the main factor in both social and economic disadvantage. The gap between the employment rates of the unqualified and those with qualifications has widened and highlights the importance of addressing the skills needs of adults and young people. Succeeding in this is the key to helping all adults to become active and productive members of society. In this philosophy, ProCo NW Ltd. has become recognised as a major player, working with adults, young people and businesses helping them to be the best they can be.
Dave Addy, Centre Manager, Pitman Training
Dave Addy has had a long and successful career in the public sector prior to starting up Pitman Training Manchester 2 years ago. He was the Executive Director of Operations at the NHS Pensions Agency and Acting Chief Executive prior to it's merger into the NHS Business Services Authority. He also spent seven years as the Regional Director for the Legal Services Commission in the North West.
He brings a wealth of real world management experience into the training environment aligned to a strong academic background. A qualified trainer, Dave has an MA in Human Resource Management, is a long serving member of the Chartered Institute of Management and has trained as a management mentor and coach.
Now as the director of a small but successful and growing training business Dave is keenly focussed on identifying and developing the skills in his students that employers want. He has particular interest in government policy on skills development and ensuring a multi-dimensional approach to ensure the needs of industry and commerce are addressed.
Drew Thomas, Deputy Chief Executive, Manchester Solutions
Drew Thomas is Deputy Chief Executive of Manchester Solutions, a not-for-profit group of companies delivering a range of education, skills, employment and business services in Greater Manchester and the North West. In partnership with the Greater Manchester Chamber of Commerce, the Group employees over 1,000 staff and has a turnover of £65m.
Martyn Faulkner, Director and Principal Consultant, Project IHR Limited
Martyn is an expert in large payrolls and commensurate staff, both in a bureau and single company environment. Central to his work is the review and implementation of fully integrated payroll and HR systems.
Previous clients include Time Warner Ltd and the Government Actuary's Department, amongst many others.
Martyn is a founder committee member of the HM Revenue and Customs' Electronic Exchange Network (IREEN) and a member of the HMRC's Taxpayer Data Standards Forum and MPPC Policy Group. He also is a Fellow of the Institute of Payroll Professionals (IPP).