Northern Ireland Apprenticeship Week- Call for Company Events
Manufacturing NI sits on the regional planning committee for Apprenticeship Week which will be held on 6th-10th February 2023. We would like to encourage manufacturers to hosts events or activities to coincide with this week. Some examples include;
* Social media activity highlighting the role of apprenticeships in the organisation w/ role models
* Student competitions
* Job sampling / apprenticeship talks / job fairs
* School site visits / open days
* Meet the parents Q&A

Click here for the 2023 proforma (https://www.manufacturingni.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/Blank-Proforma-NIAW-2023-inc.-feedback.docx?mc_cid=7b80d524b5&mc_eid=UNIQID) . Detailed within this form you will see that it will need you to return it to The Department of Economy by COB on Friday 2nd December 2022 at the latest. Your public facing event details will then be listed on NIDirect in preparation for the Department’s Press Release which will launch the NIAW.

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Search begins for new board members for the Labour Relations Agency
The Department for the Economy (DfE) has launched a public appointment competition to recruit four new board members to the board of the Labour Relations Agency (LRA).

The LRA is a non-departmental public body with responsibility for promoting the improvement of employment relations in Northern Ireland. The LRA contributes to organisational effectiveness by providing impartial and independent services for promoting good employment practices and preventing and resolving disputes.

The Department wishes to appeal to people of all ages from a wide range of backgrounds and experience across the community, voluntary, business or public sector, who can bring a wide range of skills and experience to the role. DfE would particularly welcome applications from females, people with a disability, those from minority ethnic communities and young people, as they are currently under-represented on the board. The Department is operating a Guaranteed Interview Scheme in this competition for applicants with a disability.

This competition will be of particular interest to people who wish to develop their skills as part of a board and are willing to learn. Previous experience of serving on a board is not necessary as new appointees will undergo an induction programme, as well as being offered peer support.

The rate of remuneration for the LRA board members is £5,643 per annum, for which they will be required to attend the monthly board meeting and undertake other occasional duties on behalf of the LRA. The board members can claim reasonable travel and subsistence costs while undertaking board duties.For further information or to receive an application pack visit: https://www.economy-ni.gov.uk/lra-members?mc_cid=7b80d524b5&mc_eid=UNIQID

This is an open competition which involves a simple application form and interview. The closing date for receipt of applications is 12 noon (GMT) on 24 November 2022

https://www.manufacturingni.org/invest-ni-launch-ambition-to-grow-programme/?mc_cid=7b80d524b5&mc_eid=UNIQID

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Ambition to Grow
Ambition to Grow is Invest NI's exciting new regionally focused competition aimed at innovative, ambitious businesses is now open for applications.

40 spaces are available and successful applicants will be eligible to apply for funding up to a maximum of £45,000, broken down as follows:
* £5,000 per new job (a minimum of three) created over and above existing employment levels within the business (to a maximum of £30,000).
* £10,000 towards business development activities, where the amount of support provided shall be no more than 50% of the cost eligible activities listed in the application.
* £5,000 on the completion of an export health check and development of an export plan, to the satisfaction of Invest NI.

This initiative has been designed with businesses which are not currently Invest NI client managed customers in mind, and it is anticipated to be extremely beneficial to businesses throughout Northern Ireland.

For more information on the competition please visit the Ambition to Grow webpage (https://www.investni.com/support-for-business/ambition-to-grow?mc_cid=7b80d524b5&mc_eid=UNIQID) .

Closing date for applications is 12 noon on Friday 25 November 2022.

https://www.economy-ni.gov.uk/apprenticeawards2023?mc_cid=256636b6f3&mc_eid=UNIQID&mc_cid=7b80d524b5&mc_eid=UNIQID

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NI Apprenticeship Awards 2023 Launched
Nominations are now being sought for the prestigious NIAA2023.
The NIAA2023 will recognise and showcase excellence and best practice in the participation and delivery of Apprenticeships. Finalists will be selected and invited to a special awards ceremony on Wednesday 29th March 2023.
These awards honour:
* Valued Apprentices who are making a significant contribution to their workplace and have shown a dedication to excel in their professional development and learning;
* Influential partnerships between Employers and Training Providers that support the continuous growth of skills development in Northern Ireland; and,
* For the first year, Mentors who provide an outstanding contribution to the Apprenticeship programmes.

Applications are now open for five award categories:
* Apprentice Award (Levels 2-3);
* Higher Level Apprentice Award (Level 4+);
* Large Employer in partnership with a Training Provider Award (employers with more than 250 employees);
* Small to Medium-sized Enterprise in partnership with a Training Provider Award (employers with less than 250 employees); and,
* Outstanding Mentor Award.

All nominees for the Apprentice and Higher Level Apprentice Awards must have been on the ApprenticeshipsNI or Higher Level Apprenticeship Programme in 2022.
Completed nomination forms must be returned before 12:00 noon on Friday 18th November 2022 to: niaa.2023@economy-ni.gov.uk (mailto:niaa.2023@economy-ni.gov.uk)
Full details on application criteria for each of the awards, and how to apply, are available on the Department’s website at:
https://www.economy-ni.gov.uk/apprenticeshipawards2023?mc_cid=7b80d524b5&mc_eid=UNIQID

(https://www.economy-ni.gov.uk/apprenticeshipawards2023?mc_cid=256636b6f3&mc_eid=UNIQID&mc_cid=7b80d524b5&mc_eid=UNIQID)

https://www.tickettailor.com/events/londonderrychamberofcommerce/786714/?mc_cid=7b80d524b5&mc_eid=UNIQID

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2022 North West Annual Future of Energy Conference
Thursday 17th November
Everglades Hotel, Derry

This full day conference is jointly hosted by the Chambers of Commerce in Londonderry and Letterkenny, kindly supported by the North West Regional Development Group, and will focus on the opportunities for investment, growth, innovation and job creation and also address the challenges to businesses of rising energy costs.

This event aims to
* Encourage cross border collaboration in the energy sector to the benefit of the whole North West city region
* Provide a platform for knowledge transfer and sharing to support economic growth of the North West region
* Support business growth and innovation in the energy sector
* Support NW businesses to meet sustainability goals in the move to net zero

BUY TICKETS HERE
(https://www.tickettailor.com/events/londonderrychamberofcommerce/786714/?mc_cid=7b80d524b5&mc_eid=UNIQID)Direct

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Endangered natterjack toads in bumper spawn       printable version

27 Jun 2014: posted by the editor - Ireland

Although categorised as 'endangered' in the recent All-Ireland Red List and their conservation status assessed as 'unfavourable' in Ireland's recent national report to the European Commission, things may finally be looking up for the natterjack toad after a bumper year in County Kerry. Over the last week, staff of the National Parks & Wildlife Service of the Department of Arts, Heritage & the Gaeltacht have recorded a huge abundance of young toadlets emerging from breeding sites in the Iveragh and Dingle peninsulas, giving hope for a change in fortune for the protected species.  When the toads were first noticed in Kerry in 1805, it quickly became clear that they were widely distributed around Castlemaine Harbour from Inch in the north to Rosbeigh in the south. Much later they were also discovered to be breeding at Castlegregory on the north side of the Dingle peninsula. But the first half of the 20th century saw a significant programme of land drainage and reclamation around Castlemaine harbour. Many coastal wetlands, where the toad bred, were lost. By the 1980s, toads were restricted to the Castlegregory area and about 10 isolated locations around Castlemaine. This year saw a very wet May in Kerry, which provided plenty of water for the toads to breed in. This was followed by a warm start to June which warmed up the ponds and allowed the toad tadpoles to develop and emerge quickly before the ponds dried up. "Toads are naturally a boom or bust species" explained Dr Ferdia Marnell of the Department's Scientific Unit. "They only need a good year every four or five years to keep a breeding population going. In good years, when everything goes right, thousands of young toads can emerge onto land. 2014 has been the best year I ever remember, and I've been studying them for nearly 20 years." Once out of the ponds these young toads will spend two to three years on land feeding on small insects, snails and spiders until they are ready to breed themselves . During this period on land the young animals also disperse. This dispersal provides for genetic exchange with adjacent ponds and allows new ponds to be colonised. The problem for the toad has been that there were no new ponds to disperse into and so populations became isolated and prone to extinction. In 2008 NPWS initiated a scheme to pay farmers to dig and manage ponds for toads. To date 96 new ponds have been dug within the natterjack toad's range in Kerry. The initial signs are encouraging with 20 of these ponds already colonised naturally by toads and many of them producing good numbers of toadlets this year. The Minister for Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht, Jimmy Deenihan, T.D., welcomed the news, saying: "We are legally obliged to bring the natterjack into favourable conservation status, so I am delighted to hear that the toads are doing so well this year. The local farmers have played an important role in providing and managing habitat for this rare animal and it is rewarding to see that effort paying dividends." The natterjack toad is one of only three amphibians found in Ireland - the other two are the common frog and the smooth newt.  Adult toads may grow to 80mm and although colour varies from pale green to black above there is always a yellow stripe down the middle of the back. Natterjacks are nocturnal and during the day they hide under logs and stones. Over winter, natterjacks hibernate in burrows that they dig themselves in sandy soils, or in piles of rocks or dry-stone walls.  It is normally mid-April before the natterjacks become active and the distinctive croaking of the male is heard at the breeding ponds.   Unlike frogs, toad spawn is laid as a long string of eggs. It can be 1.5m long and it may contain 2-3,000 eggs.  The egg-string is wound around the aquatic vegetation in the shallows of the breeding pond.  The black embryos look like beads in a necklace. In warm weather, natterjack spawn hatches within a week and the tadpoles develop and metamorphose within two months. In good years, huge numbers of juveniles may emerge successfully. However, in dry years, water levels can drop rapidly resulting in mass mortality of the tadpoles. Natterjack's eggs and tadpoles contain a noxious chemical that largely protects them from predation, but dragonfly and beetle larvae will eat them. Foxes, otters and herons occasionally eat adults, but if they escape predation, natterjacks can live to six or seven years in the wild. The natural range of the natterjack toad in Ireland is confined to a small number of coastal sites on the Dingle and Iveragh peninsulas in Co. Kerry.  But it was once more widespread in Kerry.  There is evidence that by 1970, the range of the natterjack toad in Ireland has decreased by about half. The most significant loss in range occurred around Castlemaine Harbour.  It seems clear from historic records that the species has previously been found right around this coastal strip.  Since 2008, 48 farmers have joined a scheme to help restore the toad to its former range, with each farmer digging and managing two ponds. 96 new ponds have been dug for natterjacks within their former range. 20 of these have already been colonised naturally by toads. The farmers are paid €1,000 each year to manage the ponds and the surrounding land for natterjacks. Tags: natterjack toad

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