The document discusses the Cyfoeth Apprenticeship Scheme run by Natural Resources Wales. The scheme aims to (1) provide career opportunities and industry experience in ICT to recent graduates, (2) equip apprentices with industry qualifications over a two-year period working four days a week with mentors and one day a week in study, and (3) provide a qualified and cost-effective ICT skills base for the organization. The benefits outlined include experience, qualifications, and salaries for apprentices and a reduced cost base and permanent skilled staff for the organization. The wider benefits discussed are the creation of skilled jobs in Wales and demonstrating community leadership.

1. The Cyfoeth Apprenticeship
The Natural Resources Wales
Apprenticeship scheme
Changing the ICT
Landscape of Wales
Martin Britton
Cyfoeth Apprenticeship Scheme

2. Background
• The ICT Landscape is changing
• organizations are moving away from traditional server
based applications
• Services are now being bought instead, often based
in “the cloud”
• Internal IT footprint is reducing – making it difficult to
justify using large IT system integrators
• Budgets are being reduced, and efficiency savings
need to be achieved
• Skilled people are needed to manage our residual IT
infrastructure – desktops, mobile devices and our
remaining servers
• Good quality ICT support should be available to our
users – we should not have to pay a premium for this
Cyfoeth Apprenticeship Scheme

3. Overview
The Cyfoeth Apprenticeship Scheme aims to
•Provide opportunities for an ICT career to leavers of
further education
•Provide young people with 2 years experience of the
ICT industry within the workplace
•Equip the apprentices with an industry qualification at
the end of the two year period
•Specify a number of ICT disciplines which we can tailor
our apprenticeships with
•Provide our organization with a qualified, cost effective
skills base
•Further the use of Welsh Language, specifically in the
ICT sector
•Show our “Community Leadership” by helping to build a
skills base in Wales

4. Benefits to the individual
An individual joining the Cyfoeth Scheme will benefit
from:
•Mentorship from our existing IT professionals in the
Information Systems Group in Bangor
•2 Years of IT experience
•An industry recognized qualification
•2 years of Minimum Working Wage salary
Degree Graduate Cyfoeth Graduate
Industry Experience 0-6 months 2 years
Industry Qualification None MCSE/Prince2/ITIL/CCNE
IT Specialism None Apprenticeships will be in a
specific discipline
Debt incurred from Education £19,000-£53000 0
Wages earned during education <10k avg 24,000
* Source – Push University Guide 2012

5. Benefits to our organization
•A new generation of IT staff, with the skillsets we require
•The opportunity to employ these staff permanently to
build our ICT resource base
•Building this capability will reduce our requirement for
expensive contractors, especially for non-specialist skills
•Reduced cost base
•Career progression for our existing staff
•Our technology partners co-fund course material and
examinations
•Welsh Government have adapted their apprenticeship
framework to incorporate these qualifications

6. Wider Benefits
• Creation of skilled individuals
• Creation of opportunities in areas of Wales with
limited opportunities, particularly for skilled jobs with
good prospects
• Demonstration of “Community Leadership” by NRW
Wider Aspirations
• Take-up or imitation of the Cyfoeth Scheme by other
public bodies – a number of local Authorities and WG
are getting involved
• If each body took on 2-4 people on average this could
be up to 100 jobs per year
• Take up of the Cyfoeth scheme by private sector
bodies
• Establish Wales as a country with a growing, skilled
ICT workforce, to attract inward investment
• Take-up by other business areas of NRW and other
organizations

7. How?
• We established our own scheme
– We identified the skills gaps in our ICT Team in
Bangor
– We Structured our scheme based on two years of
apprenticeship
– Four days a week of mentoring and working alone
and as part of a team
– One day a week of study with a learning provider
– 2 years concluding with a suitable qualification
• We advertised our scheme
– Through local colleges
– Through the press
– Through our website
• We promoted the scheme within our public body
communities and private sector partners
– CIO Council
– SOCITM
– Digidol 2013+2014

8. The Result
•9 Apprentices
•Recruiting for a further 5 at the moment
•Declan

9. Questions?

10. Questions?