David Allen, Chief Executive Officer, Cumbria CVS

Cumbria CVS recognises the enormous progress achieved by the university in recent years and the important contribution it makes to local skills, prosperity, health, and innovation.

In terms of join working and development, we have supported several local initiatives in which the university has had considerable interest:

• Increased local investment via the Borderlands Growth Initiative and Towns Deal Boards – particularly in Carlisle as and Barrow – supporting the growth of the university but also contributing to the local economy through jobs and skills development.
• Improved health and wellbeing of the population across Cumbria through both the establishment of the Institute of Health and the innovation coming from the Centre for Research in Health and Society.
• The focus given - and contribution made - to improved environmental sustainability and carbon-reduction more generally.
• The retention of a Cumbria workforce who can gain the skills they need for the job opportunities available – who might otherwise continue to leave the county.
• The impact that improved training and skills opportunities can have on challenging inter-generational worklessness, including the high levels of poverty and deprivation that exist across Cumbria (some of the highest in the country).
• The involvement of the university in the challenging and changing landscape that has arisen both from the pandemic and cost of living crisis but also from the re-organisation of local government and health systems in Cumbria.

Cumbria CVS have also benefitted from specific skills initiatives – several of our team recently attended the “Project Skills Bootcamp” training initiative through the university and LEP collaboration, which is already proving valuable to our organisation.