Bee Network Operators Support for Technical Education - Letter

Dear Mayor Burnham,

We are writing as a collective of Bee Network operators to express our wholehearted support for your mayoral initiative around elevating the status of technical education and apprenticeships. As key employers across the city region, we recognise the need to grow the technical workforce in Greater Manchester and the benefit of collaborating to achieve this. We believe your vision aligns perfectly with the needs of our industry and the broader economic landscape of Greater Manchester.

While at present we strive to inclusively promote technical opportunities for young people in each of our areas, we believe we can be stronger working as a collective. Your focus on these critical areas is welcome - we have long recognised the importance of skilled operational and technical staff in ensuring the smooth running of the Bee Network. We are excited about the potential of your proposed initiatives and, working closely with Transport for Greater Manchester, would like to offer our full support in the following ways:

Opportunities for young people - We pledge to work closely with local educational institutions to develop and support the expansion of T Levels and Apprenticeships, creating 160 opportunities for young people across GM in 2025. These will be across critical occupations like engineering, operations, project management, and back office planning and support.
Promoting Technical Careers - We commit to launching a coordinated approach which reaches young people to highlight the rewarding career opportunities across the transport sector, promoting all of the Bee Network partners.
Collaborative Skills Forecasting - We will work with your team to regularly assess and forecast skills needs in our sector, meeting quarterly to discuss our workforce challenges and opportunities, feeding this back to GMCA.
Diversity and Inclusion - We will work to ensure that our opportunities reach the areas of GM where they will make the most impact.

We believe that your leadership on the GM-wide mission combined with these actionable commitments from our industry, will significantly enhance the perception of technical education and apprenticeships.

We look forward to working closely with you and your team to bring this vision to life and create a brighter future for our city's workforce.

Sincerely,

The Bee Network Operators

Keolis Amey Metrolink - Emma Bingham, People Director