Sophie Prescott, UKHO Digital Marketing Communications Executive, has won in the ‘Career Development’ category at the Somerset Apprenticeship Awards, held at Haynes Motor Museum earlier this month.

The organisation was also shortlisted as a finalist in the ‘Large Employer of the Year’ category, and UKHO HR apprentice, Melanie Crysell, was nominated for ‘Higher Apprentice of the Year’.

Chief Executive Rear Admiral Tim Lowe was delighted at the news, commenting:

It is great to see the hard work done by our apprentices and the wider team at the UKHO being recognised within the county. A huge congratulations to Sophie – I felt very proud reading and seeing her achievements being recognised in a very public forum.

Since joining the UKHO on an internship in 2016, Sophie has secured two promotions – most recently to the role of Digital Marketing Communications Executive. She is studying for a Digital Marketer apprenticeship and is one of over 50 apprentices across the organisation. The UKHO has offered an apprenticeship programme since 2016, offering the opportunity to study towards an industry-recognised qualification at advanced and higher levels across 15 different disciplines.

Following this success, Sophie was also invited to a celebration lunch in the presence of Her Majesty The Queen, as part of her visit to Somerset on 28 March. She was invited alongside 100 other guests from across the county to King’s Bruton School, where the Queen opened the school’s music centre and named a new Avon and Somerset Police horse during her visit.

The English tourism sector touches everyone – visitors, residents, businesses and employees. It’s one of the few sectors active in every part of the country. It’s the third largest employer, every day supporting 2.6 million jobs and is a major employer of school leavers and young people and an incubator for entrepreneurs.

The visitor economy is worth £106 billion a year to England supporting thousands of businesses and impacting on the performance of supplier industries such as restaurants, pubs, farming, transport, retailing, sport, museums and galleries, the theatre and other performing arts.

Primary Authority enables businesses to form a legal partnership with one local authority, which then provides assured and tailored advice on complying with environmental health, trading standards and fire safety regulations that other local regulators must respect.

Partnerships can be formed with one business or with groups of businesses, such as trade associations, enabling the scheme to support sectors of importance to a particular region, such as tourism. There are several examples of Primary Authority partnerships across the tourism sector in England, including: National Trust, British Hospitality Association, Marriot Hotels, The English Heritage Trust, Fox Narrowboats Ltd and The Caravan Club Limited.

Another example is Cornwall Council, which developed a Primary Authority partnership with Quality in Tourism and adopted their Safe, Clean and Legal framework to protect its tourists. This will give the opportunity to help self-regulate the county’s portfolio of short-term letting accommodation, in order to protect consumer safety.

Last year, the All-Party Parliamentary Group for Tourism, Leisure and the Hospitality Industry published a report on the sharing economy that highlighted significant concern among authorities regarding short-term letting accommodation.

Chief executive of the Office for Product Safety and Standards, Graham Russell, said: “In this case, Primary Authority offers a solution to a problem faced by councils, short-term letting associations, Destination Management Organisations and sharing platforms across the UK.

“It is a valuable tool for addressing local economic needs. Properly used it can help businesses comply with regulation and so underpin quality and safety throughout an industry such as tourism. Having a level playing field provides a boost for business confidence and encourages growth.”

Primary Authority has a significant role in the Better Business for All (BBfA) programme which supports the simplification of the way regulation is delivered in local areas. Local BBfA partnerships bring together businesses and regulators to identify the issues facing local businesses and shape the provision of effective support services to them. Growth Hubs are including Primary Authority in their business support offer, in line with the government Industrial Strategy’s aim of ensuring the scheme is available to every business.

More information about Primary Authority can be found on GOV.UK and there’s more about English Tourism Week at VisitBritain.org.

Follow #EnglishTourismWeek19 on Twitter.

Digital Secretary Jeremy Wright has appointed Sherry Coutu as a Non-Executive Board Member to DCMS for a term of three years.

The appointment was made, with the agreement of the Prime Minister.

Sherry Coutu has a deep understanding of the digital sector having been a serial entrepreneur, investor and non exec director of companies, charities and universities for 25 years. She chairs Founders4Schools, Workfinder, The Scaleup Institute and Raspberry Pi Trading Ltd.

Sherry also serves as a non-executive member of The Royal Society, (Science, Industry & Committee), Cambridge University (Finance Board) and the London Stock Exchange plc. She has invested in more than 60 companies as an angel investor, including Linkedin, Zoopla, Lovefilm, New Energy Finance, as well as five venture capital firms.

Digital Secretary Jeremy Wright said:

I’m delighted to welcome Sherry as a Non-Executive Board Member to the DCMS Departmental Board. Sherry brings a wealth of experience that will be incredibly valuable to DCMS, particularly in our ambition to bring the worlds of digital innovation and creativity together to help drive our future economy.

Sherry Coutu said:

I am thrilled to have been asked to contribute to the work of DCMS. The digital and creative industries are significant growth enablers for the competitive advantage of the UK at this important time in our history.

I hope to bring the experience gained from my work in academia, the tech industry and the third sector to encourage our young people to develop the skills and experiences that allow them to take on the jobs of the future, and support the work being done by the DCMS in this area.

As a philanthropist, she supports the Prince’s Trust, the Crick Institute and Founders4Schools.

Sherry has an MBA from Harvard, an MSc (with distinction) from the London School of Economics and a BA (Hons with distinction) from the University of British Columbia, Canada.

She was appointed Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) for services to entrepreneurship in the 2013 New Year’s Honours List and she has been awarded honorary PhDs from The University of Bristol, Manchester University and the Open University for her work in education and economy.

Phil Beach CBE spoke at FE Week’s Annual Apprenticeships Conference about external quality assurance for end point assessments