Bob Seely MP said: “The focus for the second Islands Forum meeting, based here on the Isle of Wight, was on sharing best practice around skills and opportunities as well as highlighting the challenges that UK islands face.
“I was keen to highlight to the Secretary of State and his team, through the Islands Forum, some areas where the government can support.
Why is it taking place?
“Because the leader of Orkney Council, James Stockan, and I believed that the UK Islands needed to have a common forum to come together to find common ground and shared experiences, and to share them also with government of the good of the Isle of Wight and all UK islands.
What did you discuss?
"To ensure that we are focused on improving understanding in Government of the Isle of Wight and the UK Governments, each Forum has a shared theme. The theme of the Island’s Forum was skills and jobs.
"It is vital to our future on the Island that we keep and attract high-quality jobs. Islands are remarkable places for many reasons, but a surprising number are engaged in cutting edge. These include wave turbine power in western Scotland, hydrogen development in Orkney and a spaceport in Shetland.
"On the Island, we have advanced marine and aerospace construction, as well as radar and offshore wind blade construction. Our island visitors visited CECAMM yesterday, which is a centre for excellence in supporting young people with the training needed to fill those high-quality jobs in advanced manufacturing. They were very impressed by the great work that CECAMM does.
What issues did I raise?
"The specific issues I raised were:
"First, the importance of supporting teachers on islands, and the Isle of Wight, to be given greater support in their continuous professional development so that they can offer the best teaching to young people from the Isle of Wight and islands.
"Second, the need for centres of teaching excellence to be, where possible, on islands.
"Third, for Island children to have greater access to higher education on the Isle of Wight, and in time to be able to do three-year degrees in more subjects on the Isle of Wight, possibly from a mini-campus based on Newport Habour.
"We talked about transport but agreed that, due to the importance of the issue, it needed to be discussed at the next forum and to be done so in depth.
Summing up
"We agreed that we needed a proactive approach to nurture jobs, opportunities and wealth creation to give islanders better opportunities. Secretary of State, Michael Gove, and other minsters are committed to working with us to take a more flexible attitude to how they support islands, on education, on skills, on the opportunities agenda.
"The next Islands Forum will take place later this year in Scotland and we will discuss transport, including ferries."
