Swindon leisure operator chosen as work experience employer of the year
A leisure operator has been named Work Experience Employer of the Year.
The award, given to GLL by Bath College, was in recognition of the organisation's support for students through work placements and lifelong learning.
GLL, which operates under the Better brand and runs leisure centres in Swindon, offers placements to around 20 students each year.
Read more: Rats, maggots and cockroaches found at kebab takeaway
Mark Harrison, community sport manager at GLL, said: "It's an opportunity for students to learn and develop key employability skills such as customer service, punctuality and teamwork.
"We also contribute to the content of Bath College's sport courses – ensuring that it remains relevant to our industry and provides students with the skills and knowledge needed to forge a successful career."
The company also supports students through mock interviews and careers events.
Nicki Martin, head of marketing and business development at Bath College, said: "This award recognises the outstanding contribution GLL has made to Bath College and our learners over the past year.
"Their continued partnership, support, and commitment to skills development have made a lasting impact and we are proud to recognise that."
The award will be presented at the college's Celebrating Success Awards ceremony on Tuesday, July 8.

Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
20 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Farage says non-dom policy ‘very attractive' despite tax expert cost warning
Nigel Farage has insisted Reform UK's proposed change to non-dom tax rules was 'very attractive' despite an expert warning the policy could cost the UK £34 billion. The party leader said he was 'not clever enough' to answer questions about the suggested hit to Britain's economy but dismissed criticism as 'off-the-wall nonsense' as he held a press conference on Monday. Mr Farage also batted away suggestions that his plan for a so-called Britannia Card was a 'profoundly left-wing concept' as he was asked whether the announcement was a bid to win votes from low-income workers. Reform has said it would reinstate non-dom status for wealthy individuals in exchange for a £250,000 one-off fee which would be given to Britain's poorest workers. Under the 'Britannia Card', non-doms would be offered a 10-year renewable residence permit and a return to the controversial arrangement whereby overseas income can be shielded from UK tax. They would also avoid inheritance tax, with the one-off payment then being distributed to Britain's bottom 10% of earners. Announcing the policy in central London on Monday, Mr Farage said: 'Many talented people are leaving, and we want as a party as many entrepreneurs, as many risk-takers, as many job creators, as many people paying lots of tax, as many people investing huge sums of money – we want as many of them as possible to be in our country.' Reform chairman Zia Yusuf added: 'The reality is that even the term non-dom has become, you know, these people have been made to feel persona non grata… there's a narrative that has been created that these people contribute nothing. 'So we have to set right that, too.' It comes as Dan Neidle, founder of Tax Policy Associates, claimed the policy would cost the UK £34 billion, warning that some highly skilled and highly paid professionals would not be able to afford the £250,000. The Office for Budget Responsibility has assessed that recent Labour and Conservative reforms to the non-dom status raise a net £33.9 billion from 2026/27 to 2029/30. Reform UK's Britannia card will bring thousands of wealthy job creators back to the UK and directly benefit working people. ✅ — Nigel Farage MP (@Nigel_Farage) June 23, 2025 This sum is generated from a small number of very wealthy people who Mr Neidle said would opt to buy a Britannia Card and pay no tax, meaning the revenue would be lost. Because the £250,000 one-off payment would be redistributed, none of the money raised would reduce the impact on the public finances, he said. The Labour Government abolished the non-dom tax status in April, which is where UK residents whose permanent home or domicile for tax purposes is outside Britain. Mr Farage was asked about the analysis on Monday and was also pressed on whether he had an overall costing for the policy. 'Oh dear, oh dear, oh dear. I'm not clever enough to answer any of that,' he said. 'That just sounds completely off-the-wall nonsense. I'm really sorry, but I think what we've got here is a very attractive offer. 'People are fleeing this country in droves. Our economy is in trouble. There are fears of wealth taxes coming in. All the mood music is bad.' Watch me speak LIVE as Reform UK announces the Britannia Card. 🇬🇧 — Nigel Farage MP (@Nigel_Farage) June 23, 2025 The party leader said he believed 'tens of thousands of people' would come to the UK 'on this ticket' if Reform is successful. 'Even if after lots have come, we're going to get a trickle, not a flood, provided they're still paying their average £120,000-a-year income tax, provided they're still investing the billions that they do in business, in job creation, in risk – I tell you what, we'll be in a much better place than we are right now,' he said. Asked if he was attempting to give low-income workers free money to win over their votes, the Reform UK leader told reporters: 'Nice try, but the idea that I'm somehow putting forward a profoundly left-wing concept today could not be further from the truth. 'We're saying we want people who make loads of money to come in to Britain in huge numbers and pay lots and lots of tax and buy lots of houses and spend lots of money.' Rachel Reeves said Reform's announcement amounted to 'a tax cut for foreign billionaires'. Speaking during a visit to the West Midlands, the Chancellor said: 'That would mean either taxes on ordinary working people would have to go up to compensate for those lack of revenues, or Reform would have to cut public services, including the NHS. 'So, this is a tax cut by Nigel Farage and the Reform Party for foreign-born billionaires. Labour's priority is easing the pressure on ordinary working families and investing in our public services, including the NHS.'
Yahoo
23 minutes ago
- Yahoo
‘Sluggish' UK business activity picks up as tariff threat eases
Activity across the UK's private sector has grown this month as some easing of US tariff policy helped lift business sentiment, new survey data shows. The strengthening service industry helped offset a persistent slump in manufacturing in June. The S&P Global flash UK composite purchasing managers' index (PMI) reported a reading of 50.7 in June, up from 50.3 in May. The flash figures are based on preliminary data. Any score above 50.0 indicates that activity is growing while any score below means it is contracting. The volume of new business returned to growth in June, ending a six-month period of contraction, the survey found. This was primarily driven by the service sector – the largest part of the UK's economy, spanning industries including hospitality, entertainment and culture, finance and real estate. A further slight expansion of activity in the sector was contrasted by another drop in production for manufacturers, led by a decline in overseas export orders. Concerns over the impact of Donald Trump's tariffs on US imports were partly behind the slump, despite some businesses saying confidence had improved as a result of the President striking new trade deals with countries including the UK. Chris Williamson, chief business economist at S&P Global Market Intelligence, said the UK economy was in a 'sluggish state' in recent weeks. 'Although business conditions have continued to improve since April's downturn, quelling recession fears, growth of business activity remains disappointingly lacklustre, indicative of second quarter GDP (gross domestic product) rising at only a 0.1% quarterly pace,' he said. 'Business confidence also remains in the doldrums compared to this time last year, losing ground again in June. 'On top of concerns over the impact of recent government policies and worries over global trade protectionism, June's data collection coincided with increased tensions in the Middle East. 'Employment has hence continued to be cut as firms grapple with the combination of higher staffing costs, linked to last autumn's budget, lower demand and subdued confidence.' The survey showed that hiring continued to be squeezed throughout the month, with employment across the private sector decreasing for the ninth month in a row and at a faster pace than May. Businesses surveyed said they had been making cutbacks to their workforce through hiring freezes and redundancies. But Elliott Jordan-Doak, senior UK economist for Pantheon Macroeconomics, pointed out that 'businesses were more optimistic about the future in June than in May, suggesting the economic outlook is improving'. 'Domestic activity is proving more resilient than external demand, consistent with Mr Trump's tariff threats weighing on cross-border trade,' he added. 'All told, the PMI suggests that business confidence is staging a fragile recovery after being battered by tariff threats and tax increases. 'That said, rising geopolitical stress is likely to be added to the growing list of worries facing businesses.'
Yahoo
an hour ago
- Yahoo
Offshore wind will continue to bring 'huge opportunities' for East Anglia
It is shaping up to be an exciting year for ScottishPower Renewables in East Anglia, says Steve Hodger, head of operations and maintenance for the firm's UK offshore wind farms. It's five years since East Anglia ONE (EA1) – our flagship 714MW wind farm, 43km off the Suffolk coast – came into operation amidst a global pandemic. Around 20% of the turbine installation and almost half the turbine connection work for EA1 were completed during lockdown, with ScottishPower and our partners transforming how we worked to get the job done. This included switching to smaller teams, creating crew 'households' who lived and worked together and new welfare protocols – to name just a few – to ensure we completed the project on schedule. READ MORE: Meet the local talent powering offshore wind farm construction It was a completely unprecedented time, and I was so proud of everyone involved as the wind farm came to life and moved into the operations and maintenance (O&M) phase. I've been thinking back to that period as we saw the start of offshore construction for East Anglia THREE (EA3) get underway recently. Unprecedented in a completely different way, EA3 will be the biggest offshore wind farm built and operated by ScottishPower and the Iberdrola group – and will be the second largest in the world when it comes into operation. Steve Hodger, head of operations and maintenance for SPR's UK offshore wind farms (Image: SPR) While EA1 was very much a trailblazing project at the time, it's clear to see how much the industry has grown and matured over the last five years alone. Take the turbines on EA3 – at 14.7MW, each of the 95 individual turbines will generate more than double the clean energy produced by an EA1 turbine. With total capacity of 1.4GW, EA3 will produce enough green electricity to power the equivalent of more than 1.3 million homes. The monopiles alone – the first of which can now be seen in the North Sea standing at 83.89m tall, 10.6m in diameter and weighing 1,800 tonnes –can claim a new offshore wind industry record as the largest installed to date from a jack-up vessel in Europe. READ MORE: New offshore charging tech could power electric vessels The skills needed for the industry have also evolved as projects have become larger and technology continues to advance. This means the variety of roles we need to build, operate and maintain our wind farms continues to expand, which makes offshore wind an attractive industry for more people than ever before. It's a fantastic industry, and being involved in delivering homegrown clean, green energy, while building teams of local people working on projects near their homes really matters to me. There are huge opportunities on our doorstep, especially with the plans for our new £8 million O&M base for EA3 – expanding our footprint in Lowestoft and delivering much-needed skilled jobs and investments into local communities, both directly and through our supply chains. These opportunities will only grow as we continue to build the next generation of clean power and operate in the region for decades to come. For more information, visit