Blog post: PSS Port Skills Group meeting

PSS was delighted to welcome members of the Port Skills Group (PSkG) to an in-person meeting hosted by The Bristol Port Company. The day combined insight and plenty of opportunities to share ideas.

The meeting began with a warm welcome by the PSkG Chair, Natalie Dalgleish, and an engaging port tour led by Bristol Port CEO, David Brown OBE. During the tour, David explained how skills are embedded at the heart of every new project and how the port is shaping its workforce for the future. Highlights included the port’s approach to competency, with the group observing a forklift assessment from the coach, and learning about the port’s growing apprenticeship programme, which now incorporates the Duke of Edinburgh scheme to help apprentices build resilience and confidence.

Following the tour, David was joined by Helen Arnold-Richardson of Weston College to showcase the port’s bespoke supervision and leadership training. The group heard how the programme is equipping supervisors with the skills they need while strengthening peer networks across the organisation. The blended learning approach has been particularly effective in embedding knowledge and supporting long-term development.

Angela Ward, Skills, Careers and Diversity Lead at PSS, then provided an update on current consultations and white papers shaping skills policy. This set the scene for interactive workshop sessions, where members explored their training plans for 2026, identified gaps and sourcing challenges, and discussed where national coordination from PSS could add value.

Attendees were joined for lunch by Bristol Port apprentices to network and had the chance to try out the port’s crane simulator.

The afternoon continued with a PSS update, where Angela shared headline findings from the 2024/25 early careers data collection and encouraged wider participation in the next cycle to ensure insights are representative and actionable.

This in-person PSkG meeting was more than presentations and workshops – it also gave the opportunity to connect and share learning. From the port tour to informal discussions over lunch, a strong spirit of collaboration was evident throughout, with members committed to pooling resources to accelerate skills development across the sector.

Presentations and supporting documents from the PSkG are available to members here.

If you are not yet signed up to receive PSkG invitations, please contact us.