Agenda item

To consider the attached report.

The Executive Board AGREED unanimously:

(a)          To refocus the skills workstream in order to facilitate the delivery of the up to 420 apprenticeship target agreed with Government as part of the City Deal agreement;

(b)          To do this by establishing a GCP apprenticeship matching/brokerage service that has a focus on STEM apprenticeships;

(c)          That officers should work with and commission, where necessary, external organisations to support this work;

(d)          To work with the LEP, the Combined Authority and delivery organisations in the development of a skills strategy, including evaluating this new service to determine whether it would be suitable, in the medium to long term, for roll out across a wider geography; and

(e)          That in doing the above to take account of the active involvement of the Skills Working Group.

The Executive Board considered a report which set out progress with the skills work stream and recommended next steps. 

The Strategic Programme and Commissioning Manager, in introducing the report confirmed that so far the skills work stream had made good progress across a number of activities and current projects had been delivered on time and within budget.  However, it had not yet been possible to demonstrate a direct and fully evidenced link between the work agreed to date and the 420 apprenticeship deal target set as part of the original City Deal agreement.  A number of proposals were being recommended to address this, including setting up a GCP apprenticeship matching/brokerage service with a focus on stem based apprenticeships.

The Joint Assembly had recommended that the Executive Board agree to withdraw the report to enable the Skills Working Group to refine the proposal and report back to the November meeting.  This had been agreed with seven votes in favour and six against.

The Executive Board was invited to consider and comment on the recommendations taking into account feedback from the Joint Assembly.  The response to questions of clarification and the main points of discussion are summarised below:

·         Mark Reeve commented that the aim of the proposal was to identify gaps in provision and find ways of filling those gaps.  While there were a number of providers, there would always be some fringe/niche areas where work was not being done.  If the outcome of further discussions was that unmet demand and gaps in the current market could be met through a brokerage service, then the LEP would support that.  Further work could be done by the Skills Working Group to clarify and evidence where additionality could be achieved. 

·         Councillor Lewis Herbert recognised the broad issue as the need to resolve the skills deficit and make sure that not only the needs of businesses were met but also those of the residents of the whole county.  This needed to be done alongside work being done by the Combined Authority, the LEP and the education sector.  There was currently a mismatch between skills and available job opportunities.  He was supportive of agreeing the recommendation, whilst recognising there was a Working Group that could take this work further.  This could take account of issues raised by the Joint Assembly.

The Executive Board AGREED unanimously:

(a)           To refocus the skills work stream in order to facilitate the delivery of the up to 420 apprenticeship target agreed with Government as part of the City Deal agreement;

(b)           To do this by establishing a GCP apprenticeship matching/brokerage service that has a focus on STEM apprenticeships;

(c)           That officers should work with and commission, where necessary, external organisations to support this work;

(d)           To work with the LEP, the Combined Authority and delivery organisations in the development of a skills strategy, including evaluating this new service to determine whether it would be suitable, in the medium to long term, for roll out across a wider geographical area; and

(e)           That in doing the above to take account of the active involvement of the Skills Working Group.