Increasing Employment, Raising Skills

Somerset ESB

MINUTES (for approval) of the ESB meeting held at Elecsis’ Head Office, Riverside Business Park, Wylds Road, Bridgwater.

22nd April 2013

Welcome

Kath (Chair) welcomed everyone to the meeting. A full list of attendees & apologies is provided at the end of these minutes. Thanks were given to Elecsis for providing the room and Kevin for his invaluable support in providing administrative support to meetings.

The minutes of the ESB meeting held on 22/02/13 were approved as accurate. Matters arising/outstanding Action Points are either complete or in progress. Henceforth a copy of outstanding APs will be attached to the Agenda. Partners will be contacted for updates prior to the agenda being issued.

Item 1) ESB Meetings Restructure Proposal

There was a discussion to agree proposed changes to the number, frequency and structure of meetings, involving industry representatives. Board Members were asked to accept or reject the proposed changes as presented, (see embedded doc, points 1 to 4).

i) Combine Executive and Board meetings.

The discussion covered Employers having to attend too many meetings and absenting themselves from Board meetings. Partners can be confused regarding the process for consultation with employer representatives.

This proposal was agreed by Board Members.

ii) 9:30am start to all Board meetings.

The discussion covered travel & transport problems faced by Board Members.

The proposal was amended from 9:30 to a 9:00am start, subject to review, & agreed by Board Members.

iii) The first Board meeting of each financial year to be dedicated to reviewing the ESB strategy, supporting evidence and agreeing priority project activity for adoption

This proposal was agreed by Board Members.

iv) Remaining four Board meetings to be dedicated to one of the four themes identified within the ESB strategy

This proposal was agreed by Board Members.

Item 2 Review of ESB strategy & Evidence Base

The discussion, lead by Natalie, reaffirmed the Boards commitment to the four themes (Education – Business engagement; Employability and Preparedness for work, Skills Gaps and Shortages, and Higher Level Skills). Within those themes there will be identified actions. Natalie is working on articulating the ESB’s priorities,key achievements and future actions within a brief Strategy document.

Carrie-Anne Hiscock Senior Economist at Somerset County Council introduced herself to the Board. The data dashboard has been used to provide a snapshot of employment and skills need in Somerset. Carrie-Anne will provide additional information to the ESB, to support the four identified themes, but needs to know what questions the ESB requires answers to. Some data, such as JSA claimant count is updated monthly, but other data less often, Skills and Qualifications for example is updated once a year, (normally 4/5 months after the academic year is over). This data should help the ESB to identify specific people, places and sectors for targeting of working group activity.

It was agreed that

· The Board will need to consider what questions it wants to ask Carrie-Anne so she can provide relevant statistics and data within the Dashboard and other reports.

· IAG must from part of business’ engagement with Schools but would also be relevant to the Employability and Preparedness for Work theme.

· The cycle of meetings, should reflect the availability of certain data sets throughout the year.

Item 3: Current and Proposed activities update for the Chairman and Lead Officers

There are opportunities to visit two areas of excellence:

1) Rachel Davies is coordinating an opportunity for ESB members to visit Budmouth College’s Centre of Excellence in Industry Liaison in Weymouth. This visit is for twelve people on Thursday 23 May starting at 10:00am. CEIL work with year 12 & 13 students who are ready to change offering an intern contract to prepare them for work in a unique way. This model has received considerable support from local businesses.

It was agreed that:

· Spaces will be allocated on a first come first served basis.

· Action: Those who are interested to contact

2) Kath is organising a visit to the West of England LEP on Tuesday 21 May at 13:00, to look at their best practice around validation work on their Skills Plan and the development of an Employability Charter.

It was agreed that:

· Action: Anyone interested in accompanying Kath is to let her know.

8a Increasing Employment Network: Ali reported on recent changes to the IEN making it a ‘membership of commissioning managers’. The group will explore themes including access to transport, welfare reform/digital inclusion and employer engagementas key barriers to education, employment and training.

8b Skills Forum: Rod gave an overview of the Somerset Skills Forum / Training Provider Network. The SSF engages with Employers and Providers. Some of the initiatives during National Apprenticeship Week were coordinated and delivered by SSF members.

Fiona reported a drop in apprenticeships and has available data if requested / required. The National Apprenticeship Service will be targeting12000 Employers who do not use apprenticeshipswith a mail shot and a follow up phone call. Employers will be encouraged to use apprenticeships, giving assurance to smaller employers that apprenticeships are not administratively complex.

Board members were concerned that this activity and recent funding allocations for apprenticeships were being targeted in the wrong way. Employers had reported difficulties in recruiting to existing apprenticeship vacancies and felt that interventions should primarily be aimed at students, parents and teachers.

8c EDGAR: No members were in attendance from EDGAR, which is the group tasked with gaining a bigger picture of what growth opportunities are coming to Somerset & the dedicated skills needed.

Item 4 ~ NA

Item 5: Identification of Thematic Champions and Project Review Panel Members.

The discussion sought Board Member support for a proposal enabling more Employer involvement in the ESB’s work.

Summary of key messages:

· The Thematic Champions will come from Industry to work alongside the relevant ESB Working Group Lead Officer.

· Thematic Champions will be Board members and hold the position for a period of one to two years.

· Members of the board have visited Employers over a broad range of sectors and geographic, and whilst their replies when asked what matters to them have been diverse, the 4 themes were consistent.

· Influence can be achieved in this manner, for example Somerset CC has allocated funding to the Further Education Colleges to develop Higher Education provision within the County. A thematic champion and project review panel will ensure employers have input and can offer guidance on matters that will affect them.

(See embedded doc in Item 1 ~ points 5 to 7).

v) A Thematic Champion to be appointed, from industry, to work alongside the Chairman of each ESB Working Group.

This proposal was agreed by Board Members.

vi) Project Review Panels, made up of industry representatives, to sense-check projects included within the ESB’s Strategy and Action Plan.

This proposal was agreed by Board Members.

vii) Thematic Champions and one other Project Review Panel Member from each theme will be members of the Board.

This proposal was agreed by Board Members.

It was agreed that

· Thematic Champions would become Board members;.

· The Thematic Champion would be supported at Board meetings by one Project Review Panel Memberfrom the same theme.

· Champions should determine how much time / resource they can offer.

· Education – Business engagement ~ Rupert and Colin provisionally offered to become Thematic Champion for this theme or the Technical Skills Gaps and Shortages Theme, Employability and Preparedness ~ Clare Waddon offered to act as Thematic Champion; Higher Level Skills – Rupert has identified a potential Champion for this theme.

· Action: Economic Development Representatives to speak to Employers and ask if they wish to be involved. There are Employers out there primed & ready to help. Inform Natalie / Chair of the outcome of discussions by Friday 17 May at the latest.

Item 6 Spotlight on addressing Technical Skills Gaps & Shortages.

Colin Snape HR Manager at Langdon presented to the Group information on Langdons’ Employer Ownership of Skills Pilot Skills Project. See embedded case study.

Summary of key issues and facts:

· Logistics is a £96bn industry employing 1 in 12 of the workforce (200000 employees). It encompasses Ports/ Inland transport and Rail, as well as trucking.

· The sector faces a raft of UK & EU legislation, such as a 35 hour learning requirement to be completed by Sept 2014. It is feared this will result in 15/20 percent of the workforce leaving the industry as the average age in 53yo.

· Langdon Industries is a Logistics Service Provider specializing in temperature controlled operations.

· Colin has devised his own Apprenticeship course in conjunction with the Chartered Institute of Logistics & Transport. The course can be delivered by ipad/ phone which logs how long a learner has been logged. Essays are available online and live sessions on subjects including warehouse racking can be beamed in. Each candidate spends 3 months in each department so they have a full understanding of the company for example if a vehicle is being serviced it’s not available for deliveries and the impact this has.

· Colleges have been keen to be involved, which helps in the Skills element to be delivered, but schools less so as this does not fit in with their agenda. Head Teachers focus on what the Dept of Education requires them to. Some school pupils may do this as an extracurricular activity.

Item 7 Opportunities & Challenges

7a ESF Local Response Fund. This in essence is EU money from the SFA to develop LEP capacity. Louise informed the Group that they are close to an update, possibly in the next week / fortnight.

7b Department for Education; Vocational Qualifications Reform Consultation. Rod made partners aware of two interesting and important consultations regarding the future of vocational qualifications for 16 -19 year olds and ‘The Richards Review of Apprenticeships’. The outcomes of these two consultations will impact upon the successful implementation of any LEP and/or ESB Skills Strategy, as they will affect:

· The vocational and academic qualifications delivered by schools, colleges and other training providers; and

· The qualifications, delivery and funding model for Apprenticeships.

Board members are asked to:

· Prepare and submit their own response to the two consultations by 10th / 22nd May (see full details below);

· Seek the views of other local businesses to one or more of the questions attached, e.g. in one to one meetings or via business networks;

· Share any responses with Natalie by close of play Wednesday 8th May to enable the preparation and submission of a collective ‘ESB response’ by the earliest deadline of Friday 10th May.

The DfE Vocational Qualification reform consultation information can be found here https://www.education.gov.uk/consultations/index.cfm?action=consultationDetails&consultationId=1885&external=no&menu=1

And the BIS consultation on the Future of Apprenticeships in England, Richards review Next-Steps can be found here https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/future-of-apprenticeships-in-england-richard-review-next-steps

Item 8. PR Plan.

Peter Ireland & Alice Driscoll of ADPR were introduced to the Board.

It was agreed that.

· Communications should be ‘little & often’ to raise the profile of the ESB. A newsletter or long communication risks being disregarded.

· When Board Members leave each meeting they will take with them a set of communications the ESB needs shared with their contacts.

· Action All Members to email Alice with details of how they communicate with Employers. She will then review the methods & build a pyramid of methods ()

Item 9:

The next meetings for 13/14:

· 17th June 2013 ( Please check diaries as amended from previous date of 27th June)

· 17th July 2013 Thematic Champions / Executive only

· 16th September 2013

· 18th November 2013

· 13th January 2014

It was agreed that.

· The meetings will start at 9:00am with an Agenda to 11:30

· Action: Let Natalie know if the above dates present any problem/s

In addition:

A copy of these minutes, once approved, will be loaded onto the ESB website: www.skills4somerset.org.uk.

Attendees:

Kath Gigg ~ KMG Management Ltd (Chair)

Louise Clatworthy ~ Skills Funding Agency

Rupert Cox ~ Somerset Chamber of Commerce

Alice Driscoll ~ ADPR

Gordon Dyer ~ West Somerset District Council

Steve Harris ~ Sedgmoor District Council

Phil Harris ~ PJB Electrical

Peter Ireland ~ ADPR

David Julian ~ South Somerset District Council

Kevin Limrick ~ DWP

Fiona Parsons ~ National Apprenticeship Service

Ali Porter ~ DWP

Jane Sharp ~ Mendip District Council

Bob Smart ~ Visit Somerset

Chris Spencer ~ Pardoes

Claire Waddon ~ Care Focus

Natalie Wainwright ~ Somerset County Council

Rod Davis – Dorset and Somerset Training Provider Network

Guests:

Carrie-Anne Hiscock ~ Somerset County Council

Colin Snape ~ HR Manager Langdons

Apologies:

Anita Hayne - CIPD

Patricia Marks – Federation of Small Businesses

Penny Guppy – Public Health

David Hall – Somerset County Council

Rebecca Bevins – Pardoes-Bevins

Phil Sharratt – Institute of Directors

Anne-Marie Spalding – Taunton Deane Borough Council