Synchronise Meeting Minutes

Tuesday24th January 2017, 1.30–4 pm,

Venue: Aldingbourne Trust, Norton, West Sussex

Attending:

Suzette Attwood, Brighton and Hove City Council

Clare Ballard, National Careers Service

Anna Barton, Change, Grow, Live

Jane Chew, WSCC Learning Service

Elizabeth Flegg, WSCC (Chair)

Paul Hemmington, Mark Webb, Change, Grow, Live

Nastassija Kolakovic, Crawley Borough Council

Gary Rustell, WSCC Think Family

Rachel Smither, WorkAid at Aldingbourne Trust

Peter Stanley, Aldingbourne Trust

Paul Stoggles, Independent Member

Maxine Thomas, Impact Workability

Sue Whistler, Time to Talk, NHS

Apologies:

Karen Brooks, DWP Job Centre Plus

Leigh Chambers, Horsham District Council

Saxon Chadwick, Southdown Housing

Christine Darby, Strive West Sussex

Beverly Foard, Working Links

Simon Hobday, Job Centre Plus

Steve Jones, Shaw Trust

Karen Kingsland, Brighton and Hove City Council

Richard Lamplough, SEEN

Vanessa Potter, Sussex Cricket Club

Samantha Ripley, Southdown Housing Association

Barry Scutt, Workability

Mel Shaw, Adur and Worthing Councils

Emma Wareham, DWP

Dale Watson, Maximus

Mark Webb, Change, Grow, Live

Item / Description
1. / Welcome, introductions and apologies
Elizabeth Flegg (Chair) welcomed everyone and introductions were made. The Aldingbourne Trust was thanked for use of its conference room and hospitality.
2. / Minutes of previous meeting 19th October 2016
Agreed but with a minor amendment under item 4.
3. / Matters arising
SEEN – Richard has requested that Members refresh their organisation and contact details and he will send out an email to this effect. Discussion took place about who uses SEEN, its target audience and purpose. It was agreed to put this as an agenda? SEEN needs to be promoted far more widely so that people see events and job vacancies etc. If it is aimed at Advisers then it is too wordy for most. There also appeared to be a problem as not everyone receives Richard’s circular emails.
Action: Elizabeth to discuss with Richard
ESiF Update – Gary confirmed the NEET bid was submitted to C2C by 6th January. The initial decision will be made within 8 weeks. Final decision will depend on the number of bids; the original start date was planned for April 1st. There are three Lots and Lot 1 is around Tracking and Follow up of young people NEET is key to West Sussex (we have fallen behind neighbouring authorities in gathering accurate data). Gary explained how C2C expects all the Authorities in the LEP area to be working together and the bid includes using the social media expertise of B&HCC to maintain contact with young people NEET. Lots 2 & 3 provide support to vulnerable groups such as Care Leavers and young people with SEND.
4. / Member Updates
National Careers ServiceClare Ballard
NCS in West Sussex is provided by CfBT on contract to govt. (via the Skills Funding Agency). They provide a website, helpline for those 13+ and face to face interviews for those 19+ (18+ if registered at JCP).
NCS Advisers meet clients in Job Centres, Community settings, Ford Prison. Meetings can include individual interviews or group workshops. The contract is measured on outcomes including Customer Service, Careers Management i.e. CV completion or workshop attendance and also a Job or Learning outcome. Discussion was held about how excellent the website used to be (the job profiles in particular) and how quality had been lost since its move to Gov/uk. Clare is hopeful the website will be developed to make the information more young people friendly.
Children’s Service Transformation Gary Rustell
The new Service is entitled Integrated Prevention and Earliest Help. It brings together Think Family, Early Help, Worth Services and the Young People’s Service. Building on the Family Support Networks it will follow a Hub model based on the District and Borough areas with a central strategic team above the Hubs. The new Service will remove inter-departmental referral and smooth the support pathways to provide a better, holistic service for residents. The Transformation involves over 500 staff and 113 new role profiles so a major undertaking that will be completed by the end of March. There are sufficient jobs for all though some will move to a different role.
Aldingbourne Trust Peter Stanley & Rachel Smither
The Trust is 39 years old and employs 270 staff. It supports 95 people in Supported living accommodation and runs the My Network and My network Plus services in the community. My Network provides 5 advice Drop In Hubs; My Network Plus provides specific support around benefits and accommodation for clients referred by Social Care services. The Trust has other community ventures such as Make – café, workshop & cycle centre; Creative Arts centre; Supported living scheme for young people in Fratton.
The Aldingbourne Centre is the public face of the Trust. In recent years it has expanded to include not only the commercial outlets such as wood workshop, furniture recycling, horse rug washing, horticulture centre, café and conference centre but also the woodland trail, Open farm, shop, school and family Days Out. Discussion followed on the proposed new build for the Aldingbourne Country Centre and the plans and map viewed, This is a £4M development which will hopefully start soon to build a new Centre, Conference facilities and shop.
The Trust has had a WorkAid contract with WSCC since 2014 to support people with Learning Disability and Autism (and prior to this for LD only). They run a work preparation programme for those furthest from the workplace for around 30-35 clients and tailor the service to each individual. They also run a project aiming to get people out and about from Day Centres and work with their families to encourage them to take part in more activities. WorkAid also starts transitional work in a student’s last year at school or college and support with job coaching and help to find supported employment. People of 16+ can be referred by Social Workers, schools and their families or self-refer. Work Aid supports 200 people across the county.
5. / Apprenticeship ReformElizabeth Flegg
The Government made an election pledge to ensure there are 3 million Apprenticeship starts during their current term. Reform is underway to improve the quality of Apprenticeships from the new financial year.
Apprenticeship Standards which are Employer driven are being developed and it is likely they will represent some 400 different jobs. These will supersede the current Apprenticeship frameworks which will be switched off from 2020. Degree level apprenticeships are now available so careers such as Social Workers will be able to be studied via this route.
All Apprentices will need to complete an End Point Assessment before they can be signed off as competent and having achieved their qualification. Discussion was had about how this could discourage people with disabilities from choosing an apprenticeship.
A new funding system goes live from May 2017. Employers with a pay bill of £3M or higher will pay a 0.5% levy which is returned to a new digital account topped up by 10%. West Sussex CC will have some 1.8M to spend per annum so will use apprenticeships for professional development of their workforce. We will also apply to become an apprenticeship training provider so rather than offering just diplomas, we will offer apprenticeships to our workforce.
Employers do not contribute the first £15k meaning smaller employers with a pay bill under £3M do not pay a levy. Instead they pay 10% of the training fee and the Government meet the remainder. The levy and this funding is for the training cost only.
Employers who pay the levy will have a new Digital Apprenticeship Account where they manage all things apprenticeship from such as recruitment, agreeing contracts, finding and making payments with training providers, etc. This appears to be a very positive development.
If an Apprentice is under 19 or under 25 and is a care leaver or a special education need then the employer will received £1k to be used towards a mentor or additional training. This is to reflect their additional support needs. There has been relaxation on the rules about holding a degree and taking an apprenticeship so you can take an apprenticeship if it is at a higher level than your degree or in a significantly different subject area.
A working group are looking into how adjustments can be made for people with learning disabilities can be included in apprenticeships. Brighton and Hove are part of this information group so can hopefully keep us updated.
The public sector has an apprenticeship start target of 2.3% of its headcount. For West Sussex CC this equates to 380 per year. 250 of these are with our schools as this is by far the largest employer in the consortium.
6. / AOB
Maxine reported a successful session on the new DWP Dynamic Purchasing System and a workshop on Employment Law. She suggested that members of Synchronise share their training programmes and sessions.
Next meeting:
The Next Meeting
The next meeting will be held on Tuesday 25th April 2017, 1.30 to 4pm @ a venue in the Worthing area which needed to be sought.
Member Updates: Vanessa Potter for Sussex Cricket Club, Strive West Sussex and Worthing Borough Council.