Agenda item

5:05 - 5:50pm

The Cabinet Member for Economic Growth, the Economic Development Manager and the Senior Economic Development Officer attended to provide a progress report on the development of the Chesterfield Borough Council Skills Action Plan.

The Senior Economic Development Officer noted that with the significant levels of investment currently happening in Chesterfield (including Peak Resort, Waterside and the proposed HS2 Maintenance Depot at Staveley) that a highly skilled work force would be required in order to deliver the greatest economic benefits to the area that would result from these developments. The Skills Action Plan would provide the platform from which the activity required to improve Chesterfield’s skills profile, and to maximise the benefits to local people of the newly created jobs in Chesterfield could be delivered. It was noted that since 1999 there had been significant reductions in the amount of investment made in workplace learning, and compared to other leading industrialised nations the UK was falling behind in productivity levels, with around 20% of the UK’s productivity gap being attributable to low skill levels amongst the workface. The government’s current focus on increasing UK productivity had led to a number of proposed reforms to the skills and apprenticeship system that had been designed to put the employer at the heart of the skills system. These included several significant changes to how apprenticeships would be delivered and funded, including the introduction of an apprenticeship levy and public sector targets for apprenticeship recruitment.

In addition to the national factors and the government policy decisions that had influenced the development of the draft Skills Action Plan there were also local issues in Chesterfield that had been considered in the drafting of the plan. These issues included:

·        Chesterfield having higher numbers of unemployed 18 – 24 year olds compared to the regional or national average;

·        12 of 19 wards in Chesterfield having higher levels of residents with no qualifications than the national average;

·        Chesterfield benefiting from significant levels of investment with more than £700m of key developments entering the development stage in 2017 including Peak Resort and Waterside.

The Senior Economic Development Officer advised that improving the skills and work readiness of individuals in Chesterfield was vital to ensure that local people could fully benefit from the jobs, skills and economic growth opportunities that would result from the investments being made in Chesterfield. The Skills Action Plan would enable the benefits of new investment to be maximised and would ensure that skills related programmes had the greatest possible impact on the skill levels of local people. It was noted that having a skilled workforce was crucial to the future economic success of the borough. The main objectives of the Skills Action Plan were:

·        Ensuring Local people had the right skills to access current and future job opportunities by working with local partners;

·        Working with Local Enterprise Partnerships and Education Partners to ensure that Skills Provision was aligned to future the skill needs of future jobs growth;

·        Providing clear advice and support to local people and businesses about the range of skills programmes available;

·        Maximising the number of training, employment and supply chain job opportunities for local people arising from new developments in Chesterfield.

The Senior Economic Development Officer noted that the Skills Action Plan had the potential to deliver significant benefits. These benefits included:

·        Ensuring that Chesterfield continued to perform well in attracting funding from Local Enterprise Partnership funded programmes;

·        Making sure that local people benefited from the investment and skilled jobs growth in the borough;

·        Providing a framework to enable the Council to work effectively with partners to align skills provision and future employment demand.

Members asked that as the government was devolving the management of Adult Education Budgets where these budgets would be administered from. The Economic Development Manager advised that it was the Government’s intention to devolve Adult Education Budgets to localities (LEPs) from 2018/19 (subject to readiness conditions). Members asked several questions relating to the delivery and monitoring of apprenticeships and were keen to ensure that the Skills Action Plan included actions to ensure that the apprenticeships that were provided were of a high quality and would provide each apprentice with a robust programme of training to give them the skills needed to succeed in the jobs market. Members also welcomed the focus of the action plan being to help local people access the new skilled jobs that would be created by inward investment in the borough as there had been concerns expressed by local residents in Staveley that the skilled jobs created by the HS2 Maintenance Depot would not be accessible to, or benefit local people.

Members asked whether the Skills Action Plan could be used to target armed forces leavers who often struggled to gain employment and utilise and build on their skills developed in the armed forces in civilian life. The Senior Economic Development Officer advised that as this group had specific needs, education partners would be alerted to the needs of this group and encouraged to target support at this group and subsequently be actively promoted to potential employers. Members also welcomed the changes to apprenticeship provision that meant that apprenticeships would become accessible to older people as well as to people looking to retrain in new areas who already had some qualifications.

The Committee thanked the Cabinet Member for Economic Growth, the Economic Development Manager and the Senior Economic Development Officer for attending and for answering their questions.

RESOLVED –

1.   That the draft Skills Action Plan be supported.

2.   That a progress report on the implementation of the Skills Action Plan be considered at the February, 2018 meeting of the Enterprise and Wellbeing Scrutiny Committee.