Decision details

The Chair welcomed Vanessa Carthy, Programme Relationship ManagerLearning and Development; and Suzanne Ward, Human Resources Manager - Employee Engagement, to the meeting.

The report presented provided information to the Scrutiny Committee on the new National Apprenticeship Levy which would be introduced by the Government on 1 April 2017 and the implications for this within Lancashire County Council.

The report also highlighted to the Committee, the work being undertaken by the Skills Learning and Development Service in respect of 'Trailblazer' involvement, Graduates and Professional Trainees within the authority and the work to embed skills, learning and development into our services.

Questions and comments by the Committee in relation to the report were as follows:

·  Members enquired how the Apprenticeship Levy would fit in with school budgets. It was confirmed that schools contributing to the levy would need to ensure that they had the budget to pay for an apprentice's salary.. The apprenticeship had to be a minimum of twelve months.

·  School budgets were so tight that recruitment was almost non-existent. If the levy could be pooled for a number of schools this would prove to be more beneficial.

·  The Committee enquired why the levy could not be used to pay salaries and had there been any information from the Government as to why this was the situation.

·  It was acknowledged that the new process for the Graduate Scheme was an improvement on previous practice and members thanked officers for their work in this area

·  It was pointed out that the Learning and Development Team was also working with vulnerable young people with no qualifications and not just focusing on graduates. The team had a priority for looked after children and care leavers. The team was divided into three parts:

1.  Delivery of training and development of new legislation with social workers.

2.  Working with graduates and professional trainees.

3.  Working with schools, dealing with young vulnerable people and coaching them before they enter an apprenticeship

·  20% of any apprenticeship must be 'off job' training and this would have significant impact on the Learning and Development Team and it was working with providers to fully understand what this meant. The team needed to talk to providers as there was no guidance from the Skills Funding Agency (SFA) as to what the 20% would actually be used for.

·  Members queried whether there should be more emphasis for the care sector. They were informed that there were qualifications being developed for apprenticeships in the social care sector.

·  Learning and Development was doing a piece of work at the moment in terms of what was available for a framework standard both locally and nationally that could be delivered. The Team would then look at how these frameworks could be applied regarding the rules of LCC. The framework had to be relevant to the job.

·  Learning and Development was not just looking at younger people regarding apprenticeships but also adults.

·  Regarding the Level 7 Postgraduate Certificate – 'The Public Sector Professional' apprenticeship the Committee was informed that this would be signed off and ready for September. This was the first in the country. There was no word yet on when the Practitioner and Manager apprenticeships would be signed off. These had been proposed and developed by employers specifically for the children, young people and families sector.

Resolved: The Scrutiny Committee noted and commented on the report.