Agenda and minutes

The Chair, Joanne Pickering, wecolmed all to the meeting.  Apologies for absence were presented from Amanda Melton, Lynne Livesey and Lindsay Campbell.

Bev Robinson and Steve Gray declared interests in item 9 and item 10 – ESF Project Progress Report: 'Moving On' and 'Access to Employment' as their respective organisations (Blackpool and the Fylde College and Training 2000) were involved in this project.

It was agreed that Bev and Steve could remain present for these item but would not take part in any discussion or, if required, voting.

Resolved:  The minutes of the meeting held on 11^th April 2018 were approved as an accurate record and duly signed by the Chair.

Michele Lawty-Jones, Lancashire Skills Hub Director, provided an update on the BBL School Improvement Board.  Michele reported that she had attended the Board meeting in May and gave a presentation on the work of the Skills and Employment Board, LMI and the Enterprise Advisor Network, it is intended to continue attending where possible to maintain links.

 Michele Lawty-Jones presented a report (circulated) which provided the Committee with a Lancashire Skills Hub Update.

With regard to Careers Education / Information / Advice and Guidance (CEIAG), it was reported that data from Compass indicates that Lancashire schools are performing better than the national average on 5 of the 8 Gatsby Benchmarks.

The Lancashire Enterprise Adviser Network Conference took place on Friday 27^th April 2018 at Barton Grange Hotel.  The event attracted over 180 school and college representatives, businesses and stakeholders, and received excellent feedback from delegates.  Inputs include a key note from Claudia Harris, CEO of the CEC and Ryan Gibson who facilitated the NE Pilot of the Gatsby Benchmarks.

The Government's Careers Strategy was published in December 2017, CEC have published an Implementation Plan following consultation which articulates how they intend to take forward aspects of the Careers Strategy including the piloting of 'Careers Hubs'.  An opportunity to bid for 20 Careers Hub pilots was issued in April by CEC with a deadline of Friday 25^th May.  A Lancashire proposal was submitted, as agreed at the last committee meeting and approved by the LEP Executive Committee, and interview took place the day before the committee meeting. It was reported that the interview seemed to go well – a decision will be made by CEC at the end of June

With regard to the appointment of a Head Teacher to the Skills and Employment Board membership it was noted by Committee Members that the Terms of Reference for the Committee did not permit this as currently drafted.  Committee Members agreed that a recommendation should be made to the LEP Board to amend the Terms of Reference to enable the appointment of a Head Teacher, taking into consideration the priority on Careers Education, Information, Advice and Guidance in the Lancashire Skills and Employment Framework and activity with schools and colleges.  Committee members requested that the selection process be considered and consideration be given to the role and remit of any proposed School Representative on the Committee.

It was noted that interviews for the position of City Deal Skills and Employment Coordinator had taken place on 11^th May 2018 and an offer of employment has been made.

Updates were also noted, as set out, regarding Escalate, Apprenticeship Update, Technical Education, Skills Advisory Panels and Marketing and Communications.

Committee Members commented that it would be useful to review Apprenticeship data and discuss the impact of the reforms at the informal meeting of the committee in September.

Resolved:  The Lancashire Skills and Employment Board:

(i)  Noted the updates as presented in the report.

(ii)  Recommend to the LEP Board that an amendment be made to the Terms of Reference to enable the appointment of a Head Teacher to the Committee; and

(iii)Requested that further consideration be given to the proposed selection process and appointment of a schools representative on the Committee.

Tracey Heyes, Strategic Partnership Manager, Lancashire Skills Hub, presented a report (circulated) regarding the Lancashire Digital Skills Partnership.

It was reported that Lancashire was the first LEP to launch a Local Digital Skills Partnership (LDSP) in partnership with the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sports (DCMS).

The Partnership was launched at the Lancashire Digital Skills Summit on Wednesday 18^th April 2018.  The summit was attended by 97 people from 64 organisations including national and local businesses, local and national partners and many of Lancashire's local digital skills projects.

Google, TSB, Lloyds and Freeformers have all agreed to give more support to digital skills training in Lancashire through the partnership.  Google has committed to work with local partners to train 1,000 people/businesses through its Google Digital Garage programme.

Committee Members queried if work was being done to assess the quality and delivery of the Google Digital Garage programme.

With regard to working with DCMS it was reported that DCMS have a limited amount of funds allocated to support the development of Digital Skills Partnerships in a small number of LEP areas.  A business case and proposed job description for the role of Digital Skills Coordinator for one year has been submitted to DCMS.  The Skills and Employment Board were asked to delegate authority to the Chair, with support from Paul Holmes, to review any offer from DCMS should the business case be approved and to make a recommendation to the LEP Board regarding any potential funding offer due to the timescales involved.

Resolved:  The Lancashire Skills and Employment Board

(i)  Noted the progress made to date on the Lancashire Digital Skills Partnership, and

(ii)  Agreed to authorise the Chair, with support from Paul Holmes, to review any potential offer from DCMS, should the business case be approved, and make a recommendation to the LEP Board regarding DCMS funding.

Michele Lawty-Jones presented a report (circulated) for information regarding Digital Advantage.  The report set out at Appendix 'A' a draft evaluation of the 2017/18 Digital Advantage programme.

Resolved:  The Lancashire Skills and Employment Board noted the report as presented.

The Committee is asked to consider whether, under Section 100A(4) of the Local Government Act 1972, it considers that the public should be excluded from the meeting during consideration of the following items of business on the grounds that there would be a likely disclosure of exempt information as defined in the appropriate paragraph of Part I of Schedule 12A to the Local Government Act 1972 as indicated against the heading to the item.

The Skills and Employment Board considered, and agreed, at this point to move the meeting into Part II (Private and Confidential) as the next two items contained information considered to be private and confidential as defined in Schedule 12A of the Local Government Act 1972.

Michele Lawty-Jones and Sean McGrath, External Investment Funding, Lancashire County Council presented a report (circulated) in Part II (private and confidential) regarding European Social Funds – committed funds and Education & Skills Funding Agency (ESFA) offer for future opt-in activity.

In order to enable the LEP to respond to the ESFA, the report presented provided an overview of Lancashire's committed funds, unallocated funds (with and without the performance reserve) and recommendations regarding the unallocated funds.  It was noted that the Expression of Interest was indicative at this stage.

Resolved:  The Lancashire Skills and Employment Board supported the recommendations detailed in Table 1 (Appendix 'A to the report), in order for recommendations to be made to the ESIF Committee and an Expression of Interest submitted to the ESFA by the deadline of Monday 13^th June 2018.

Robin Newton-Syms (The Lancashire Colleges) and Joan Costello (Preston's College) to attend to provide a presentation

Joan Costello-Smith, Preston's College and Robin Newton-Syms, The Lancashire Colleges/LESEP joined the meeting at this point and gave a presentation, in Part II (Private and Confidential) regarding two ESF Projects – Moving On and Access to Employment and progress made to date. 

The presentation contained information on the number of people who have benefited from the programmes and progressed, following completion of activity, into paid employment, education (at higher level) or an apprenticeship.

The project began in November 2016 with an original end date of July 2018.  This has since been extended, through a revised contract, to finish in March 2019.

Resolved:  The Lancashire Skills and Employment Board noted the presentation, the current number of people who have started and completed programmes of employability activities and skills development, and the future projections over the remainder of the contact.

Joan Costello-Smith and Robin Newton-Syms left the meeting at this point.

•  Identification and agreement of any recommendations for consideration/approval by the LEP Board.

•  Identification and agreement of issues for inclusion in the feedback report for the LEP Board.

It was noted that the Terms of Reference and Membership item would need referred to the LEP Board along with any potential Digital Skills Partnership business case / job description approval should the bid for funds to DCMS be successful.

None

The next meeting is scheduled for 08.00am on Wednesday 10 October 2018 in Committee Room D, County Hall, Preston.

There would be an informal meeting on 12 September 2018, venue to be confirmed.

It was noted that the next formal meeting was scheduled to be held at 8am on Wednesday 10^th October 2018 in Committee Room D, County Hall, Preston.

It was also noted that an informal meeting was scheduled to be held on 12^th September 2018, venue to be confirmed.