Agenda and minutes

County Councillors Lorraine Beavers, Geoff Driver and Alan Schofield replaced County Councillors Miles Parkinson, George Wilkins and David O'Toole respectively.

None were received.

Members are asked to consider any Pecuniary and Non-Pecuniary Interests they may have to disclose to the meeting in relation to matters under consideration on the Agenda.

None were disclosed.

Resolved: That the minutes of the meeting held on 10 February 2017 be confirmed and signed by the Chair.

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  ...  view the full minutes text for item 4.

With the agreement of the Chair this item was withdrawn until the Scrutiny Committee meeting on 13 April.

The Work Plan was presented to the Committee regarding upcoming topics and future topics not yet scheduled as well as an update on ongoing Task Groups.

Wendy Broadley, Principal Officer Overview and Scrutiny, updated the Committee that she had a meeting with County Councillor Winlow and County Councillor Fillis, Cabinet Member for Highways and Transport, regarding the TAMP. It was agreed at this meeting there needed to be a different approach to the scrutiny of the TAMP. There was going to be an event in June after the elections, where District Members and Members of the Scrutiny Committee would be invited to discuss how the TAMP could be scrutinised in the future.

Resolved: The Committee approved the 2016/17 work plan.

An item of urgent business may only be considered under this heading where, by reason of special circumstances to be recorded in the Minutes, the Chair of the meeting is of the opinion that the item should be considered at the meeting as a matter of urgency. Wherever possible, the Chief Executive should be given advance warning of any Member's intention to raise a matter under this heading.

It was reported that the Chair had agreed to a report in relation to the disposal of former libraries at Fulwood and Barrowford being dealt with at the meeting as an item of urgent business. 

It was noted that the report would be taken under Part II of the agenda for the reasons set out in the report.

The next meeting of the Scrutiny Committee will be held on 13 April at 10:00am at the County Hall, Preston.

The next meeting of the Scrutiny Committee will take place on Thursday 13 April at 10.00am in Cabinet Room B (The Diamond Jubilee Room) at the County Hall, Preston.

Resolved: - That under Section 100A(4) of the Local Government Act, 1972, the press and public should be excluded from the meeting during consideration of the following item of business on the grounds that there would be a likely disclosure of exempt information as defined in the appropriate paragraphs of Part 1 of Schedule 12A to the Local Government Act, 1972 and that in all circumstances of the case the public interest in maintaining the exemption outweighs the public interest in disclosing the information.

Disposal of Former Libraries at Fulwood and Barrowford

(Not for Publication - Exempt information as defined in Paragraph 3 of Part 1 of Schedule 12A to the Local Government Act 1972. It is considered that in all the circumstances of the case the public interest in maintaining the exemption outweighs the public interest in disclosing the information)

On 9 March 2017, the Deputy Leader of the County Council approved two reports on the disposal of former libraries at Fulwood and Barrowford. Following requests from five County Councillors in accordance with the 'Call In' procedures, the Chair had agreed to deal with the 'Call In' request as an item of Urgent Business at this meeting.

A copy of the reports and decisions taken by the Deputy Leader were presented for consideration by the Committee. After being put to the vote the Deputy Leader's decisions were accepted and therefore:

Resolved:  That the Deputy Leader's decision on 9 March 2017 in relation to the disposal of former libraries at Fulwood and Barrowford should not be called in.