Agenda item

Dr Michele Lawty-Jones, Director, Lancashire Skills and Employment Hub presented an update report on Skills Policy.

The following points were highlighted:

·  In regard to the Careers Hub there was an update on the various grants that had been submitted to the Careers  Enterprise Company, the main grant had been accepted, and the last two schools had now come on board, meaning the Hub was now at full capacity, one of a very few in the country. 156 secondary schools including all special schools were now part of the programme. As a result of this the Hub still needed to recruit business volunteers to support the process, there were currently 160 volunteers working with schools and colleges to develop inspirational careers programmes. any new volunteers that were able to support the process were directed to the Lancashire Skills Pledge.

·  In regard to Research and Evaluation projects, there had been an opportunity to bid for two projects and we had been successful in both. One was targeted at Strategies to prevent Not in Education or Employment (NEET) and the other one was targeted at Digital projects with there being a real drive to encourage girls to participate and to select Computer Science at GCSE level.

·  It was noted that a higher offer of grant for £117k had been offered from the Blackpool Opportunity Area Twinning Fund to enable further joint working between Blackpool and Lancashire to share good practice. Board Members were happy to accept the higher proposal and they welcomed the grant.

·  Dave Holmes provided an update on a partnership with BAE, whereby the company had a share forfeiture scheme, by cashing in shares that have not been claimed over a period of time. Dave's team had been working closely with the Skills and Employment Hub and a proposal was put together through the Corporate Group. This had resulted in two schemes being put forward, Create Education and Innovate Her and they had been successful in receiving a contribution of £300k for both schemes, £150k for each of the two schemes. 

·  An update was provided on new developments linked to the Skills White Paper which was published in January 21. A new project, Skills Accelerator had provided two opportunities from the Department for Education for Trail Blazers, one was for Local Skills Improvement Plans and the other for a Strategic Development Fund. Both were being run concurrently and needed to be completed by March 22.

·  An update was provided on Plan for Jobs, a range of projects were available. It was noted that it was a complex environment currently and the labour market was vastly dynamic. The team were working closely with partners and providers to maximise impact. The website which was launched during the pandemic to support people into employment had received over 16,000 hits to-date.

Resolved: That -

1.  The board are asked to note the contents of the paper, the funds secured to support skills and employment activity across the LEP area, and efforts in place to coordinate activity.

2.  The board approved the acceptance of an increased offer of £117k grant from the Blackpool Opportunity Area Twinning Funds to enable further joint activity between Blackpool and Lancashire to share good practice, and continue to build the approach with localised employer networks subject to review of the final grant offer and associated terms and conditions by the Chief Executive and Section 151 Officer.