Agenda item

To provide the Joint Committee with an update on the programme.

The Committee considered a report providing an update on progress made by each council individually and as a whole. 

 

The Chairman invited representatives to provide a brief update and the following was noted:

 

Bracknell Forest:

 

·                     Good progress was being made, having moved to Breakthrough where the new set up was working really well.

 

·                     Three more partners had joined and the team had reconnected with the Prince’s Trust, improved collaboration with Job Centre plus and was seeking to align the elevate brand with more services.

 

·                     Events would be taking place in March to promote Elevate during careers and apprenticeship week.

 

·                     Recruitment fairs were being arranged later in the year for the Lexicon.

 

·                     The new vacancy tool had been really successful.

 

·                     Bracknell Forest was overachieving on most targets, but work experience remained a problem.

 

Reading

 

·                     Work experience was a problem in Reading too although there was a suspicion it was happening but not being captured.

 

·                     It was hoped to pump prime activity from the EU money. 

 

·                     A lot of agencies were now working in the Hub.

 

·                     A pop-up business event was taking place at the Oracle.

 

·                     Recruitment fairs were being arranged.

 

·                     Construction opportunities were being sought and offered.

 

·                     An insurance broker tool was available from which it was possible to see everything that was available. 

 

Slough

 

·                     A Skills Strategy had been produced which was effectively a delivery plan for Elevate and had been endorsed by local partners. 

 

·                     The budget had been re-profiled.

 

·                     Two events had been held in January leading to engagement with 20 people who had been difficult to reach

 

·                     An LMI tool on growth sectors was now live on the web site and was being used by schools.

 

·                     Work experience was also a problem in Slough but otherwise all work was on target.

 

West Berkshire

 

·                     It was now very much business as usual.

 

·                     There was now a very low number of NEETs with 11% more leaving than joining the cohort making it harder to find them.

 

·                     Some employers were struggling to find young people to employ.

 

·                     Everything was positive but there were significant financial pressures facing the Council as a result of the Local Government Finance Settlement.

 

Wokingham

 

·                     Consolidating the programme had been the priority over the past two months.

 

·                     All targets except work experience were being met.

 

·                     An Employment Skills Plan was being produced..

 

·                     Something about the car park at the carnival pool?

 

·                     An apprentice had been interviewed on BBC Radio Berkshire thereby providing a publicity boost for Elevate.

 

Paul Gresty provided a brief summary of corporate activity, advising that:

 

·                     The team was trying to knit all activity together under the Elevate brand.

 

·                     A bid for DfE funding had been successful.

 

·                     Work was continuing with the LEP and the Business Growth Hub.

 

·                     The aim was to make Elevate the one organization with which businesses engaged.

 

·                     In terms of long term sustainability, the shape of local delivery models and working together was under review..

 

·                     Existing structures were being re-engineered using elevate as the catalyst.

 

Nigel Horton-Baker added that the NEETs were largely taking care of themselves.  However, those 18-25 year-olds not statutorily tracked were a problem and therefore there was a need to do some outreach work.  It was estimated that there were three to four times the number of those not being tracked compared to those who were registered.  Therefore, NEET data did not really paint the true picture of need.  It was added that another issue that needed consideration was under-employment.  There was a need to do work to tempt them to upskill.  More work would be done in schools in due course.

 

Tim Smith added that The LEP had agreed that the contract for the existing Business Growth Hub operator, VitalSix Ltd, should be extended from 1 April 2016 for a maximum of 12 months with break clauses at 3, 6 & 9 months.  An intermediate delivery plan must include reference to engagement with ConnectTVT, the Elevate Me Programme and the to-be-appointed Careers & Enterprise Co-ordinator. The LEP was highly likely to be awarded £600,000 to fund a Business Growth Hub in 2016/17 and 2017/18; when combined with the RDA Legacy Funds this took the available funding to in excess of £800,000, which if used as match for ESIF presented a real opportunity for the longevity and functionality of the Hub service.  A meeting was scheduled with other GTV LEPs to explore collaboration across geographies on any residual assets of the defunct national Business Growth Service.  It had also agreed that, during this quarter, an in-depth review of the Business Growth Hub function would be necessary to inform the procurement of an operator for the medium term.

 

The Chairman thanked everyone for their updates and encouraged them to maintain the progress despite the ongoing delay in approval of the EUSIF funding application.