Agenda and minutes

Members of the Committee noted apologies from Councillors Munawar and his substitute, Councillor Hussain of Slough Borough Council. Councillor Lovelock of Reading Borough Council had also tendered her apologies.

To elect the Chairman of the Committee for the 2016/17 municipal year.

As the meeting was inquorate, a Chairman was not eligible to be elected for the municipal year. Councillor Munro acted as Chairman for the meeting.

To appoint the Vice-Chairman of the Committee for the 2016/17 municipal year.

As the meeting was inquorate, a Vice-Chairman was not eligible to be elected.

There were no declarations of interest.

To approve the minutes of the last meeting held on 22 January 2016 and receive updates on any issues not covered elsewhere on the agenda.

The minutes of the meeting of the Committee held on 22 January 2016 be approved as a correct record and signed by the Chairman.

To provide the Joint Committee with an update on ESF funding

Members of the Committee received an update on the ESF.

The Elevate Berkshire programme had been the first programme nationally to get a funding agreement and go through pre-inception visits with the Department of Education, and had been the first nationally to submit a bid for the EU SIF. A partnership agreement for a twelve year period had been signed.

The first funding claim for £430,000 had been submitted by Reading, and it was hoped that this money would be transferred in the following weeks. The claim for April – June 2016 was due on 4 August 2016, and it was expected that this would be around £300,000.

 Partners were reminded that although work had gone on to identify and mitigate against any possible risks, the responsibilities and risks were still shared across the participating Local Authorities. Members of the Committee were asked to encourage officers to comply with the requirements of the partnership agreement and of the terms of the funding.

Work was ongoing towards a method of tracking the output of the Elevate programme, as data was required on this. It was noted that for Claim 3, the output manager may be challenging underperformance in Local Authorities if necessary.

During the ensuing discussion, the following points were raised:

·         The hard work of Paul Gresty and team was recognised, and members of the Committee thanked them. It was stressed that the Elevate work should not lose sight of the opportunities for young people.

·         It was requested that an update report/summary could be provided on a frequency to be determined.

·         It was requested that a monthly update report be submitted to the LEP Forum.

To receive an update on the Employment is Everyone’s Business project.

Kathy Melling and Nerise Oldfield-Thompson from the British Association of Supported Employment (BASE) attended the meeting to give an update on the Employment is Everyone’s Business Project.

The Employment is Everyone’s Business Project had been originally funded by a grant from the Department for Education, and in Berkshire the project had partnered with Elevate.

In establishing baseline data, the Project had witnessed an insight into Local Authority practice nationally and had recognised that some Local Authorities were unsure of their provision for supported employment, whilst some were not collecting the data. Questionnaires had been distributed to young people with SEND across Berkshire, and these had revealed the high aspirations of young people including 87% of the surveyed group who wanted to get a job after leaving education. The surveying process had also exposed the gaps in provision in Berkshire, and had identified best practice.

BASE expressed a concern that the focus of Elevate was on young people who were NEET rather than having an equal focus on young people with SEND . It was noted that a lack of focus on young people with SEND could cause a long term cost to the Local Authorities if a young person was reliant on social care through their adult life.

It was reported that there had been a lack of ambition for the achievements of young people with SEND, and that any positive stories of achievements should be promoted as role models for other young people.

BASE recommended that:

·         the action plan for each Local Authority should be kept updated and implemented.

·         employment profiling be embedded into the Educational Health and Care plans for young people, with a view to standardise Educational Health and Care plans across Berkshire

·         supported employment across the Berkshire Local Authorities should be delivered by qualified and trained staff.

·         Each Local Authority should commit to ringfencing resources for young people with SEND, including provision for apprenticeships, internships and work experience

·         Elevate should continue to work with BASE to further develop provision.

Members of the Committee thanked BASE for their update and for their partnership. As the meeting was inquorate, the recommendations could not be resolved but were deferred to a future discussion.

Arising from discussion, the following points were noted:

·         Ways Into Work had been commissioned to work alongside existing supporting employment providers in the Local Authorities to provide s holistic approach.

·         Examples were required of young people transitioning from NEET to EET to supply to the DWP in order to prove that the funding supplied was not proportional to the outputs.

·         Capital funding was available for children of statutory school age, but not for Further Education provision. It was suggested that a Local Authority might approach the EFA if funding for Further Education was required.

·         It was suggested that particular case studies may be costed in order to recognise the financial implications of different supported employment processes. BASE requested that case studies from the special schools be included in this work, as it was recognised that not  ...  view the full minutes text for item 8.

Katharine Horler, Adviza, informed Committee members that Adviza had submitted a successful bid to Impetus PEF for a grant of £515,000. This funding had been allocated to a data dashboard project, intensive support services and aftercare and mentoring of young people in employment. It was hoped that this work would contribute to the Elevate agenda.