Agenda and draft minutes

To receive apologies for absence and to note the attendance of any substitute members.

Apologies were received from Cllr Barnard and Frost

Members are asked to declare any disclosable pecuniary or affected interests and the nature of that interest, including the existence and nature of the party whip, in respect of any matter to be considered at this meeting. Any Member with a Disclosable Pecuniary Interest in a matter should withdraw from the meeting when the matter is under consideration and should notify the Democratic Services Officer in attendance that they are withdrawing as they have such an interest. If the Disclosable Pecuniary Interest is not entered on the register of Members interests the Monitoring Officer must be notified of the interest within 28 days. Any Member with an Affected Interest in a matter must disclose the interest to the meeting. There is no requirement to withdraw from the meeting when the interest is only an affected interest, but the Monitoring Officer should be notified of the interest, if not previously notified of it, within 28 days of the meeting.

Cllr Smith declared an interest as his wife is employed as a teacher at a school in Bracknell Forest.

To receive submissions from members of the public which have been submitted in advance in accordance with the Council’s Public Participation Scheme for Overview and Scrutiny.

No submissions had been made by members of the public under the Council’s Public Participation Scheme for Overview and Scrutiny.

Careers and enterprise strategic lead at the LEP has been invited to provide information regarding their work around the careers network and what help and advice is in place for those young people moving into employment.

They will then respond to any questions.

The strategic careers hub lead for the Berkshire Local Enterprise Partnership (LEP) gave a presentation about the work of the Berkshire Careers hub.

A discussion took place and the following answers were provided:

·        The careers hub is run by a team of 7 people including the strategic hub lead, operational hub lead and enterprise co-ordinators who work with schools.  Enterprise advisors are volunteers who come from businesses to support schools, colleges and the wider network.

·        Success of the career hub was measured via the Gatsby benchmarks.  There are 8 benchmarks that had specific criteria that schools needed to meet.  For example, benchmark one was for a school to have a strategic careers program and plan. This needed to be signed of by governors and evaluated.  The careers and enterprise company provide a free online tool to schools so they can evaluate themselves against the benchmarks.  The careers hub worked with schools to provide best practice and results of the Gatsby benchmark evaluations could be compared to other local authorities.  Data and graphs were available about where schools sit against the benchmarks. 

·        The careers hub did not fund or provide personal careers advice.

·        The careers hub had started working with Bracknell and Wokingham College and hoped to match up an enterprise advisor to support them.  The aim would be to improve employer engagement to develop networks so that people can be matched up with the right employer.

·        Good links were in place, the careers hub worked with the Bracknell Bid and economic development team.  They also attended the headteacher forums where the Gatsby benchmark results are shared.

·        Feedback from young people was obtained via a new questionnaire, the Future Skills Survey with questions such as – Do you understand about apprenticeships, your next transition.  About 4 schools have completed this so far, data was not available yet but it would provide information on aspects providing an impact at different key stages. 

·        Reducing numbers of NEET was being targeted through work with careers leads who often had oversight of those young people at risk of NEET.  Whilst not in Bracknell Forest, funding provided to some alternative provision schools in Berkshire had been used by them to support young people at risk of NEET with support to individuals during school holiday periods and other support like help with attending college or interviews.

·        The conditions for transitions report was shared which illustrated where Berkshire sat nationally regarding apprenticeship and technical education reforms.

·        It was acknowledged that apprenticeships offered were levels 2-7 and there was a lack of level 1 apprenticeships across Berkshire.  The need for level 1 apprenticeship was confirmed, a lack of funding was an issue but they were also looking at ways to collaborate with local authorities and aiming to increase the network of providers.  Another issue was the requirement that employers need young people to have maths and English qualifications.  SSE were noted as a company who have confirmed this doesn’t need to be a requirement and it was suggested that  ...  view the full minutes text for item 14.

The BID manager has been invited to provide information on the work around the Bracknell jobs fair that was recently held at princess square.

They will then respond to any questions.

The BID were invited to this meeting in relation to their work with the Bracknell jobs fair but have been in contact to say they don’t feel at this time that they can offer any data or information to contribute to this review. 

The Cabinet Member for Economy and Regeneration has been invited to provide an update on performance and any issues around the transition from education to employment.

They will then respond to questions.

Councillor Bidwell, Cabinet Member for Economy and Regeneration gave a presentation about economic strategies and the skills hub. A discussion took place and the following points and answers noted:

·        The work of the skills hub focused on peoples work and wellbeing.  Strategic key performance indicators (KPI’s) for apprenticeships started shows good uptake which continued on an upward trajectory.  It was acknowledged that there were limits regarding the timeliness of the data received from the DFE. 

·        A point was raised that partners such as local schools actually received some data ahead of the council and therefore was there a way to improve or maximise data sharing with these partners.  It was felt that over time this was something the skills hub, which opened in early 2024, could develop to form a triangle of information between job seekers, employees and training facilities.

·        The skills hub was developed to obtain feedback from young job seekers, around the types of work and apprenticeships they are looking for, and feed that back to the colleges.  There was a need to encourage more uptake of level 3 and 4 NVQ’s to fill vacancies in the industries in and around Bracknell Forest.  The skills hub was hoping to address matching need for jobs with education. 

·        The location of the Skills Hub in the Open learning centre provided an ideal opportunity to obtain ongoing feedback regarding the requirements of young people and what types of jobs they are looking for.

·        Development of the quality of jobs within the Borough is hoped to retain workers in the area.