David Cook, Chairman of the Economic and
Skills Development Partnership (ESDP) and Victor Nicholls,
Assistant Chief Executive, gave a presentation on the work of the
Partnership. The Chairman commented that the Executive Member,
Councillor Brunel-Walker, had been invited to the meeting but had
been unable to attend due to work commitments abroad.
They reported that the Partnership had
increased its business representation and had identified five
priority areas:
- Education and Skills
- Infrastructure
- Inward Investment
- Community
- Communications
Mr Cook reported that, since becoming
Chairman, he had tried to bring business process to Partnership
meetings. Each Sub-Group had a Chair who reported back on progress
to the Partnership with the work being done outside of the
meetings.
Arising from Members’ questions and
comments, the following points were noted:
- Two careers events had been held
this year (in January and October) and all of the Borough secondary
schools had sent all of their Year 9 and 11 pupils to at least one
of the events.
- The relationship between the ESDP
and the Local Enterprise Partnership (LEP) was positive. Mr Cook
was also Director of the LEP and reported that the LEP sought to
persuade government of the need to invest in the economic
powerhouse of the South East of England, and attracted inward
investment into Berkshire, whilst the ESDP sought to bring that
investment into Bracknell
- The ESDP was working with the
National Apprenticeship Service to encourage greater take up of
apprenticeships as there were currently more apprenticeships
available than applicants.
- It was acknowledged that the long
rail journey time to London put Bracknell at a disadvantage that
would be exacerbated with the advent of Crossrail. However the ESDP
was promoting Bracknell as a good place to do business with good
links to Heathrow, good road connectivity and vacant office space
with relatively low rents. Superfast Broadband was a significant
initiative to improve local infrastructure. One member commented on
patchy broadband connectivity along the train route to Waterloo,
and the Assistant Chief Executive undertook to follow that up.
- There was a mismatch between
employers’ requirements and the skills of students leaving
schools and colleges. The UK did not value engineering and
technical qualifications as highly as other countries, and some
employers said that job applicants were not ‘work
ready’ in terms of essential skills such as communication and
team working. There needed to be more dialogue between business and
education but there was no short term solution as schools were
measured by performance indicators which were not based on the
world of work.
- Current employment
opportunities included logistics, hospitality and catering. Such
services tended to be sourced locally, unlike recruitments from
Higher Education, which tended to be met at a national
level.
- It was noted that the Principal of
Bracknell and Wokingham College and a representative of the Local
Education Authority were members of the ESDP.
With regard to future action it was agreed
that the Partnership and the Local Authority should do all they
could to generate confidence and positively market the whole
Borough of Bracknell Forest as a place to do business. It was also
suggested that Mr Cook should attend the Annual Bracknell School
Governors Conference.
The Commission thanked Mr Cook and the
Assistant Chief Executive for their informative presentation.