Agenda item

Mick Burrows, Chief Executive of Nottinghamshire County Council,

Martin Rigley, Chair, N2 Skills and Employment Board

Martin Rigley, Managing Director of Lindhurst Innovation and Chair of the N2 Skills and Employment Board, and Celia Morris of Nottinghamshire County Council, presented the item outlining the N2 Skills and Employment Board’s plans to create a dynamic local economy via the Employment Framework 2015 - 2020. The following information was highlighted:

(a)  the biggest issue faced is a skills shortage. The Skills Board is employer led and covers most sectors. There is a need to engage small and large business and as a result the following four priorities have been established:

-  Developing an ‘early years to engagement’ approach which ensures that young people in Nottingham and Nottinghamshire are prepared for the world of work and the future needs of our economy;

-  Re-engaging unemployed and disengaged people through pathways that prepare and reintroduce them to the labour market;

-  Ensuring the local workforce develops the higher level skills needed to increase business productivity and competitiveness whilst enabling individuals to fulfil their potential;

-  Making the skills and employment support landscape simpler and more accessible for employers and individuals.

(b)  it is clear that existing good practice needs to be built upon, such as those exhibited at the Mansfield Learning Partnership, as it currently functions well.  Young people should be encouraged to engage with the key sectors for the East Midlands in order to gain the right training provision, and increase graduate attraction and retention;

(c)  Gedling Borough Council is currently working on a project which gives vital information on Small and Medium Business Enterprises (SMEs) and supports apprenticeships;

(d)  currently 32% of graduates are retained in the East Midlands, however further work is required to understand the number of graduates each local authority area retains.  Some areas experience less retention of young people, even though there are a large number of apprenticeships available. A benchmark may be the percentage of Oxbridge graduates which are retained in their local area, though it was acknowledged that Oxford and Cambridge are dissimilar to other Universities. Each constituent council could learn from the each other and this could form part of work of a Combined Authority (CA); 

(e)  the formation of a CA would assist the N2 Skills and Employment Board, and the Board would be able to report back to the Economic Prosperity Committee or the CA. Discussions currently being held around the formation of a CA have included the work of the N2 Skills and Employment Board;

(f)  access to graduate programme funding has caused some concern amongst members as businesses in Ashfield and Mansfield cannot access certain funds because there are several different schemes available in the area, with little crossover. Engagement with an action plan may be needed to deal with administrative boundary issues;

(g)  of the eleven sector priorities identified in the Skills and Employment Framework 2015 – 2020, only ten are addressed in the section titled ‘Developing workforce skills to maximise the potential of N2’ (further work is ongoing regarding Retail and Leisure and Professional services. The priority focusing on transport and logistics is omitted altogether which needs addressing given that both Newark and Sherwood and Bassetlaw Councils contain logistics firms. Nottingham City Council are currently developing a transport hub and would therefore benefit from clarification here.

RESOLVED to

(1)  note the work of the N2 Skills and Employment Board and the N2 Skills and Employment Framework 2015 – 2020;

(2)  share good practice and develop the subject of further education in greater depth;

(3)  clarify how different bids are prioritised;

(4)  schedule a further meeting of all constituent councils using the N2 employment skill partnerships.

Reasons for decision

The N2 Skills and Employment Board is accountable to the Economic Prosperity Committee and the Board’s work can inform the Committee when considering policy to support employment and skills in the region.

Other options considered

No other options were considered because the report is for information only.