Agenda item

The Committee received a report of the Corporate Director of Regeneration Economy and Growth that set out the current progress in supporting skills developments across County Durham in line with the Inclusive Economic Strategy (IES) and Delivery Plan. The report highlighted recent policy changes and reflects current funding opportunities presented by the County’s UK Shared Prosperity Fund allocation in addition to work underway at a regional level as part of the Devolution of the adult skills budget. Members also received a presentation from the Economic Development Manager (for copy of report and presentation slides, see file of minutes).

The Head of Economic Development provided a detailed presentation that focused on the:-

·      Baseline Position;

·      Emerging Skills Issues;

·      Regional Skills Focus;

·      Inclusive Economic Strategy (IES) Skills Priorities

·      Shared Prosperity Commissions.

With regards to the emerging skills issues at a National Level, the Head of Economic Development highlighted that there was a need to focus on Lifelong Learning and reposition the economy post Covid in terms of skills deficiencies with a particular focus on skills for jobs, boosting apprenticeships, traineeships and basic skills levels in to meet employer needs and individual aspirations.

Focus would continue to develop technical education levels with the move towards the 2nd generation T-level qualification. It was noted that within the County, the Institution of Technology was the largest early adopter of the T-level qualification and was hosted by New College Durham (NCD).

The narrative at a nation level and Overview and Scrutiny discussions highlighted the lack of employer awareness around technical qualification. There were continued discussions with employers to articulate the skills required in terms of technical skills or a mixture of technical skills and soft skills which would be built into the business support programme.

The Head of Economic Development highlighted that green skills was an area of rapid development. Objectives to support a low carbon economy was included in the IES and green jobs were being embedded across a wide range of sectors and job roles. With regards to employability, soft skills such as critical thinking, innovation and collaboration remained an important part of skills development and the green transition and needed to be embedded to develop opportunities. It was noted that 80% of the 2030 workforce were already in employment and the green skills transition would mainly involve upskilling existing workers with a range of education providers in place to support and deliver training. A Green Jobs Delivery Group had been established to set out plans to grow a green workforce and to embed in the Local Skills Improvement Plans (LSIPs).

As part of the Devolution Deal, there was a clear focus on improving the skills system within the North East. The Combined Authority would be responsible for the £64 million skills budget and the priority was to set up processes to ensure that colleges and training providers had funding in place to deliver from the 1 August 2024 and to put in place a skills strategy to ensure that the Devolution ambition was supported by the skills strategy to drive protectivity and support progression of individuals.

Mrs Morris thanked the Economic Development Manager for a comprehensive overview of the skills level. She suggested that a structure was needed, and asked whether Durham would put something together to engage with the relevant parties/groups and how would this be delivered. She asked about the roles of the Local Enterprise Business Partnership and the consultant, adding that this was about individuals obtaining the best role in employment. She advised that the best place to provide future careers advice and support was in schools and asked about engaging schools in the process, as there was a variation in provision within schools. She continued that some schools were better that others with regards to providing careers advice.

The Head of Economic Development advised that this was a national issue and work experience for school aged children had ended. He added that County Durham aimed to build a careers framework as a local resolution to a national issue. He confirmed that developing the framework was ongoing with UKSPF set aside and work was ongoing to identify future skills demands to ensure that colleges and training providers deliver the right training. 

Mrs Morris noted in the presentation that some of the FE colleges were the main recipients of the funding and were delivering various skills courses in the county, however other FE colleges in the county were not delivering those courses and therefore not in receipt of the associated funding. She asked how could anyone from North West Durham access courses that were only available at NCD or East Durham College. She added that no part of the county should miss out and that all young people should have access to the courses available or the county would lose out on developing a skilled workforce.

The Economic Development Manager assured the committee that work had been carried out with other colleges and that regular meetings were held with training providers and that there were collaborative projects undertaken with other colleges, although there was independent collaboration too. The County Durham Economic Partnership and its sub-groups involved various colleges within the county, and it was confirmed that the colleges had been involved in the work on the Inclusive Economic Strategy. In addition, Schools and FE Colleges sit on the County Durham Economic Partnership Skills Development Group. He explained that the skills offer was available in all parts of County Durham, however Derwentside College used a different model offer than other colleges with a focus on apprenticeships. In relation to going forward, he confirmed that the service was looking at the provider base and used a postcode mapping to identify where the demands for skills were and what skills providers needed to supply.

Mrs Morris commented that she would like to see an action plan model for the whole of the county.

Councillor Lines referred to Durham County Council using business and enterprise and highlighted that the private sector had an insight into the skills needed in the short to long term. He asked what was being done to harness this insight. He continued by asking what was being done collectively to inform young people about skills and jobs to inspire them on how skills shape the economy. He then referred to NETPark’s Science Live that had input with local schools.

The Head of Economic Development advised that the jobs on offer at NETPark were technical jobs and that it was exciting to engage with young people in all sectors. He confirmed that the UTC at Newton Aycliffe was heavily involved in inspiring young people in relation to various technical jobs. In addition, there was the Catapult and the various outreach programmes, together with the Future Business Magnets Programme, that would attract young people to become involved in business ideas, It was noted that there was a national challenge to obtain involvement from science parks. He acknowledged that more could be done in relation to NETPark and getting local communities engaged in the work being undertaken on the site. 

Councillor Adam suggested that employers did not understand the skills offer available with employers upskilling existing employees rather than taking on apprentices and new employees and that they needed to hear more about the opportunities available via the apprenticeship offer. He continued that in relation to the green skills gap with demand outstripping the available workforce, attracting people to this sector was difficult as the green industry currently does not employ in large numbers. He questioned how could you attract to jobs that were currently not on offer. He referred to funding that was available, however this was mainly going to digital areas rather than green jobs.

The Economic Development Manager advised that Durham County Council had done a lot of work in relation to apprentices and had developed and managed an apprenticeship programme with Government funding across the county creating over a thousand apprenticeship opportunities for young people. He confirmed that work was ongoing at a regional level focusing on lifting the number of apprenticeships with discussions taking place with the Department for Education. He continued that Devolution was an important part of the skills offer with businesses invited to become involved in the future ambition for the North East. He added that there was alignment with FE colleges and skills for the future however it was difficult to quantify what they were contracted to deliver. He continued that money drives behaviours and there were issues with attracting people to sign up for training if it was not directly linked to a job opportunity as people were reluctant to fund themselves and highlighted the need for an effective joined up approach.

The Chair suggested that as the council were administering the UKSPF funds, there should be a mechanism to monitor FE colleges performance and see how they were delivering opportunities via a report showing delivery. He continued that he did not want to see the NELSIP distracting from the skill development needs of County Durham residents and concluded by highlighting the need for funding to go to the end user rather than funding the administration costs of the scheme. 

Resolved:

i)    That the work undertaken to develop and embed the Local Skills Improvement Plan be noted;

ii)   That the development, commissioning and delivery of skills initiatives in line with the People Theme of the Inclusive Economic Strategy be noted.