New Anglia Skills Advisory Panel Meeting

24^th July 2020

Via Microsoft Teams

MINUTES OF MEETING

In attendance:

Ben Miller, Konica Minolta (BM)

Visitors:

Chris Gribble, Writers’ Centre Norwich

Angela Berry, West Suffolk College (AB)

(CG)

C-J Green, LEP Board/BraveGoose (CJG)

Christine Futter, Norfolk and Suffolk Care

Karin Porter (NCC)

Support (CF)

Polly Bridgman, University of Suffolk (PB)

Claire Cullens, New Anglia LEP Board and

Simon Papworth, New Anglia LEP (SP)

SAP Chair (CC)

Clarke Willis, Swallow Barns (CW)

Apologies:

Cllr Mary Evans, Suffolk County Council

Bev Moxon, ESFA (BMo)

(ME)

Cllr Stuart Clancy, Norfolk County Council

Corrienne Peasgood, City College Norwich

(SC)

(CP)

David Gartland, Abbeygate 6^th Form (DG)

David Pomfret, College of West Anglia

Helen Langton (Professor), University of

(DP)

Suffolk (HL)

Dayle Bayliss, Dayle Bayliss Associates

Lynsey Sweales, representing Norfolk

Glen Todd, New Anglia LEP (GT)

Chamber of Commerce (LS)

Guy Hazelhurst, EDF (GH)

Lucy Walker, ESFA (LW)

Jan Feeney, Norfolk County Council (JF)

Nikos Savvas, West Suffolk College (NS)

Jason Parnell, Steadfast Training (JP)

Peter Funnell, Oakmere Solutions (PF)

Judith Mobbs, Suffolk County Council (JM)

Richard Self, agricultural representative

Julia Nix, DWP (JN)

(RS)

Karen Gibson, Norfolk County Council (KG)

Seb Gasse, NCC (SG)

Michael Gray, Suffolk County Council (MG)

Stuart Rimmer, East Coast College (SR)

Natasha Waller, New Anglia LEP (NW)

Stuart Smith, People with Energy (SS)

Peter Basford, BDO Group (PB)

Tom Humphries, Norfolk County Council

Richard Bridgman, Warren Services (RB)

(TH)

Tom Brown, Green Light Trust (TB)

Tracey Cox, ESFA (TC)

Viv Gillespie, Suffolk New College (VG)

Vince Muspratt, Norfolk County Council

Yvonne Mason, The Mason Trust (YM)

(VP)

Item 1: Welcome

Claire Cullens welcomed everyone to the meeting and especially C-J Green who has recently

joined the LEP Board. CC set out the importance of the SAP objectives that we have been

working on in our champions groups and the direction of travel to date.

CC stressed that the focus of the groups should be on delivering action but being mindful

that there are lots of parallel projects not involving the SAP so it will not just be the sole

work of SAP members.

CC thanked members for engaging in recent champion meetings and explained how critical

skills are in our Covid-19 recovery work. The Recovery Restart plan has a major people

element.

Item 2: The Current Landscape

Data Update - Simon Papworth (SP)

SP had circulated a data presentation prior to the meeting which he summarised. There has been a

large rise in recent months of universal credit claimants which is likely to give an indication that

redundancy levels will subsequently rise. Based on our modelling, our middle case projection puts

redundancies at 15% and typically redundancy levels greater than 10% take a long time to move back

downwards.

It is challenging to keep on top of the plethora of data that is becoming available. Young people are

more likely to be impacted and nearly all sectors have seen a decrease in vacancies being advertised.

DWP Update - Julia Nix (JN)

Julia explained the categories that people fall into when making a successful claim for Universal

Credit. The numbers and speed of this increase has astounded her.

The Job Centre offices have been closed to all but the most vulnerable clients but this is slowly

changing. They are also supporting their employer contacts whether they are recruiting or making

redundancies, e.g. through the Redundancy Advice Network.

The Chancellor has announced a range of support packages and a flyer is being produced

summarising the information. Job Centre staff numbers will be increased to cater for growing

caseload and implementing the policies. New service centres have already come online in Bury St

Edmunds and Lowestoft.

ACTION: CC to identify to the VCSE sector the flexible support fund offer of removing barriers to

employment.

Education Update - Corrienne Peasgood (CP)

Providers are working hard to ensure that all their students get their qualification this academic year.

For the 20/21 academic year, they are seeing a higher demand for full time courses where

apprenticeships are falling through.

Government has announced employer incentives for apprenticeships, traineeships and T levels plus

an increase in the number of level 2 and 3 ‘high value’ courses such as science, engineering, health &

social care. Traineeships are now available to L3 completing students. Catch up funding will also be

available to assist some students to gain vocational skills in the autumn term.

There will also be some higher technical qualifications starting in 2022 including digital.

TG was keen to see more links with the 3^rd sector and CP agreed that there should be more cross

referrals when organisations are better placed to support individuals.

YM asked for more LMI on growing sectors and map it against training. CW also asked for age

profiles. CP and SP stated that this would be coming in subsequent months.

Item 3: Reviewing the progress of the SAP objectives

Objective - Equipping Young People for Success - led by Ben Miller

Objective - Agile and responsive training led by Polly Bridgman on behalf on Lynsey

Sweales

Objective - Driving Skills Progression led by Christine Footer

Objective - Tackling Barriers to Employment led by Guy Hazlehurst

Each champion or education link fed back on their meetings. The notes of these meetings are

summarised in the appendix below.

CC raised the point that the challenge with SAP is we can carry out lots of blue sky thinking

but we need to be really action focussed at the moment and identify a couple of short term

deliverables.

JN was keen for the work to link up with Youth Pledge activity.

JM stated that we need practical support for school age people and support NEETs or those

at risk of becoming NEET.

There was some discussion about whether pay should be included in the discussions plus

options for considering secondments and the NAAME talent sharing platform.

CW raised the point that a recent LEP funding framework was based around reducing staffing

levels in businesses which seemed counter intuitive.

CC is keen that the Tackling Barriers to Employment group includes the Fuller Working Lives

agenda and different health issues that may be barriers.

ACTION: CC will discuss next steps with BM, JM and/or KP.

ACTION: CC to speak to Chris Starkie about LEP funding frameworks.

ACTION: Champions to arrange subsequent meetings and members to alert NW if they feel

they are better placed in other groups or if they need support to gain members from outside

of the SAP.

ACTION: CC & NW to look at cross cutting areas plus request for additional support.

Item 4: AOB

MG updated members on the Skills Deal including latest funding agreement with East Coast

College. He also announced that SCC had been successful in a £1 million ESF Supply Chain

Development programme which will hopefully be up and running by late 2020/early 2021.

The Suffolk Skills & Careers Festival will not run in its usual format in October but a virtual

and roadshow option is being worked on.

CJG commented that ‘skills is such an important priority to achieve sustainability in the region. It

has been inspiring to see such an action orientated panel. Thank you for having me with you as an

observer today’.

CC also thanked the panel and she is excited about what we will be delivering.

Next meeting scheduled for August 27^th at 10am.

Appendix:

New Anglia Skills Advisory Panel

Champions Meeting Feedback Form

Date of Meeting:22/7/20

Champion: Ben Miller

Objective: Equipping Young People for Success

Priority: 1 - ‘Equipping young people with the confidence and work-ready skills’ and 2

- ‘Careers Inspiration & Improvement, CEIAG, employer involvement’

Key discussion points

Are we being ambitious enough?

●

(KP) There was discussion about whether the two priorities are still relevant and ambitious

enough in the current situation. KP and BM had ascertained in advance of the meeting that if

the group wanted to change the priorities it would need a proposal and agreement from the

wider SAP group

● This group should be driven by the need to differentiate between Youth Pledge and other

initiatives

○ Is this an opportunity for a mission/purpose driven stream of work which aims to tackle

a complex social problem (e.g. inequality) but shines a spotlight on positive impact in

people’s wellbeing, learning, work, relationship outcomes?

●

The LEP doesn’t engage directly with young people and I’ve been keen to push this

○

(GT) Limiting this to purely a desktop exercise will be a wasted opportunity

●

The shape of the challenge determines the shape of the solution

○ This work stream and Covid-19 presents an opportunity for an ambitious vision for

young people

○

6% of the public 'want a return to a pre-pandemic economy'

● re we prepared to look at everything which determines a young person’s economic benefit to

the region e.g. health, education, personal development, experience, parents, housing,

geography, wealth

●

How do we use Covid-19, and ecological collapse to create a powerful learning opportunity?

○ Complex problems are daunting because we think we have to solve them alone but

these should be a learning experience we all go on...

○ Bring people from all walks of life together, develop experiential learning, project

driven work experiences, community building, and create a multi industry ecosystem

(energy, food, tourism, green tech, supply chains, finance, health) to explore how do

we transform the region into the greenest/most sustainable region in the UK? This

would also need to address social justice issues e.g. inequality, jobs, mental health etc

■ Aspiration, skills building, resilience, adaptability would be built into something

like this…

What problems are we solving?

● Is this project a ‘means to an end’ with our primary focus on delivering short term transaction

benefits and economic growth, or are we putting young people’s lives front and centre?

○ By helping people, economic benefits will follow?

● By focusing on disadvantaged young people, are we actually trying to reduce inequality

○ Rising inequality harms productivity, the economy, and social cohesion

○ Social mobility isn’t improving, why? We need to get to the root causes

■ Covid-19 exacerbates inequalities, do we tackle these now or wait several

years to address a worse problem?

■

(TB) is keen on us developing this work stream around helping the

disadvantaged

● We both see a greater uplift in potential by creating hope amongst the

left behind

●

(TB) there will be less impact with developing high fliers, so priorities

could be disadvantaged, border line, high fliers

○ Govt. has a levelling up agenda, can we as a LEP be bold and proactive in addressing

this?

○ There is huge untapped potential in so many left behind kids

■

(I wasn’t employable at 18 but people gave me chances and allowed me to

make mistakes)

■ I care about us creating the conditions for disadvantaged kids to have the same

opportunities (if 25/50% of local young people shifted from being dependent

on society to changing society, the benefits would be astronomical)

How are you going to achieve it and what are your milestones?

○ TBC

○ We spoke at length about ambition, the problems, philosophy, and didn’t have time to

discuss milestones...

Are there any barriers?

○ Resources (people’s time)

○ The need to keep the lights on whilst simultaneously reinventing the future

○ Not ambitious enough

○ Bridging of silos/projects to create a unified purpose

○ Employers can’t go into schools due to Covid

Who else would you like in the group?

○ EDUC TION, pre 11’s

■

(KP) The group identified a need to get representation from schools but with

the caveat that there should be clarity on what the ask is and what we expect

from them

○ Judith Mobbs will join next group to assist

Links with the other SAP objectives

○ Agile and responsive training

■ Wait to see groups presentation to recognise link

○ Driving skills progression

■ Experiential learning and mentoring can help contextualise development and

promote skills progression

○ Tackling barriers to employment

■ Working with NEETs and disadvantaged

How are you planning to involve beneficiaries in the design of the project?

Who are the beneficiaries?

●

(CP) raised this as a question - there are other groups/forums that put the young person at the

centre, notably the Education & Training Strategy Group and the Opportunity Area work, and

that the ‘USP’ of the S P is that it is coming very much from an economic perspective.

○ Should it be young people, or business?

○

(KP) suggested (later conversation) that we think about Equipping Young People

stream as people centred and Inspiring Career Experiences business focused

○ Require insight and participation from a diverse range of young people

■ Youth Advisory Board

■ InCare network

■ Greenlight Trust insight

■ Mainstream education

■ My Health, Our Future (HWS)

■ UoS Youth Intervention Fund

What data requirements will you need?

○ Desktop research

■ Mapping youth sector research + active initiatives in region

○ Social mobility

■ Inequality insight

■ NEET data for schools/councils

○ Momentum mapping

○ Details of Norfolk (CC?) experiment with Doughnut Economics

How are you embedding some of the golden threads - clean recovery/growth,

productivity, place and mental health?

● This is an opportunity to be brave and use the crisis to solve meaningful

problems and co-create an optimistic future for individuals, business, and

region at large

● Young people who are engaged and inspired will be more productive,

creative, as well as benefiting our community more broadly

● We need to think about individuals as whole beings, health, skills,

identity, purpose, relationships, connection with nature and belonging to

support people towards their true potential

New Anglia Skills Advisory Panel

Champions Meeting Feedback Form

Date of Meeting: 21/07/2020

Champion: Lynsey Sweales

Objective: Providing Agile & Responsive Training Provision for Key Sectors

Priority: Training Providers response to the sector skills plans

Key discussion points

There is a large number of reports and plans at the moment and it is tricky for those not

living and breathing them to truly understand the strategic links and hierarchy of value.

We revisited the cross cutting report as a holistic view of the skills landscape and

aspirations.

Importance of careers inspiration for all ages reviewed.

Important to bring in the economic need for particular skills and training plus also not to

underestimate the ‘nice to have’ aspects, e.g. lifestyle choices for being based in the

region, social values, support networks.

Lockdown has forced the acceleration of online learning and has impacted people in

different ways. It appeals to the learning style of some learners but not all so a blended

approach will be important moving forward but a review of the standards/levels of

teaching and learning.

How are you going to achieve it and what are your milestones?

- We need to come back together in September and take discussions forward.

- Socialise ideas with other SAP/LEP members and amend accordingly in early

Autumn

- Agree by end of 2020.

Are there any barriers?

- Workloads but we all see a value to us having this to support our wider work

Who else would you like in the group?

- Curriculum leader(s)

- Careers adviser(s)

- Someone who is involved in FE teacher training

Links with the other SAP objectives

- All link in with this as the training needs to be suitable for a wide audience

How are you planning to involve beneficiaries in the design of the project?

Involving the curriculum leaders will show whether aspirations will be embedded in

curriculum design.

We can invite some LEP funded projects to meet with us to test if having some skills

related outcomes in funding bids would have changed their response.

What data requirements will you need?

As we refine our ideas, it would be good to get information about uptake levels of

different courses, sector group, skills shortages, etc

How are you embedding some of the golden threads - clean recovery/growth,

productivity, place and mental health?

Clean recovery/growth and productivity are likely areas that we ask for in our

statement.

Under the social value then mental health will be considered here.

Priority: Tutor shortages in key sectors

Key discussion points

For HE, it can be difficult to attract people to work in Suffolk.

FE lecturers need to be all rounders - subject knowledge, educators, theory v practical

skills in many cases.

Some subject areas have shortages throughout the education sector.

FE lecturers are not ‘celebrated’.

Challenge for lecturers to keep current sector knowledge and skills set.

New tutors need support from peers and there needs to be more sharing of expertise

across providers plus admin support.

How are you going to achieve it and what are your milestones?

- Review the activities of SE LEP with their recruitment drive - next meeting

- Need to gather some examples of good practice that is currently taking place or in the

last few years - early autumn

- Identify pilots we can run in 2021.

Are there any barriers?

- Need providers to be open to testing options plus businesses to release staff to

support education.

Who else would you like in the group?

- industry representatives for sectors that it is hard for colleges to recruit lecturers.

- new lecturers

- Someone who is involved in FE teacher training

- College HR manager

Links with the other SAP objectives

Driving Skills Progression

Equipping Young People for Success

How are you planning to involve beneficiaries in the design of the project?

Through including new lecturers in the group.

What data requirements will you need?

LMI on growing sectors to map against current provision and student numbers.

How are you embedding some of the golden threads - clean recovery/growth,

productivity, place and mental health?

When monitoring sickness levels in education, mental health is likely to be a key

reason (https://schoolsweek.co.uk/ucl-ioe-study-1-in-20-teachers-long-lasting-mental-

health-problem/). Supporting new lecturers to develop into the role should assist this

plus being able to provide additional staff will reduce the amount of cover that needs to

take place which is stressful.

Different colleges may need different lecturers so a place based approach together

with a LEP area focus will be important.

New Anglia Skills Advisory Panel

Champions Meeting Feedback Form

Date of Meeting: 15^th July 2020

Champion: Christine Futter

Objective: Driving Skills Progression for the Workforce

Priority: Develop a higher level version of Skills Support for the Workforce & Clear

Pathways to enter/progress and move between key sectors

Key discussion points

Considered continued relevance and suitability of the priorities

• Agreed that a focus on addressing the objective from both an employer and an

individual focus remains important

• Agreed that the two priorities remain relevant but wider contextual changes

including COVID-19 will mean there are additional barriers (detailed below)

Further development of the priorities

•

Digital skills are both a necessary focus going forward and an opportunity. The

need will have been accelerated by COVID-19 as businesses look to diversify

and ensure they are able to compete. This has been seen in the food supply

chain which has been fairly resilient and has soaked up new jobs but movement

to digital has resulted in a challenge around digital skills. Equipping our

workforce and individuals with digital skills will make them more employable and

adaptable going forward. Other skills that would be useful to focus on include

technical, personable and management skills.

•

Proactive messaging for businesses and individuals around investing in people

to future-proof business well beyond the short-term considerations of the

pandemic.

•

Raising adult inspiration and motivation and ensuring they have access to the

right information will be required moving forward. Need to look at how we can do

this - feels like there is not sufficient information and advice available. Could

look at something similar to icanbea… for adults?

•

Could look to have a targeted approach - identifying those businesses that have

the greatest potential to create productivity and inclusive growth. Target them to

make sure they are aware of and - where relevant - making use of support to

help them upskill their workforce.

•

Could we consider any barriers to training imposed through employment law - is

there a case for some flexibilities and freedoms from Govt. in the current

climate? (e.g. required HR process - R Bridgman highlighted)

• As well as directly providing the training to progress individuals - also

considered the merits of mentoring businesses/employers re: development and

progressions of staff.

How are you going to achieve it and what are your milestones?

First Actions

• Identify whether there is enough support coming forward from Govt. and

organisations across the region that could comprise a ‘higher level version of

SSW’ and could feasibly be provided to local employers as a package - e.g.

Supply Chain Skills Development Fund

• Develop a list of key audiences and key messages that could form part of the

communications campaign utilising new channels (e.g. social media)

underpinning these priorities. Consider what a progression ‘toolkit’ might

comprise of.

• This would include: benefits of growing your own, skills development as an

investment not a cost -Investing in upskilling enables organisations to position

themselves strategically as we begin to recover from COVID-19- it also helps

individuals prepare for and thrive in the future world of work

• Consider setting up a workshop with a cross-section of our local economy to

consider if there is any potential lobbying to be undertaken re: employment law

flexibilities.

• Produce a specification around the data requirements (as below) to take the

development of these priorities forward.

Are there any barriers?

• Lots of people on furlough will be made redundant - priority is going to be

redeployment and support of those people - have to ensure they are going into

employment with progression, not just any job.

• In new labour market climate businesses will find it easier to find ‘new’

employees so not as incentivised to invest in own workforce.

• Concern that businesses will not invest when economy is so uncertain.

• Employer and individual engagement - group still thinks this could be much

slicker in this region - we need better, clearer means of accessing support and

information (e.g. from the Growth Hub)

• Lack of HR capacity in some SMEs to develop a culture of continued

professional development.

• Behavioural changes because people may be more content to progress more

slowly than would otherwise have been the case pre-COVID-19 - ‘happy to

have a job’.

Who else would you like in the group?

Representation from (as and when required):

• Chambers of Commerce

• Growth Hub - Dean Pierpoint?

• Need strong link across to the removing barriers to employment group and work

of DWP - rep from DWP?

• Adult Learning Representatives

• Communications Expertise - LEP/ LA?

Links with the other SAP objectives

Clear link across to the removing barriers to employment group as will need to link to

the redeployment actions.

Clear link to the responsive and agile training - need to equip the workforce with skills

required by the economy if they are to progress.

How are you planning to involve beneficiaries in the design of the project?

• Beneficiaries are employers and employees (training providers could also be

included here)- will look to utilise small focus groups but approach will need to

be involve more than this. Will be confirmed as activity becomes more defined.

• Already have representation of these beneficiaries in the groups.

What data requirements will you need?

• Need a clear understanding of the support available now and likely to be made

available going forward including understanding what the Govt/DWP offer is and

ensure we maximise benefits for Norfolk and Suffolk.

• Need to have a clear understanding of the ‘origin’ (declining, less in demand)

sectors and skillsets that individuals are likely to need to move from and the

‘destination’ sectors and roles that individuals could move to. Then identify any

‘bridging’ requirements (i.e. to tailor a previously held and make it applicable to a

new role/industry) - could be fulfilled through various routes including

apprenticeships?

How are you embedding some of the golden threads - clean recovery/growth,

productivity, place and mental health?

• Clear link between mental health and having the ability and opportunity to

progress.

• Could look to encourage development of a management and leadership

provision with a focus on mental health and wellbeing of employees.

• Productivity - considered in discussion around targeting businesses that would

have the biggest impact on creating productivity and inclusive growth.

• Clean recovery/growth - promoting skills that enable cleaner ways of working.

Could be embedded in training to facilitate progression towards utilising ‘cleaner’

methods and technology.

New Anglia Skills Advisory Panel

Champions Meeting Feedback Form

Date of Meeting:

Champion: Guy Hazlehurst

Objective: Tackling Barriers to Employment

Priority:

The two key priorities previously agreed are:

o Pathways to employment including Fuller Lives Agenda

o Basic Skills

Key discussion points

The group considered an approach through key themes:

o Diversity

o Skills Development Through Supply Chains

o Effective Use of Flexible Budgets

The key themes from the discussion were:

• Visibility of what is already happening and a cohesive approach to presenting that offer

making it easy for an individual to navigate (Julia has already started work on this)

• A recognition that we need to respond swiftly so that young people in particular are not left

waiting until the Gov scheme gets up and running later in the year, possibly with short term

training provision starting over the summer and into Autumn which is linked to jobs (WSC and

others would be willing to engage, also Julia’s work on Norwich for Jobs)

• Further investigation of the redundancy triage service (RTS) that would include a range of wrap

around services such as CV builder, IACG etc (Jan and Julia meeting with LEP on Thursday

about redundancy support, we could lobby for the RTS)

• Further investigation of the Supply Chain Incentive (Guy you are already doing something on

this)

• A longer-term ambition could be the development of a virtual commissioning model for the

AEB (more effective use of flexible budgets, that could also include DWP budgets?)

How are you going to achieve it and what are your milestones?

Short- term ambitions that we and the SAP can support in the next 6 months

• Visibility of what is already happening in supporting people to the workplace and a cohesive

approach to presenting that offer, this could link to the redundancy triage service, a portal

housed by the LEP that will, through a series of questions, signpost individuals to the most

appropriate path for their needs

• The SAP could seek to influence stakeholders to support DWP in promoting and

implementation of the various national initiatives such as kick start and sector-based work

academies

Are there any barriers?

Time is always a barrier but for young people in particular we know that the kickstart scheme is not

likely to start until November, that will be too long to wait for many, and some will disengage and start

to feel anxious or possibly depressed. We need to work collectively to respond in a timely fashion with

short term training provision starting over the summer and into Autumn which is linked to jobs

Who else would you like in the group?

We did n’t discuss this so not sure at this stage

Links with the other SAP objectives

Agile and Responsive Training Provision: The discussion started to explore the notion that businesses

are not always clear about what skills they need. A skills matrix could be utilised to help them to

consider their needs to which FE providers would then respond. How do we develop the talent pool?

Equipping Young People for Success: A good deal of our discussion focussed on the need to support

young people in accessing employment and the current economic climate suggests they will be

particularly affected by the effects in C19 on the economy

How are you planning to involve beneficiaries in the design of the project?

Skills and training provision will collect feedback from participants as part of internal evaluation

processes. The redundancy triage service will seek feedback on the user experience helping the

evolution of the site

What data requirements will you need?

DWP will presumably collect data on participant numbers for each programme such as kick start

Data on the number of users of the redundancy triage site and where possible successful referrals to

projects or programmes

How are you embedding some of the golden threads - clean recovery/growth,

productivity, place and mental health?