New Anglia Skills Advisory Panel Meeting

May 2021

Via Microsoft Teams

MINUTES OF MEETING

In attendance:

Adrian Orr, Suffolk County Council (AO)

Christine Futter, Norfolk and Suffolk Care

Support (CF)

Claire Cullens, New Anglia LEP Board and

SAP Chair (CC)

Clarke Willis, Swallow Barns (CW)

Corrienne Peasgood, City College Norwich

(CP)

David Pomfret, College of West Anglia

(DP)

Dayle Bayliss, Dayle Bayliss Associates

(DB)

Glen Todd, New Anglia LEP (GT)

Guy Hazlehurst, EDF (GH)

Jan Feeney, Norfolk County Council (JF)

Jason Parnell, Steadfast Training (JP)

Karin Porter, Norfolk County Council (KP)

Lucy Walker, ESFA (LW)

Michael Gray, Suffolk County Council (MG)

Natasha Waller, New Anglia LEP (NW)

Nova Fairbank, Norfolk Chamber of

Commerce (NF)

Paul Simon, Suffolk Chamber of

Commerce

Seb Gasse, NCC (SG)

Stuart Rimmer, East Coast College (SR)

Stuart Smith, People with Energy (SS)

Tom Brown, Green Light Trust (TB)

Yvonne Mason, The Mason Trust (YM)

Visitors:

Catherine Richards, East Norfolk 6

Form

(CR)

Ed Shorthouse, New Anglia LEP (ES)

Ellen Goodwin, New Anglia LEP (EG)

Laraine Moody, West Suffolk College (LM)

Mary Scales, DWP (MS)

Polly Bridgman, University of Suffolk (PB)

Simon Papworth, New Anglia LEP (SP)

Apologies:

Ben Miller, Independent (BM)

Bev Moxon, ESFA (BMo)

Chris Gribble, Writers’ Centre Norwich

(CG)

Cllr Mary Evans, Suffolk County Council

(ME)

Cllr Stuart Clancy, Norfolk County Council

(SC)

David Gartland, Abbeygate 6

Form (DG)

Helen Langton (Professor), University of

Suffolk (HL)

Julia Nix, DWP (JN)

Karen Gibson, Norfolk County Council (KG)

Nikos Savvas, West Suffolk College (NS)

Peter Basford, BDO Group (PB)

Richard Bridgman, Warren Services (RB)

Richard Self, agricultural representative

(RS)

Tom Humphries, Norfolk County Council

(TH)

Tracey Cox, ESFA (TC)

Vince Muspratt, Norfolk County Council

(VP)

Viv Gillespie, Suffolk New College (VG)

Item 1: Welcome

Claire Cullens welcomed everyone to the meeting and especially Adrian Orr who is replacing

Judith Mobbs on the SAP. Adrian explained that his portfolio was slightly different to Judith’s

but his background is in education and he is looking forward to working more closely with

the Panel.

The minutes were reviewed and approved. All actions had been followed up.

Item 2: Clean Growth Taskforce

Ellen Goodwin, Infrastructure Manager from the LEP explained that our Board had agreed to have

Clean Growth as a Golden Thread. A paper is going to the next LEP Board meeting to establish a Clean

Growth Taskforce. The proposal includes having a SAP member on the taskforce.

The LEP have been mapping out what other groups have been meeting with a focus on clean growth.

The focus will include decarbonising transport, skills and businesses moving towards net zero.

Meetings will be quarterly and will have an ambassador/cross-cutting role.

ACTION: Nominations from members to be sent to Natasha Waller

Item 3: Government White Paper – Skills for jobs: lifelong learning for opportunity and

growth / Skills Accelerator

Overview:

CC stated that our agenda reflects the evolving role of the SAP. The employer voice is increasingly

to be heard, FE needs to be agile and adaptable to the workforce and we need to be involved in

the levelling up agenda.

The SAP should collaborate and support multiple skills initiatives with a strategic view. It is

important to see how bids work together, ensure they are the best possible and then lead them to

success. We provide an agency view which leads to action.

CC is going to propose to the LEP Board in June that we have a greater focus on ‘Driving Skills

Progression for the Workforce’. This chimes with Government policy, covid recovery and fewer

initiatives around this objective.

SP added that this draws on the next steps needed following the publication of our Local Skills

Report. Attainment levels are lower than the national average in Norfolk and Suffolk so there is a

need for lifelong learning/upskilling/reskilling which should raise productivity.

There is also an ageing population generally and in the workforce, particularly in areas where we

need there to be key growth, e.g. engineering and agri-food. We should not just focus on the

young and leave a gap in the middle age group.

SP also stated that the Chamber’s quarterly economic survey shows training budgets have

decreased over the last decade.

Local Skills Improvement Plans (LSIP):

NF explained that the Chambers proposal was focusing on the coast but with wider support

across Norfolk and Suffolk. The coast has been hardest hit by Covid, there are strategic

opportunities and we can support levelling up. Therefore, the bid will offer value for money.

This bid should address deprivation in coastal and rural areas. It will address low aspirations,

economic challenges, lead to modular, employer led training and build on the SAP/SSPs. It will

capitalise on stakeholders including education, other membership organisations, the LEP and the

county council.

It is important to understand the education landscape and businesses and get real time

intelligence. An employer challenge group will also be established with businesses, colleges and

our SAP Chair. We need to bridge the gap between employer demand and education for now and

in the future. We need to continually get employer data and measure their satisfaction levels.

Digital media technology will be used to host forum/noticeboards thus driving employers to tell

us what they need. This will be followed by in-depth conversation with them and providers.

The bid is more around eligibility rather than our plans for the area. Deadline is the 25/05/21 with

initial feedback late June/early July and then negotiation around the contract if successful over the

summer with inception in September.

The LSIP needs to be written by the end of 2021 and money spent by the end of March 2022.

NF thanked CC and LEP staff for supporting her and PS with pulling the bid together.

CF queried the sectors that will be focused on and warned NF about employer fatigue around

surveys/engagement.

CP stated that in future LSIPs will drive resources and curriculum for providers. There will need to

be a strong business case for changes so evidence needs to be strong. At the moment they will

have to run in parallel with the Strategic Development Fund due to the application process but in

time the LSIP will have to be ahead.

Strategic Development Fund (SDF):

The New Anglia Colleges Group have come together to draft a bid. They are treating it like a

bigger version of the Skills Deals with a focus on construction. It will include new entrants,

retrofitting and EVs. It will support the sector to evolve using AV/VR technology. It needs to

ideally connect to the LSIP but its success is not linked to its success.

The Skills Bill will put some of this into legislation and raises the profile of Lifelong Learning,

levelling up, commitment to LSIPs and raised powers for the Secretary of State over providers.

Item 4: AOB

DB gave an update on the Institute of Technology (IoT). It is a collaborative bid led by the

University of Suffolk with an overarching theme of Clean Growth. They have progressed to

the second round with this stage having a deadline of June 16

. 8 bids are likely to be

successful out of 13.

They need to build up development projects. Feedback has been positive to date. They are

keen that it aligns with the Freeport development, LSIP, SDF and similar projects.

ACTION: Members to support DB and the IoT development team as required.

Next meeting – July 23rd at 10am

Post SAP update

CC presented an overview of both bids at Norfolk Public Sector Leaders Board on 21/05/2021 to

update and gain support.