New Anglia Skills Advisory Panel Meeting

January 2022

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 Gartland, Abbeygate 6

Form (DG)

Glen Todd, New Anglia LEP (GT)

Guy Hazlehurst, EDF (GH)

Jan Feeney, Norfolk County Council (JF)

Jason Parnell, Steadfast Training (JP)

Julia Nix, DWP (JN)

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 (PS)

Richard Bridgman, Warren Services (RB)

Seb Gasse, NCC (SG)

Stuart Smith, People with Energy (SS)

Tom Brown, Green Light Trust (TB)

Viv Gillespie, Suffolk New College (VG)

Visitors:

Carl Leonard, Steadfast (CL)

Ed Shorthouse, New Anglia LEP (ES)

Gurpreet Jagpal, University of Suffolk (GJ)

Katy Dorman, Norfolk County Council (KD)

Laraine Moody, West Suffolk College (LM)

Simon Papworth, New Anglia LEP (SP)

Apologies:

Catherine Richards, East Norfolk 6

Form

(CR)

Chris Gribble, Writers’ Centre Norwich

(CG)

Cllr Rachel Hood, Suffolk County Council

(RH)

Cllr Stuart Clancy, Norfolk County Council

(SC)

David Pomfret, College of West Anglia

(DP)

Dayle Bayliss, Dayle Bayliss Associates

(DB)

Helen Langton (Professor), University of

Suffolk (HL)

Karen Gibson, Norfolk County Council (KG)

Karin Porter, Norfolk County Council (KP)

Nikos Savvas, West Suffolk College (NS)

Stuart Rimmer, East Coast College (SR)

Tom Humphries, Norfolk County Council

(TH)

Tracey Cox, ESFA (TC)

Vince Muspratt, Norfolk County Council

(VP)

Yvonne Mason, The Mason Trust (YM)

Item 1: Welcome and Minutes

Claire Cullens welcomed everyone to the meeting. Thanks were given to Richard Self who

has recently stood down from the SAP and associated groups due to changed family and

work commitments.

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

that we need to remember the SAP outputs discussed at the previous meeting and is keen

that this year is action focussed plus there is always a valid reasons for agenda items that get

presented.

Item 2: DWP Update & Kickstart Legacy

JN stated that she had never seen so many vacancies from so many sectors together with a

range of initiatives to support people. Data on unemployment was shared and locally there

has been approximately 10, 000 people entered the work place in comparison to this time

last year. She is keen to support more people into work due to the high demand for staff.

Great Yarmouth and Ipswich have been high performing areas for Kickstart due to the large

interest from the Job Centre staff and gateways. As we are now in the final months of the

initiative, there needs to be a final push to fill as many of the remaining vacancies as

possible.

The Job Centre staff are also working to ensure that the existing Kickstart participants stay

with their current employer or have a positive destination.

MG reminded panel members that Gateways, councils and chambers had been working

closely with DWP to ensure success. Anecdotal evidence is indicating that there are a high

level of positive destinations for those who have completed their 6 months, including

entering into apprenticeships.

Flexible and agile employers were the most successful in filling their places, together with

those seeing the potential in young people rather than expecting the finished article.

Also a need now to keep those employers engaged in the Youth Pledge ethos.

JN also gave an update on the different DWP initiatives to support people back into work.

CC thanked JN and those involved in supporting people into the workplace. Some incredible

figures which are testament to partnership working.

ACTION: All to support Kickstart over the coming weeks to maximise its success.

Item 3: Supporting New Entrants to the Workplace

GT gave an update on the Enterprise Adviser Network. He now has a team of 12 covering

Norfolk and Suffolk. They are funded by the Careers & Enterprise Company and more

recently the European Social Fund. There are currently 130 Enterprise Advisers.

There has been challenges with carrying out activity in schools over the last two years so

they have been focussing on virtual CPD around the LEP growth sectors. This has been well

received. Also developed a series of ‘Careers & Coffee’ interviews which are recorded and

hosted on our YouTube channel.

Virtual work experience opportunities have been devised including lesson plans and

resources. Mock interviews are another key area.

Youth Pledge for Employers is an ESF programme managed by Norfolk County Council with

coverage over the whole LEP area. Aim is to engage SMEs to offer positive opportunities for

those aged 16-24. Funding is available through to the end of 2023. 126 SMEs have been

engaged with to date.

There are 2 DWP School Advisers covering the area. They have the main aim of preventing

NEETs.

The National Careers Service also has a role in supporting NEETs and SEND young people.

Schools are starting to plan for Face to Face sessions in the coming terms so employer

engagement with that will be important.

Icanbea and Help You Choose have lots of information for young people.

There was some discussion about the true buy in of schools around the careers agenda and

the role of ‘collective leverage’ in order to support them.

ACTION: GT and NW to discuss how signposting of information for young people can be

amplified and the viability of a ‘one stop shop’ for careers advice.

Item 4: In Work Training – Local Updates

NW gave an update on the progress with the Local Skills Report. A designed draft has been

circulated to members and the final version will need to be on our website by January 28

. A

reminder was given regarding qualification levels, need for high value jobs and the real need

to support upskilling of the workplace.

NW thanked the LEP Strategy and Comms team for their support with putting the report

together.

Discussions took place around the increase in early leavers from college courses as the jobs

market is so buoyant. Challenging for providers to encourage a young person from a

deprived background to stay on in FT education or in an apprenticeship when families are

struggling financially. Equally employers still need to understand skills audits and the impact

training can have on productivity.

SP gave an update on The Norfolk and Suffolk Economic Strategy 2022. The original plan for

the title had morphed and this will result in the current Economic Strategy and LIS being

archived.

The Strategy should be published at the end of January in alignment with the Local Skills

Report. There will also be an online dashboard for interrogation.

There was discussion around the mental health status of young people currently and this

should be considered as we move forward. Our plans will need to remain agile to the

changing requirements of individuals and businesses.

It was also felt that key sector leads should support the messaging.

KD gave an overview of the apprenticeship landscape following the circulation of an indepth

report with the papers. This showed a major decline in apprenticeship starts.

There was some discussion about apprenticeship back logs so new opportunities not being

made available, legacy of change to standards, off the job training and loss in training

providers plus staff to support the apprentices in the workplace. A reduction in staff

numbers within some businesses may mean that levy payers have less levy allocation.

Also comments made around whether young people are properly prepared for the job

application process and subsequent entry to the workplace.

KD is keen to engage further with employers to determine when they ideally want to recruit

apprentices and equally looking at capacity levels within colleges as some provision is not

available until September 2023.

Further debate on keeping young people warm and not becoming NEETs. Feeder courses are

a potential option.

CL gave an update on the ESF Skills Support for the Workforce programme which Steadfast

Training delivers. To date, over 1600 people have benefitted from training across 250

businesses and 43 businesses have received redundancy support. All the LEP key sectors are

covered by training offers. There has ironically been a downturn in finding unemployed

people to support.

Part of the programme includes an employer survey. The original agreement was for 700

businesses to be engaged with but due to the survey fatigue that has set in over lockdown,

uptake has resulted in 155 returns. The ESFA and LEP have asked Steadfast to go back and

carry out some deep dives to further ascertain why some businesses engage in training and

why others resist. This will be developed into a report which can inform the SAP and other

stakeholders.

Item 5: Draft Forward Plan and Actions Log

NW explained the rational behind the forward plan which includes an action log. Since

developing, it will need updating as there is an ESF Celebration event which clashes with the

March SAP meeting. We would like members to attend this.

CC says a SAP briefing pack will be issued in March with key data updates. Expectation for

the Champions to bring their groups together before the May meeting and bring about some

tangible activities.

ACTION:

- NW to issue ESF Celebration Event invite and briefing pack

- Champions to hold at least one meeting before May with minutes sent to NW before

close of play on the 11

May.

- Any comments re Forward Plan to be sent to NW.

Item 6: AOB and next meeting

NW explained that there is a regional opportunity to bid in for Wave 3 bootcamps. There are

9 lots which cover our strategic opportunities and ambitions. NW is working closely with the

skills teams within NCC/SCC and Chris Starkie is keen for this to be a ‘SAP lead and owned’

bid.

GT gave a further update on the plans for the Norfolk Skills & Careers Festival. It is hoped

that there will be an event on the 9

and 10

March. The RNAA have invited SAA to join

them as the October 2020 and 21 events couldn’t go ahead. Suffolk schools and employers

are invited so hopefully it will provide good coverage of the LEP area.

ACTION: All to promote to businesses and schools.

Next meeting: May 19th from 10am.