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New Anglia Skills Advisory Panel Meeting
21st 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 6th 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 6th 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)
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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.
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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 28th. 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.
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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,
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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 11th 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 9th and 10th 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.
