Minutes:
Chair's introduction and Update
Councillor Lewis welcomed members and new members from Local Authorities to the first Employment and Skills Committee and said it was a new Committee but builds on the great work of the former Employment and Skills Panel led by Rashik.
As the new Chair, with Rashik continuing his input to the Committee as deputy, he is looking forward to working with members to shape this Committee and agenda and whilst there is a regular schedule of meetings, is keen to allow engagement and input in between meetings and with members of other Committees.
As deputy mayor for Tracy Brabin, Councillor Lewis said he is committed and supportive of employment and skills to unlock the potential we have in the Region and believes it is a true enabler to inclusive growth, so is looking forward to working with members on this agenda. This Committee will only work if all commit to attending and contributing where we can and that to this end, he is keen that wherever possible, we prioritise attendance in support of this agenda.
The Chair said that as part of the update he wanted to share with members a few key areas as follows: -
Budget and Comprehensive Review
Many of the announcements on skills had already been made prior to the speech, and the detail on how much will be spent in the different packages is not entirely clear.
There was a lot missing from the budget including employment support, and some important details are yet to emerge – particularly around UK SPF as the successor fund to ESF
The main skills announcements were:
· a new £560m ‘Multiply’ programme through UK SPF for adults with low numeracy skills
· £1.6bn to expand and increase the T Level offer
· £554m for short courses and skills bootcamps (a commitment from the manifesto)
· £1.5bn for capital investments linked to high value courses
· £500m from the new health and social care levy will be for skills
· AI scholarship programme
Further announcements of interest around education include funding for a new ‘Start for Life’ early years programme, funding for more 16-19 places, recovery programme, extension of school holiday activities and food programme
There are also further investments in Work Coaches
Union Learning Fund
The Union Learning Fund (ULF) was originally set up in 1998 to support trade
unions to widen access to learning and training in workplaces.
The fund supported workplace projects across England and was coordinated
by the TUC. Each year around 200,000 workers were supported into learning
or training with union support through the ULF and the TUC. The government
withdrew funding for the TUC Union Learning Funding from March 2021
(annually circa £11m), in order to refocus use of the funds to support FE
colleges as part of the Lifetime Skills Guarantee announced by the Prime
Minister in autumn 2020.
Union learning reaches people that other DfE programmes do not reach. For
example, take up of English and maths qualifications (up to level 2) by adults
declined by around 30 per cent from 2010–11 to 2017–18 despite a fully
funded government entitlement. In contrast, ULF-supported projects
continually exceed their annual targets for these learners.
The TUC have submitted a request for £170k over two years to fund a post in
The region to coordinate and raise of awareness in the workplace of the
benefits of training and development for employees and employers.
Bill Adams, TUC representative, gave a verbal update and the Committee was
invited to consider the proposal and funding opportunities to support the
request.
In noting the Committee discussed the update and said this was a critical resource with everyone working together and members supported the proposal.
The Chair thanked members for their feedback.
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