Agenda item

Improving employment and skills in Lincolnshire's growing business sectors

(To receive a report which explains the range of skills funding available and also shows the need to fill vacancies as the County's economy grows)

Minutes:

Consideration was given to a report which explained the range of skills funding available and also showed a real need to fill vacancies as the county's economy grew.  There was a new opportunity for important local partnerships to have greater control of skills provision.  The Greater Lincolnshire Local Enterprise Partnership (GLLEP) would be choosing what additional training provision to buy through new EU funds, with advice from important local partnerships and LCC, as a member of the LEP and as the secretariat to the LEP, should take advantage of this opportunity.

 

The Committee was advised that this was an exciting opportunity, as the Government had set up LEP's with the private sector, and were being asked to make decisions, and so locally there would be a lot more influence in how this funding was used.  Officers had been working with some of the larger businesses in the county such as Butlins, Petwood Hotel etc. to try and identify what their training needs would be in the future.  It was thought that there would be an increasing requirement for a much higher level of skills.

 

It was important to note that improving skills was not just about apprenticeships, but also graduates, and ensuring there were opportunities for young people leaving university.  Members were informed that it could be difficult to recruit the right people in sectors such as agri-food, manufacturing and the visitor economy.  The LEP would be deciding and directing how skills funding would be spent in the future.

 

Members were provided with the opportunity to ask questions to the officers present in relation to the information contained within the report and some of the points raised during discussion included the following:

·         It had been calculated that approximately 200,000 people would be required between 2014 and 2022 to fill vacancies to grow Lincolnshire's economy;

·         It was estimated that there would be a need for 182,000 jobs in the construction industry in the next four years, but there was a significant shortfall in the number of people training for these jobs;

·         99% of businesses in the UK were classed as small businesses;

·         There was a need for more work to be carried out in relation to apprenticeships, and driving this forward needed to be discussed with Lincolnshire businesses such as Lindum construction;

·         If the skills challenge was not addressed in the right way there could be problems in the long term.  It was important that the County Council had a view in terms of how the skills agenda could be influenced;

·         It was queried whether there was any room within what the LEP wanted to do with skills to work with people who were 'unemployable' – those people who frequently managed to get interviews, but had still not been able to find employment.  Could 'employability' skills training be provided?

·         There was a need to find a way to work with higher education and further education providers to encourage young people to stay in the county, and also to attract young people from other areas;

·         It was important to determine what skills would be needed in the county for the next few years and then work with higher education establishments to ensure they know what would be needed from them;

·         Careers advice in schools was very important, but it was currently fragmented;

·         It was commented that there was a pressure on schools to stop delivering vocational subjects, with more emphasis being placed on GCSE's.  However, some pupils preferred the vocational subjects, and were better suited to that style of learning;

·         There was a need for a school of medicine in Lincoln, and after Christmas 2014, work would start to try and deliver this.  However, it was acknowledged that this was something which could take several years to achieve;

·         It was reported that Lincolnshire had recently been awarded £8.5million  from the EU Leader programme, which was for rural businesses and community projects;

·         It was suggested that there was a need to get young people to think about their future and the types of jobs they would like to do from a younger age, possibly in the last year of primary school;

·         It was noted that the figures and projections had been produced by the Warwick Institute.  Officers could work with businesses to find out what they needed over the next six months, but anything longer than that was difficult for businesses to identify;

·         It was reported that 60% of Linconshire businesses were planning on expanding, and 30% would be taking on more employees, so there would be opportunities in the coming year;

·         Businesses considered employability skills to be more desirable in a young person than industry skills.  They wanted people who were willing to learn;

·         Skills were high on the political agenda;

·         There was a need to publicise Lincolnshire more, as people were not always aware of the developments taking place within the county;

·         It would be useful if employers could be encouraged to invest in apprenticeship schemes;

·         It was noted that within the Greater Lincolnshire area there were approximately 44,000 small businesses.

 

It was requested that a further report came back to a future meeting of the Committee which included an action plan for improving the skills offer of Lincolnshire.

 

RESOLVED

 

1.    That the report presented be noted;

2.    That an action plan be brought back to a future meeting of the Committee.

 

 

Supporting documents:

 

 
 
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