Skills East Sussex Minutes 19 October 2023
Skills East Sussex Minutes 19 October 2023
Meeting details
Skills East Sussex Board Meeting
Thursday 19th October 2023 14:30 – 16:30
Online via Teams
Attendees and apologies
|
Attendees |
Name |
Organisation, Role |
|
DG |
Diana Garnham |
Skills East Sussex Board CHAIR |
|
AG |
Alex Green |
Service Leader East Sussex, DWP |
|
AP |
Andrew Pritchard |
Assistant Principal – Business Engagement, Bexhill College |
|
CW |
Claire Witz |
Skills Project Director, Sussex Chamber of Commerce |
|
CllrSt |
Cllr Bob Standley |
Lead Member for Education & Inclusion, Special Educational Needs and Disability, ESCC |
|
DK |
Dan Karlsson |
Head of Business Services, Plumpton College |
|
DO |
David Oloke |
Head of Technical Education and Apprenticeships, University of Brighton |
|
DW |
David Walker |
Associate Pro Vice Chancellor Education and Student Experience, University of Brighton |
|
IC |
Ian Noble |
Secretary, Uckfield Chamber of Commerce |
|
JH |
James Harris |
Assistant Director- Economy, ESCC |
|
KB |
Kim Byford |
Talent Accelerator Programme, Co-Chair Creative, Cultural, Digital & Media Task Group |
|
LJ |
Lucy Jenks |
Post 16 Liaison Manager, University of Brighton |
|
ME |
Martin Ellis |
Recruitment South East |
|
PS |
Pauline Smith |
Chief Executive, CXK |
|
RC |
Rebecca Conroy |
Principal, East Sussex College Group, |
|
SS |
Sally Staples |
Cultural Strategy Manager, ESCC and Co-Chair Creative & Digital Media Task Group (part) |
|
VP |
Vanessa Potter |
Chief Executive, Sussex Council of Training Providers, |
|
WG |
Wendy Gorham |
Careers Hub Lead, East Sussex Careers Hub |
|
Guests |
||
|
CB |
Caroline Bragg |
Employability and Skills Strategy Manager, ESCC |
|
CMcK |
Caroline McKiddie |
Strategic Lead – Participation and Skills, ESCC |
|
LM |
Lucy Mitchell |
Assistant Principal – Hastings, East Sussex College Group |
|
SG |
Suzanne Green |
Transform Manager, ESCC |
|
Apologies |
||
|
BS |
Becky Shaw |
Chief Executive, ESCC |
|
Secretariat |
||
|
HA |
Holly Aquilina |
Employability and Skills Strategy Manager, Economy and Education Divisions, ESCC |
|
HB |
Hannah Brookshaw |
Partnerships and Projects Manager, ESCC |
Actions arising from this meeting
Actions from this meeting, 19th October 2023
|
ACTION |
LEAD |
DUE BY / STATUS |
|
1. Invite Hastings Connected Futures research group to a future SES meeting to present their findings. |
Secretariat |
During 2024 |
|
2. VP committed seeking the feedback and opinions from the independent training sector and the impact that they will see.
|
VP |
Next meeting |
|
3. Offline meeting to be set up with college leads to map impact of TLevels and loss of BTECs - what’s been dropped, numbers of students and where the greatest impact will be, and which courses to lobby for. Include the voice of business within this.
|
HA and colleges |
By Dec 2023 |
|
4. Develop agendas for 2024 meetings based on forward plan suggestions |
Secretariat |
Ongoing |
|
5. Share 2024 meeting dates |
Secretariat |
November 2023 |
1. Welcome, Introductions and Apologies
- Actions from the last meeting were noted and apologies given. Change to actions dated 19th April, change to 19th Minutes were approved.
- DG welcomed all to the meeting and introduced Hannah Brookshaw (HB), Projects and Partnerships Manager who is supporting Skills East Sussex and the task groups (taking Stephen Burkes’ role). We are yet to recruit to Donnalyn’s role.
- Future Skills research commissioned by IES is due to be published and shared at the end of the month. All SES members and task groups are invited to a workshop on 13th November to review the research and take part in a workshop that will feed into the new East Sussex Economic Growth Strategy.
- SS noted that at the last meeting Julian Perrot stepped down as Co-Chair of the Creative, Cultural, Digital and Media Task Group. Kim Byford, the lead for the Talent Accelerator programme at the De La Warr Pavilion has now taken the place as Co-chair with Sally Staples.
2. SES Operations
- HB presented on the Skills East Sussex priorities and activities being undertaken by task groups and partners. Presentation attached with the minutes. Full details are in the SES Board members update paper sent out with the agenda.
- PS raised that the Hastings Connected Futures programme is coming towards the end of the research phase and will find out in March whether their recommendations will be taken forward for funding. PS recommended that the young people that have been leading on the research are invited to a future SES meeting to present on their recommendations.
- CllrBS questioned the DWP data in the Board report: is the drop in Universal Claimants (UC) due to the increase during the pandemic? And noted that the same sectors seem to have high levels of vacancies – Retail, Hospitality, Health and Social Care. AG responded that the drop in UC is in part due to the pandemic, however for East Sussex there has been a consistent drop compared to neighbouring areas. In terms of sectors with high levels of vacancies, these are fairly stable because these are the sectors that are low paid and unsocial hours, and struggle to make a job a career. AG noted that SES and the work of the Task Groups are a contributing factor to this drop in UC.
- WG noted that in relation to the SES priority on Net Zero skills, the Careers Hub are doing a number of activities to promote jobs in the green economy including Open Doors visits and commissioning lesson plans on careers and jobs related to the transition to Net Zero.
Action 1: Invite Hastings Connected Futures research group to a future SES meeting to present their findings.
3. Project delivery focus: Transform evaluation and next steps
SG and VP presented a summary of the Transform project. Presentation attached with the minutes.
3.2 DG noted that the employer in the film showed a great deal of patience and commitment and should be included in the toolkit as a showcase example.
3.3 DrDO noted that the Transform programme has been hugely valuable and a toolkit approach will not replace the hand-holding service that has been provided. UoB is committed to supporting any applications for funding to continue the service.
3.4 IN feels that Transform is delivering great work and asked how the Alliance of Chambers can enable it to keep going for the benefit of SMEs.
3.5 KB says that she has used the service to take on apprentices at the DLWP and agrees that without that support she would have found the apprenticeship system very difficult to navigate.
3.6 DG noted that the CITB New Entrant scheme can support construction employers. Noted that £6bn in Apprenticeship Levy has been returned to Treasury, how can we ensure that this doesn’t happen and we are able to retain or access this Levy spend for the county’s SMEs.
4. Withdrawal of taught vocational qualifications (BTEC) from the FE curriculum
4.1 RC spoke on behalf of colleges and training providers. The Level 3 reforms introduced, including the launch of the T-Levels. The original vision was to simplify the Level 3 vocational landscape for young people, parents and employers. Effectively the plan was to move to A-Level, T-Level and Apprenticeships, and this has caused concern and campaign to understand impact. There is some recognition that there is a challenge and there has been the development of AAQs to fill the ‘holes’ left by previous vocational qualifications. However, where there is any overlap with a T-Level these courses will be defunded. ESCG was an early adopter of T-Levels and provide a breadth of provision. The challenge is providing the number of work placements required for the qualification. However, there is a challenge around the speed with which other vocational qualifications have been removed; would urge that these would be paced. ESCG has removed some qualifications to support the launch of T-Levels; this has benefited some pupils. However, there are some pupils for whom the qualifications don’t meet the needs of.
4.2 FE Principles have met with Secretary of State, Gillian Keegan, and it is clear that the department is wedded to the changes. However, she has suggested that FE provision in Sussex lobby’s around the qualifications that we believe should be retained. It was noted that Jeremy from Plumpton has specific concerns around land-based qualifications.
4.3 AP noted two issues: practicality of delivering the T-Levels, limiting condition that they must be accompanied by a 45-day placement. For example, the Health T-Level compared to the Level BTEC in Health and Social Care, the qualification is much narrower and linked to careers in health; whereas the latter was broader and linked to careers in social care as well. There are only so many placements that the NHS can offer and we are narrowing the jobs that people progress in to. Example of another sector, Engineering, there are challenges in getting the number of students on 45 placements. Placements can be day release or block weeks. The colleges are flexible and work with the employer, but then need to fit the provision around it. DG summarised that currently the number of places on T-Levels is capped by the number of placements that they are able to offer. This means that students go on to other unsuitable qualifications or drift off.
4.4 DK will continue to lobby for BTEC qualifications as they have a significant role in positive destinations after study, the industry that they go in to. Unlike to ESCG, Plumpton are yet to start running T-Levels. Had planned to start Animal Care & Vet Nursing but the qualification isn’t yet fit for purpose. The employers, many SMEs, and through the link with Apprenticeships, there are a number they are working with are open to providing placements.
4.5 VP noted that the Apprenticeship and T-Levels are quite different, one class-room based and in comparing time in the workplace, and apprentices are learning a specific role. BTECs do provide a broader provision and are able to be completed alongside A-Levels and will potentially affect social mobility for routes into university.
Action 2: VP committed seeking the feedback and opinions from the independent training sector and the impact that they will see.
4.6 PS noted that the voice of young people have not been involved in these decisions. Would like to know what the data is on numbers of young people that this will impact and what the response is from sixth form schools.
4.7 HA noted BBC article that over 100 vocational pathways due to be defunded. This will have an impact on NEETs, vocational progression. Jeremy has asked that we map and research to identify which courses that we most want to keep. RC committed to this and help prioritise which courses will have the greatest impact. DG feels important that we capture the employer voice.
Action 3 – Offline meeting to be set up to map what’s been dropped, numbers of students and where the greatest impact will be, and which courses to lobby for, include the voice of business within this.
5. The Institute of Technology (IoT)
5.1 Lucy Mitchell presented on the South-East IoT, a collaboration of FE, HE and employers to deliver Level 4 / 5 and Higher Apprenticeships. South Essex College is the lead partner and 6 colleges involved. University of East Anglia is lead HE institution. Specialisms in Logistics, Engineering, Construction, Health & Life Sciences. £13m capital funding to improve sites. Ore Valley site is being upgraded (£1.2m) on transfer of science labs, refurbished teaching spaces and SHARP camera system to enable cross-college teaching. Refer to presentation attached with the minutes for further information.
5.2 JH asked how utilising the SHARP cameras work in practice. LM noted that it is very similar to remote learning, however the South-East was funded later than others and all colleges still in building phase, so not able to provide that level of data, although could get this information from other IoTs. Noted that the KPIs are focused on L4/L5s and adults.
5.3 DG noted that this is important in terms of upskilling employers and providing state of the art technology to employers, supporting growth. LM agreed that there is an expectation that there is a commercial element delivering for employers. DG noted that this is something that the Careers Hub can be promoting in terms of progressing to higher levels.
6. LSIP update
6.1 CW presented an LSIP update, attached with the minutes. Local Skills Improvement Fund has been released, however 75% is capital funding and the 25% must be used by the end of this academic year. Focus is on Job-matching and employability platforms; Chambers to host Centres for entrepreneurship & business leaderships; and virtual reality and augmented reality teaching. The LSIP team have procured leads for Intelligence and Conversation and Stakeholder Engagement. LSIP launch. Learner focus project with the colleges and CXK’s Connected Futures researchers. Timeframe for LSIP activities included in the presentation slides.
6.2 DG asked if the virtual reality (VR) mentioned was a capital investment; CW confirmed it is and will enable colleges to share resources and teaching.
6.3 JH noted the hard word and collaboration between the LSIP and SES teams to achieve complimentary activities and to avoid duplication.
7. DWP Update
7.1 AG presented the latest claimant data, presentation attached with the minutes. East Sussex data is showing year on year positive reductions in Universal Claimants across all districts, in comparison to other regional areas shown on the table. AG noted that given levels of coastal deprivation that this is partly down to the work of SES and the task groups.
Some activities that area taking place –
- 50Plus SWAPs ‘Your Experience Counts’;
- outreach working with district and boroughs;
- ‘Inspired to be Hired’ speed dating,
- Hastings careers fair on Hospitality in November (request for partners to help promote the event in Hastings as ongoing issues with employer engagement).
- providing unlimited childcare funding to help people get back in to work;
- Bexhill jobs fair.
Maximising the use of video appointments with customers as its more cost effective for clients and can be a more sustainable option.
7.2 DG and JH both noted the positive move in claimant data and AG reiterated that he doesn’t hear from other areas that there is the level of collaboration as in East Sussex. Further discussed provision childcare, the need to link with hospitality employers and areas for development in discussion with CM around engaging with NEET young people.
8. AOB & Date of Next Meeting
8.1 Forward plan – The following items were suggested:
- Retraining pathways impact
- High level skills focus
- Impact of automation on East Sussex
- T Levels
- 16 – 18 NEETs
- Turner Prize – Talent Accelerator evaluation and learning
8.2 VP reminded everyone that the Apprenticeship Graduation event on 16th November; please help to promote this through your networks.
Next meeting: 18th January, 14.00 - 16.00, via MS Teams.