Agenda item

To receive the report of the Assistant Director for Legal and Governance on any Notices of Motion received by him (Lilac pages).

Councillors are asked to note that any Notices of Motion must be received by the Assistant Director for Legal and Governance no later than noon on 1 September 2020.

The Council had before it a Notice of Motion set out in the agenda papers standing in the names of Mr A D Kent, Mr R J Morris, Mrs L C Hodgson, Mrs S A Webb, Mrs R Vale, Mr J H Smith, and Ms K J May.

The motion was moved by Mr A D Kent and seconded by Mrs R Vale who both spoke in favour of it, and Council agreed to deal with it on the day.

In the ensuing debate, the following points were raised:

·         It was vital that young people could establish careers in areas that interested them. Inexperienced young people would bear the brunt of the impact of the downturn in the employment market as a result of the Covid pandemic. It was imperative that locally this Council did as much as possible to help young people learn and progress and that local employers had the confidence and support to be able to take on young people in challenging times

·         The Council was already undertaking a lot of quality work with apprenticeships but it needed to increase the quantity of apprenticeship opportunities that were being created with the appropriate communication and marketing. All councillors should contact their local employers to encourage them to join this scheme. There was a danger that this tranche of young people could become the forgotten generation

·         It was more important than ever for public sector partners, LEP partners and colleges of further education to work together to maximise the number of apprenticeship opportunities. It should be acknowledged that applicants for these positions might also be young people who had been furloughed and were now looking to change their career direction. It was therefore necessary to make available a wide range of apprenticeships to young people and provide them with the information to allow them to make an informed decision

·         The Council needed an integrated and wide-ranging plan for apprenticeships so that young people were adequately prepared for the workplace

·         Students needed to feel confident that everything was being done to help them in their future career

·         The Cabinet Member for Children and Families commented that although there were frustrations, the needs of care leavers were being addressed through the apprenticeship scheme

·         In relation to domiciliary care apprenticeships, the Council had had to return funds from the Government training levy because it had failed to provide sufficient training or apprenticeships

·         The involvement of colleges in apprenticeship schemes was welcomed, particularly for the skilled jobs necessary for the construction industry

·         It was acknowledged that the Council initially did not fully utilise the apprentice levy however over the last 18 months there had been considerable progress and the levy was now being spent. A recent City and Guilds inspection had rated the service as good

·         In rural areas, businesses were struggling to find people with the right skills or young people who were interested in acquiring these skills. In addition, young people were finding it hard to get work experience and training. All this was having a negative impact on social mobility

·         There was a danger of exploitation of young people through apprenticeships. It was therefore important that the Council involved unions or other representative bodies to ensure that the Council was approaching the right kind of employer to support the scheme

·         The Council might wish to replicate Sheffield City Council’s approach of establishing an apprenticeship agency which acted as an HR facility at a cost to help small companies, who lacked the expertise to facilitate apprenticeships

·         It was important for employers and colleges to get back to a level of normality at work albeit in a safe environment because learning in a remote setting was far from ideal and not conducive to the learning needs of young people

·         It was important for people to shop locally to support local businesses in this difficult time

·         The Cabinet Member with responsibility for Transformation and Commissioning commented that since November 2019, the Council had fundamentally revised its strategy in relation to the apprenticeship levy and going forward the levy would be fully utilised including the opportunity to transfer the levy to local SMEs. The Strategy also explicitly focused on care leavers

·         The Council should look to restart the training scheme for civil engineers to enable the Council to train apprentices and thereby keep more of the civil engineering contract work in-house

·         The Cabinet Member with responsibility for Education and Skills gave an assurance that this tranche of young people would not be the “forgotten generation”. The Council had established 93 apprenticeships, 17 being directly trained by the Learning and Development team and 28 due to start this autumn. A lot of work had taken place through for example the NEET prevention team, the Employment and Skills Board, the Careers Worcestershire helpline, graduate improvement grants, graduate wage replacement, and apprenticeship grant schemes. In addition, many schools recognised the importance of apprenticeships

·         The Council should work closely with the NFU to look at apprenticeships within the rural workplace particularly in the agriculture and horticulture sectors

·         Local councillors should encourage each employer in their division to take on at least one apprentice

·         It was important to have a strong robust careers advice service in schools to support the apprenticeship scheme.

RESOLVED: “Many Worcestershire residents have been affected by the lockdown and consequences of the Covid 19 outbreak.

However our younger residents in the 16-24 age group have been severely affected due to local job losses and redundancies removing opportunities that they need to start in employment.

Worcestershire County Council is an ardent supporter of apprenticeships both within the Council and outside.

This motion calls on the cabinet member responsible to identify what measures can be taken by ourselves, our partners and Worcestershire LEP to promote opportunities for apprenticeships and employment for the 16-24 age group, ensuring that support and help is available to local employers to encourage them to invest in our youth.”