Agenda and minutes

There were no disclosable pecuniary interests.

(a)  To agree the Minutes of the meeting held on 8^th September 2021

(b)  Matters arising

The minutes of the meeting held on 8th September, 2021 were agreed and signed as a true record. There were no matters arising.

Briefing Note of the Deputy Chief Executive

The Business, Economy and Enterprise Scrutiny Board (3) received a Briefing Note and Presentation of the Head of Customer Services which provided an insight into the early thoughts surrounding Digital Inclusion and the Digital Service & Inclusion Lead remit including an overview of the likely areas of focus for the service as it evolved.

The digital divide existed in a pre-pandemic world, in 2020 The Good Things Foundation Digital National Report highlighted that 9 million people nationally were unable to use the internet without help and that 7 million households had no access to the internet at home.  Figures published in Lloyds Consumer Digital Index report of 2021 identified that 3% of West Midlands residents, equating to 11 thousand Coventry People were ‘off-line’ and 30% of residents, 111 thousand people in Coventry only completed basic tasks on an infrequent basis.

The Lloyds Consumer Index reports that 53% of people would improve their digital skills if access to the internet and devices were cheaper, with 67% of people suggesting that they would improve their digital skills if they could access available support.  A growing number of people had, by necessity, used self-service provision since the pandemic with services in all sectors moving their offer to on-line access or provided through other digital solutions.  This was advantageous for many however, it has served to increase the divide, further disadvantaging those who were not digitally confident or who did not have access to the required facilities.

The creation of a digital inclusion offer was intended to improve this position, supporting residents to:

•  Improve digital skills and confidence

•  Access suitable digital devices

•  Access digital connectivity

The presentation outlined the role of the new Digital Service and Inclusion Lead and noted that initial recruitment to the temporary role was unsuccessful and the recruitment would now be for a permanent position.

Councillor R Singh had been invited to join the discussion as Chair of Finance and Corporate Services Scrutiny Board 1 which had an interest in digital items.

Councillor Brown, Cabinet Member for Strategic Finance and Resources highlighted Ofcom statistics which placed Coventry in a fortunate position Nationally and Locally regarding infrastructure.  That would enable consideration of what to do with the infrastructure and supporting people at various stages of learning skills.

The Board questioned officers, received responses and discussed the following issues:

•  The digital ability of the organisation compared to digital inclusion

•  Progress on delivering a Member casework tool and integration with the existing CRM Customer Relationship Manager 

•  Accessibility of the Digital Services Offer

•  The involvement of other stakeholders such as the 3rd sector to establish what their digital offer is and consider supporting access to those services

•  Ensuring the Council’s digital offer was mobile friendly and the increase  in use of apps on mobile phones rather than laptops to access services

•  The need for this role before now and the need for a role to continue in future.

The Board requested that further details about case  ...  view the full minutes text for item 13.

Briefing Note of the Chief Executive and the Director of Education and Skills

The Business, Economy and Enterprise Scrutiny Board (3) received a Briefing Note and Presentation of the Head of Employment & Skills and the Head of ICT & Digital regarding the position of provisions in place to support residents in gaining digital skills with a specific focus on digital skills for employment.

The report recognised that during the COVID19 pandemic, there had been a significant increase in the need for residents to be able to access and have confidence in using digital tools.  It was important that the Council make provision for supporting residents in gaining the relevant digital skills but also to be realistic with regards to the extent of the provision provided solely as a local government organisation.

Through the work of the Digital Coventry strategy and wider city-wide digital activity with key partners, the Council continued to look for ways to support a digital skills ecosystem that not only included the provision provided by the city council (further details were provided), but activities provided by partner and community group organisations.  The report explored the digital skills for employment provision provided by a range of providers such as Colleges and Independent Training Providers.

In the West Midlands 3% of the population were still offline (approx. 11,000 residents in Coventry). However, 30% of residents in the region still had very low digital engagement (completing basic tasks only and not regularly) – this would be approximately 111,000 Coventry residents.  The Lloyds Consumer Digital Index (2021) found 53% would improve digital skills if devices and internet access were cheaper and 67% would if they knew support was available to help.

Libraries were the main place in which residents could freely access devices. All Coventry libraries were now fully re-open and allowed residents 2 hours a day of free PC use.  In addition, there was free access to Wifi for residents who brought their own device.  The number of devices available was currently halved to allow for social distancing.  However, in August 2021 there were still 10,275 sessions (PC and Wi-Fi).  Whilst library usage was returning steadily, this remained down on pre-pandemic usage; for comparison there were 46,664 session in August 2019.

The libraries cannot currently offer face to face close support to residents in using the devices.  However, they could offer support from a distance and via help sheets.  There was also access to an online learning package called ‘Info based learning cloud’ which supported people in various online learning.  In addition to using libraries residents could freely access devices at all 9 Family Hubs and at the Coventry Job Shop.

In the West Midlands at least 82% of jobs required digital?skills, but 56% of the population did not have essential digital skills for work which equated to approximately 138,000 working age residents in Coventry.  Supporting residents with key digital skills could help to improve their job prospects and financial stability.

Coventry Adult Education were the largest provider of basic digital skills in the City and provided basic skills for 725 residents a  ...  view the full minutes text for item 14.

Report of the Scrutiny Co-ordinator

The Business, Economy and Enterprise Scrutiny Board (3) received a report of the Scrutiny Co-ordinator that detailed issues on the Board’s Work Programme for meetings of the Board for 2021/2022.

Members of the Board noted that the item on Apprenticeships, Skills and Training (joint with SB1 & SB2) would be referred to Scrutiny Co-ordination Committee as the issues concerned more than one Scrutiny Board.

RESOLVED that the Business, Economy and Enterprise Scrutiny Board (3) notes the issues on the Board’s Work Programme for 2021/2022 with an update to the Programme that the item relating to Apprenticeships, Skills and Training be referred to Scrutiny Co-ordination Committee. 

There were no other items of public business.