Agenda item

Report of Dr Julie Nugent, WMCA, who has been invited to the meeting for the consideration of this item.

Councillor Duggins, Cabinet Member for Policy and Leadership, Councillor Maton, Cabinet Member for Education and Skills and Councillors O’Boyle and Welsh, Cabinet Member and Deputy Cabinet Member for Jobs and Regeneration have also been invited to attend.   

The Committee considered a report of Dr Julie Nugent, Director of Productivity and Skills, West Midlands Combined Authority (WMCA) which provided an update on the WMCA Productivity and Skills Strategy. Dr Nugent attended the meeting for the consideration of this item along with Councillor Duggins, Cabinet Member for Policy and Leadership, Councillor Maton, Cabinet Member for Education and Skills and Councillor O’Boyle, Cabinet Member for Jobs and Regeneration.

The report indicated that the Productivity and Skills Portfolio had been an area of focus since the development of the WMCA and was a key part of the first devolution agreement signed in November 2015. Councillor Duggins became the first portfolio lead for Productivity and Skills in June 2016 and had since overseen the delivery of the productivity and skills elements of two devolution agreements (second deal agreed November 2016), the West Midlands Skills Deal (July 2018) and the publication of the Regional Skills Plan in June 2018. These deals had brought new investment to the region, the details of which were set out in the report and included:

The WMCA Skills Deal with Government secured £69m investment for meeting productivity and skills challenges:

£40m Apprenticeship funds

£5m Digital Retraining Fund

£20m planned investment from the WMCA

This was in addition to funding already secured through the two devolution deals: £120m+ Adult Education Budget (annually, from 2019); 5m Construction Retraining Fund; £4.7m Employment Support Pilot; and £2m Career Learning Pilot.

To support the development of the skills strategy, the West Midlands Productivity and Skills Commission was set up in 2017 to: identify the skills and productivity challenges in the region; identify the causes of low productivity and skills; and make practical recommendations to address these. The challenges facing the West Midlands included low productivity; low employment rate; high youth employment and low educational attainment. The Committee were informed that figures demonstrated a more favourable employment and skills situation in Coventry compared to the West Midlands average, although there were pockets of deprivation with correspondingly poor employment and skills profiles.

The report referred to the WMCA Regional Skills Plan which set out the priorities for the next three years to address the challenges highlighted. The development of the plan had involved extensive engagement with key stakeholders and stakeholder groups. The plan deliberately focused on actions – what the WMCA and key stakeholders could and would do to improve the regional skills base. It aimed for:  more people in employment; more people in higher skilled jobs; more skilled employees to support business growth and productivity; all communities benefitting from the region’s economic growth; and an agile and responsive skills system that is more aligned to the needs of business and individuals.

The Committee noted that the Plan also fulfilled a key role in commissioning the future delivery of the Adult Education Budget. This would transfer to the WMCA from 2019/20, however, for 2018/9, the region’s colleges and adult and community learning providers would set out how they intended to respond to key local and regional priorities. The Plan detailed five key action areas:

i) Prepare our young people for future life and work

ii) Create regional networks of specialist, technical education and training

iii) Accelerate the take-up of good quality Apprenticeships across the region

iv) Deliver inclusive growth by giving more people the skills to get and sustain good jobs and careers

v) Strengthen collaboration between partners to support achieving more collectively

The report set out the achievements to date in these five key areas.  

Further information was provided on the Adult Education Budget (AEB) which was anticipated to be to be circa £126m for the academic year 2019/10. This was to be confirmed before the end of January 2019. Regional control over the AEB funding policy and rules, through the WMCA, would better enable regional priorities to be met. The WMCA would ensure that this funding supported residents in the region to gain qualifications and employment as well as those in low income jobs to upskill and improve their earning potential. It was intended that the WMCA would work with the region’s local authorities, colleges and training providers to ensure that the courses offered provide learners with the right skills and qualifications for the region’s growth sectors. It was clarified that the Council and Coventry College would continue to receive the same amount of grant funding in 2019/20 as the previous year, £8.6m.

It was highlighted that the WMCA was committed to collaboration with local areas to ensure maximum impact of devolved powers and funding for local people. Officers from the Council and Coventry and Warwickshire LEP had been closely involved in the development of the WMCA Productivity & Skills agenda and would continue to play a leading role as joint plans were put into action.

Members questioned the officers and representative on a number of issues and responses were provided, matters raised included:

·  Further information on where there were gaps in productivity and how issues such as age were being dealt with

·  How was gender considered

·  Details of where vacancies weren’t being filled and the skills gap

·  Information about the help for residents with low or no skills

·  What was being done for people from the hard to reach communities

·  The support for people with no IT skills

·  Further details about any evaluations that were undertaken, how could things that worked well in Coventry be replicated across the region

·  Was more funding required to make a difference

·  Further details about the proposals to address youth unemployment

·  Further details about the devolved approach

·  The importance of the involvement of local employers/ businesses.

RESOLVED that the content of the report be noted.