Agenda item

Employment, Skills and Training

Briefing Note and Presentation of the Director of Education and Skills

Minutes:

The Business, Economy and Enterprise Scrutiny Board (3) received a Briefing Note of the Director of Education and Skills that introduced a document - Coventry Employment and Skills Priorities: Response to the Coronavirus Pandemic. The Cabinet Member for Education and Skills and a representative from Job Centre Plus attended the meeting for this item.

 

Cabinet Member for Education and Skills introduced the item and highlighted that the current pandemic had shown the importance of skills, including digital skills, for the population to enable them to gain employment. He reported that Coventry was well regarded by the West Midlands Combined Authority for its work on the employment, skills and training agenda.

 

Kim Mawby, the Council’s Head of Employment and Skills, Steven Weir, the Council’s Head of Economic Growth and Iona Old, gave a presentation ot the Board based on the document. The presentation included the following:

 

  ‘Coventry Employment and Skills Priorities: Response to the Coronavirus Pandemic’ had been written in collaboration with key partners in the city and set out agreed employment and skills priorities for Coventry in response to Covid 19.

  Coventry’s economy started in a relatively strong position when the pandemic hit with an employment rate of 77.2%, in line with the national average. Levels of youth unemployment were significantly lower than the national average and by far the lowest within the West Midlands Combined Authority area.

  The scale of job losses in the city due to the pandemic had been significant: nearly 8,000 new Universal Credit claimants, youth unemployment doubling from 2.8% to 5.7%, and 38,700 workers furloughed.

  Key challenges for the City were a high youth population that had been disproportionately affected by job losses, a low skills base and lower than average wages as well as a number of areas of deprivation.

  The document outlined priorities and actions. The priorities were; Young People (16-24); 50+ Age Group; Supporting BAME communities; Rapid Response to Redundancy; Long Term Unemployed; Supporting Those with Complex Barriers; Enabling Digital Inclusion and Mental Wellbeing and Social Isolation.

  The approach being taken to deliver action on the priorities were:

1)  A ONE Coventry Approach

2)  Flexing Resource

3)  Labour market tracking and rapid innovation

4)  Framing the Learning Landscape for the ‘New Normal’

5)  Helping employers survive and thrive

 

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

  Officers would review the unemployment data and provide information on whether particular groups, for example women, had been disproportionately affected by redundancy.

  Kickstart was a scheme for 16 to 24 year olds, which was funded by the Department for Work and Pensions and involved a six-month placement with an employer. To apply the young person must be claiming universal credit. 163 employers had expressed an interest in participating in the scheme and there was confidence there was sufficient money to fund any employers who wanted to join. The jobs created had to be new posts and the young person would go through an application process. Information on confirmed placements would be circulated to Members of the Scrutiny Board.

  Digital access was a challenge – some libraries had bookable computers but there was a need to support community centres to provide digital access, including high quality WI-FI too, not only for job seekers, but also for young people needing access to online learning resources.

  It was not possible to predict how many job losses would occur in the next six months, but it was anticipated there would be a restructuring of the labour market. An example was the move from care in care homes, to care being provided in people’s homes which would require a different set of skills, which the Council and Partners would support people to gain. Office for National Statistics were predicting 15% of those on furlough would be made redundant. Unemployment figures in the City had risen from 6000 in March 2020 to 17,000 in September 2020. Regionally there were also 90,000 on furlough in Warwickshire.

  It was anticipated that a replacement furlough scheme would be announced.

  Schemes to support people with education, skills and training and into employment were shared throughout the City using a network of partners.

  Additional resource had been placed in the Economic Development Team to analyse the possible outcomes of Brexit, including a no-deal.

 

RESOLVED that, following consideration of the Coventry Employment and Skills Priorities: Response to the Coronavirus Pandemic document, the Business, Economy and Enterprise Scrutiny Board (3):

 

1) Supported the identified priorities and actions within the paper.

 

2) Requested a breakdown of unemployment data to enable Members to establish whether women had been disproportionate affected by redundancy. 

 

3) Requested detailed information on Kickstart Scheme placements.

 

4) Agreed that a further update be provided to the Board during the Municipal Year 2020/2021.

 

Supporting documents: