Agenda item

Alison Robinson (Strategy and Commissioning Manager (Economy & Skills) noted that the Omricon variant had emerged since November’s meeting so the economy in Warwickshire was mixed due to the restrictions impacting the hospitality industry over Christmas. Business confidence surveys showed that despite increased sales businesses were concerned about 2022. There was a strong demand for the council’s business support and employability and skills programmes, especially skills because of the number of vacancies in businesses as they struggled to recruit. The Community Renewal Fund (£2.7 million of funding received at the end of November for three programmes within Warwickshire) funded a project through the employability and skills team to be delivered before July 2022. The Community Renewal Fund programme included the Brighter Futures Project that has five strands of activity that were delivered to help Warwickshire that struggled with the job market during the pandemic. The majority of the funding for the Brighter Futures Project was to support people with learning difficulties and disabilities into employment and helping employers make these adjustments. There was a rural bus tour which took young people around Warwickshire to explain the jobs in more rural areas. There was an E-Sports programme which is a key area In Warwickshire because of the university and this was a trial project to be investigated. Alison Robinson’s team were focusing on skills and helping people who were outside the job market to fill business vacancies. They also had a fair chance employer programme that was designed to cover both problems (help people who find it more difficult to get into work and help employers who are struggling to fill vacancies adjust and shape their roles to try and fill the gap between the two). A lot of work was ongoing with the growth fund and WRIF (Warwickshire Recovery Investment Fund).

Following a question from Councillor Chilvers, Alison Robinson stated that a lot of apprentiships could not start due to the face-to-face training needed. Councillor Kam Kaur (Portfolio Holder – Economy & Place) confirmed that there were 500 apprentiship vacancies in June 2021.

In response to Councillor Sinclair, Alison Robinson stated that they had some work on their website including videos around hospitality businesses and encouraging careers in the hospitality industry; however, more work was needed to fill these gaps. Most people becoming displaced because of the pandemic were over 50s so the team’s next focus would be training mature people which was the trend nationally. 

In response to Councillor Fradgley, Alison Robinson said that they engaged with career leaders at schools and colleges regarding career support. Councillor Fradgley noted the importance of young people making the career choices for jobs.

Following a question from Councillor Sinclair, Alison Robinson stated that the fair chance employer programme was designed to get employers to employee people who has been out of work including ex-forces and ex-offenders.

In response to Councillor Bhagwant Pandher, Alison Robinson stated that work through partners and online sessions were done to ensure as many people as possible accessed the community skills hub.

The Chair noted that all skills events should be advertised.