The Chair of the Bradford Employment and Skills Board will submit Document “A” which sets out the strategic approach taken to employment and skills through the partnership and potential areas for support for Board members to consider.

The intent of the work of the employment and skills partnership is to create a more diverse workforce (by age, geography, ethnicity and disability) which is better equipped to deliver on current and future economic demands, with greater resilience. 

This contributes to the Council’s objective to promote inclusive growth through ensuring those most disadvantaged in the labour market are able to get the skills they need and access good jobs.

Recommended-

(1)       That the Board considers the information presented in Document “A”, and synergies with other partnership updates received by the Board.

(2)       That the Board endorses the approach taken to date and promotes the work of the Employment and Skills Partnership through their own organisations and networks, and considers opportunities to support different interventions and placement types.

(3)       That an update to the Board is received on the Health and Social Care Integrated Workforce Strategy; and

(4)       That member organisations engage with SkillsHouse to open up opportunities for young people in line with the six strands set out in section 3.3 of Document “A”.

                                                            (Matt Findull – 01274 439572)

The Chair of the Bradford Employment and Skills Board submitted Document “A” which set out the strategic approach taken to employment and skills through the partnership and potential areas for support for Board members to consider.

The intent of the work of the employment and skills partnership was to create a more diverse workforce (by age, geography, ethnicity and disability) which was better equipped to deliver on current and future economic demands, with greater resilience. 

This contributed to the Council’s objective to promote inclusive growth through ensuring those most disadvantaged in the labour market were able to get the skills they needed and access good jobs.

Board Members made the following comments:

·         There was good work happening to help young people back into work or training –  however we needed to be better at promoting the good work taking place.

·         More publicity should be provided on “T” Levels and what they mean for parents and the workforce.

·         There was an opportunity for partners to be involved in areas such as work experience for young people, apprenticeships, volunteering, kick start etc – with the District recently securing one of the biggest placement quotas nationally (up to 2000 placements), the Board were asked to support this initiative through the facilitation of placements.

·         The impact on being unemployed/not in training for young people was huge including on their mental health and services needed to respond to this demand. Particularly 18-25 year olds who had been significantly affected .

·         It was crucial that the 2000 kick start places were filled and discussions took place on how these could be linked to jobs.

·         Human Resource Directors network had a significant role to play in this area.

·         We needed a centralised function to facilitate a place based approach to this issue.

·         The workforce was ageing particularly in some key areas so this could be an opportunity for the system to train a younger workforce to continue to meet demand. Training and retaining young people was crucial.

·         Needed to look at a range of barriers to employment such as young people’s mental health and the emergence of flexible/digital working and wider inequalities affecting young people. It was noted that individual organisations had invested in staff wellbeing and support for mental health issues.

The Councils Human Resources Director reported that the work in this area had been picked up at HRD’s network in different forums, particularly in Health and Social Care Economic Partnership and the Chair of the Health and Social Care Economic Partnership provided an overview of the strategy and the positive work taking place.  A report on the progress being made with the kick start programme and the apprenticeship levy should be provided to the next Board meeting.

Resolved-

(1)       That the Board considered the information presented in         Document “A”, and synergies with other partnership updates received by the Board.

(2)       That the Board endorses the approach taken to date and promotes the work of the Employment and Skills Partnership through their own organisations and networks, and considers opportunities to support different interventions and placement types.

(3)       That an update to the Board is received on the Health and Social Care Economic Partnership; alongside an update on the Public Sector approach to the delivery of the KickStart programme, and use of the Apprenticeship Levy.

(4)       That member organisations engage with SkillsHouse to open up Kick-start placement opportunities for young people aged 16-24 in line with the six strands set out in section 3.3 of Document “A”.

Action:  Health and Wellbeing Partnerships Manager