(Item 4 –
report of the Mr Roger Gough, Cabinet Member for Education and
health Reform and Patrick Leeson, Director of Education and Young
People’s Services)
Cabinet received a reporting the results of
the recent consultation on the Adult Learning, Skills and
Employment Strategy and seeking endorsement of the draft as amended
for adoption by KCC.
Mr Roger Gough, Cabinet Member for Education
and Health Reform introduced the report for members; in particular
he referred to the following:
- That the draft strategy presented to
Cabinet was the final version of a document that had been subject
to changes as a result of consultation and in particular
recommendations from the Education and Young People’s Cabinet
Committee who had endorsed the draft following a detailed
discussion and on the basis that certain recommendations were
reflected in the final draft.
- The strategy sought to map current
provision, attainment and economic need and from these findings the
four priorities were drawn. The
priorities were a mixture of general priorities for increased
skills and employment levels and more specific focus on priority
and vulnerable groups to ensure that levels of attainment and
success were raised for those who needed it most.
- The national context within which
the strategy would sit presented challenges; funding had been
reduced and a shift to loans for adult learners had
occurred. The strategy recognised these
issues and attempted to mitigate them in order to achieve the
objectives of KCC to raise levels of skills, attainment and
employment.
- Priority sectors were identified and
the importance of working with employers, LEP and KCC in order to
ensure that learners achieved the relevant skills and experience
for those sectors was recognised in the strategy. A detailed action plan would now be developed in
order to deliver the aims set out in the strategy.
Patrick Leeson, Corporate Director of
Education and Young People’s Services, spoke to the item to
draw the following further information to the attention of
members:
- That the strategy was key to maintaining and improving relationships with
key stakeholders, partners and other agencies in this area of
work.
- That it was not possible to close
skills gaps identified in priority sectors by raising the
attainment of young people only and therefore it was crucial that
older adults were also targeted.
- That the strategy built on, and
would work in conjunction with, a suite of strategies aimed at
different age groups and sectors, namely the
14-24 Skills Strategy, the Community Learning and Skills
Growth strategy and the LEP Skills Strategy.
- That the strategy was not only a
helpful too for KCC but was used by employers and training
providers as a framework to guide decision making and
provision.
Following a question from the Leader Mr Leeson
added that the targets in the strategy were aimed at raising levels
in Kent to those of other South Eastern authorities and were
challenging but realistic. The need for
a detailed delivery plan had been identified as part of the
consultation and work was underway ...
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