Agenda and minutes

The minutes of the meeting held on 23 January were agreed as a correct record with the following amendment from Mrs Jenny Whittle:

Page 6, final bullet point, after “children now needing” delete “these services” and insert “to be taken into care or needing care services”

The change was required to accurately reflect that the numbers of children needing to be adopted remained high.

(Item 4 – report by Mr A King, Deputy Leader and Cabinet Member for Democracy and Partnerships and Mr P Sass, Head of Democratic Services)

Cabinet considered a report which contained the decisions of the Scrutiny Committee from the meeting held on 12 December 2012 in order that responses be agreed.  Cabinet considered two Scrutiny recommendations in relation to decisions detailed below:

1) Decisions No: 12/01977 - Amalgamation of Walmer Science College and Castle Community College. 

The Cabinet Member response to the Scrutiny Committee recommendations was not included in the papers for the meeting, as a result Mr Whiting, Cabinet Member fro Education Learning and Skills, provided the following verbal response:

·         That the requested web page had now been developed and populated with all information relevant to the proposals.

·         That letters had been sent to the Chairman of the Governors at each college, on 4^th December with details pertaining to the lease.  Copies of the letters had been included on the aforementioned webpage. 

·         Telephone calls had been made to each of the schools by KCC officers to alert them to the discussions that had taken place at the Education Cabinet Committee on 21 November 2012 and Scrutiny Committee on the 12 December.

·         The view of the Scrutiny Committee that Walmer Science College be retained for future educational use had been reflected in the Cabinet Member Decision to issue the public notice of the planned amalgamation.

2) Compulsory Purchase Order claim by Darent Valley Hospital Trust, Dartford.

The Cabinet Member response was included in the appendix to the report.  Roger Gough, Cabinet Member for Business Strategy, Performance and Health Reform, confirmed that the documents requested had been provided.

It was RESOLVED that the decisions of the Scrutiny Committee and the responses of Cabinet Members be noted.

(Item 6 – report by Mr M Whiting, Cabinet Member for Education, Learning and Skills and Mr P leeson, Corporate Director of Education, Learning and Skills)

Cabinet considered a report which sought agreement to the adoption and publication of the final version of the draft 14-24 Learning and Employment and Skills Strategy. 

The Cabinet Member for Education, Learning and Skills introduced the item for consideration and in particular referred to the following:

• He reported that the draft strategy had evolved by various means of communication and consultation with members and with the public and reflected comments received during that process.
• That as the requirement for young people to remain in education, training or work with training until the age of 18 had been implemented, it was important that the various stakeholders and partners were united and this strategy was needed to ensure that Kent County Council worked together with others to help to meet the needs of young people in Kent.
• It was important that young people were in possession of all relevant information when making choices about the future and that this information was accessible to all.
• That currently there were 10,000 apprenticeships in Kent, the Strategy aimed to further increase this number.  Kent County Council’s own apprentice scheme currently had 84 members and 68 members with Learning Disabilities.  The desire of KCC to be a good trainer and employer had helped to shape the strategy.
• KCC maintained a strong commitment to ensure that students in full-time achieved their potential.  This strategy would provide another opportunity to do so, by setting out further vocational education opportunities.  It was hoped that these and other measures would improve the employment prospects of young people in Kent
• The Strategy set out 4 key priorities:
  • To raise attainment and skill levels
  • To improve vocational education, training and apprenticeships
  • Participation and employment
  • Target support for young vulnerable learners.
• That an Employment, Learning and Skills Partnership Board would be established in order to bring together all partners, including employers to ensure that the strategy would be implemented effectively.

Mr Leeson, Corporate Director of Education, Learning and Skills addressed cabinet and made the following further points:

• That the publication of the strategy at this time was pertinent in light of national policy, in particular the significant change in the requirement for young people to continue to learn or train until 18, the emergence of a new vocational education system and the economic climate where unemployment was rising for young people.  In some of the most economically challenging areas of Kent youth unemployment was above 20%.
• The identified outcomes of the strategy were ambitious and would, if achieved, have turned around significantly the problems that some young people in Kent currently faced. 
• He reported these ambitious outcomes,
  • That youth unemployment be halved in the next 3 years
  • That the number of apprenticeships be doubled
• That the good practice in Kent of promoting apprenticeships would be further enhanced by aligning more closely what employers were seeking  ...  view the full minutes text for item 37.