Minutes:
Paul Winter (Chief Executive Officer, Wire Belt Ltd, Chair Kent and Medway Skills Commission) was in attendance for this item.
1. Mr Smith (Director of Economic Development) welcomed Mr Winter to the Committee who provided an update to Members on the skills and employability services available within Kent.
2. Mr Winter said that a majority of the Guilds were set up in 2016 to facilitate employer and education engagement as part of the 14-24 Learning Employment & Skills strategy and these were heavily influenced by public sector contribution, in particular, Kent County Council. Mr Winter provided a brief overview of the following sectors:
Hospitality and Tourism: - The sector had achieved recognition of its success through increased employer engagement with schools and training providers whom provided fairs and pre-work experience for students. A significant factor which contributed to the sectors success was parental involvement and influence, an area that was highlighted by Visit Kent who aimed to explore this aspect further in their efforts to expand. The Hospitality and Tourism Guild also offered the Charter Mark award as it did within other sectors such as the Construction Guild and the Creative and Media Guild, however it did not offer a degree apprenticeship and therefore work had commenced to develop this.
Health Care Guild: - The sector specifically targeted level 2 and level 3 entries and promoted the Guild through creative media that appealed to the younger generations.
Financial and Professional Services Guild: - The sector was chaired by Iain Hawthorne (Global Relationship Director for HSBC) and had successfully promoted degree apprenticeships within management and accounting.
Manufacturing and Engineering Guild: - The sector relied heavily on communication via newsletters to promote opportunities to schools and this would be sent out on a regular basis.
Science Guild: - This sector faced a number of challenges around its sustainability due to its cross-cutting nature as science-based companies felt it set within the manufacturing Guild. In response to the concerns, the Commission agreed to review whether the Science Guild crossed into other sectors such as manufacturing, digital and management and determine the future of the Guild.
Land base Guild: - This sector also faced a number of challenges around its sustainability, however, efforts would continue to be made in re-launching the Guild.
With regard to the Guilds current position, Mr Winter said that The Education People was in operation, however, performance levels were considerably low due to the impact of organisational change and loss of staff. The joint commitment from Kent County Council and West Kent Partnership however supported the expansion of the Careers & Enterprise Company (CEC) into all Secondary schools within Kent which would provide the Commission with an opportunity to review the Guilds and identify better ways of working. Mr Winter said that once the Guilds had been redesigned to support students of all ages, the key challenge would be addressing the re-skilling and up-skilling agendas within the sectors.
1. Mr Winter responded to comments and questions from Members, including the following: -
(a) In response to levy contributions, the Guilds Commission along with Kent County Council were reviewing how the funds could be credited to digital accounts and how this could be directly accessed by employers to improve the apprenticeship standards.
(b) Many Secondary Schools remained opposed to the reintroduction of term-time work experience, however, supported students should they wish to organise work experience during the holiday period.
(c) In terms of whether the Guilds would regain popularity within schools, Mr Winter said that the Commission was reviewing the impact of raising the participation age to 18 as not all students wished to go onto higher education at university. Schools had started to cooperate with the Guilds and explore the possibility of vocational training. Mr Winter highlighted the importance of recruiting additional advisers within the Careers & Enterprise Company (CEC) to further promote vocational training and remove the stereotypical barriers.
(d) Mr Winter confirmed that schools did not have to use CEC, however, schools were being monitored in terms of what they were doing to address the employment and skills gap. The Guilds Commission met three times a year and had a number of representatives from CEC, schools, universities and those from the Federation of Small Businesses (FSB) to discuss the possibility of apprenticeship degrees and remove the stigma of needing a university degree.
(e) Mr Winter said that 9% of the students who opted for the engineering Guild were female and highlighted to Members the importance of encouraging more females to take roles within the science, engineering and manufacturing field.
2. RESOLVED that the information presented be noted.