Issue - meetings

Purpose of the Report:

This report provides an overview of how Surrey County Council’s is fulfilling its responsibilities in respect of the Apprenticeship Levy which was introduced by Central Government in April 2017. The report focuses on the Council’s internal apprenticeships training programme and does not consider the wider picture among Surrey employers

Declarations of Interests:

None

Witnesses:

Lien Cross, Consultant – Organisational Development, Surrey County Council

Joy Hurman, Lead Consultant – Learning and Development, Surrey County Council

Mary Lewis, Cabinet Member for All Age Learning

Luis Moore, Apprentice (Recruitment Team), Surrey County Council

Key points raised during the discussion:

1. An introduction to the report was provided by officers who highlighted that apprenticeships would support Surrey County Council (the Council) to develop and retain a skilled and flexible workforce capable of responding to future changes in local authority service delivery. Apprenticeships also created opportunities for staff by providing a framework for the whole workforce to undertake relevant qualifications helping to raise knowledge and aspirations. Members were informed about the “Vision for Apprenticeships 2020” which outlined the UK Government’s aspirations to increase apprenticeships nationally through a 0.5% levy on all employers in the UK with an annual pay bill in excess of £3 million. As part of the Apprenticeship Reforms, the Council is required to pay £2,040,000 annually into the Levy and has a target to employ over 600 apprentices per year across the Council and local authority maintained schools. The Committee was reminded that information contained within the report was orientated specifically towards the Council’s internal apprenticeship recruitment.

Rose Thorn arrived at the meeting at 10:10am

2. The Committee heard that factors such as the recruitment freeze as well as the Council’s Transformation Programme had impacted on the ability of services to recruit apprentices and that this would continue to cause challenges over the coming months. Members were informed, however, that it was important to ensure the right structures were in place to support recruitment and retention of apprentices by ensuring effective linkages between services within the Council and improving collaboration with external partners. An Apprenticeships Task Force had been convened to establish the structures required to ensure that the Council was in a position to recruit and retain apprenticeships once there was greater stability across services.

3. The Committee asked how the Council would measure success in delivering against its Apprenticeship Strategy. Officers highlighted that recouping the money committed to the Levy and delivering against the Council’s Public Sector Target for annual apprenticeship starts would collectively provide a good barometer of success in delivery against the Council’s Apprenticeships Strategy. Members heard that it was also important to ensure the Council was able to keep apprentices once they had completed their training to ensure that the skills and knowledge they had developed were retained in-house. The Council was in the process of gathering evidence to understand what made a good apprenticeship to inform is own training offer.

4.     Clarity was sought by the Committee on the number of apprentices that were employed by the Council. Members were advised that the Council employed 371 apprentices who were each at different stages of their training. Members heard that funding drawn-down from the Levy could only be spent on training costs and not on salaries pre-apprenticeship programmes.

5.     Members asked whether there was potential to collaborate with partner  ...  view the full minutes text for item 5