Agenda item

Report of the Strategic Regeneration Advisor (North East Lincolnshire County Council – C. Tritton).

The Strategic Regeneration Advisor North East Lincolnshire Council submitted a report seeking agreement to the principle of collaboration to address specific skills priorities common to the three member local authority areas and to add value to the work of the Greater Lincolnshire Local Enterprise Partnership (GLLEP) Skills Advisory Panel, together with consideration of joint strategic skills needing to be addressed on a joint Lincolnshire basis and to develop themes for collaboration for consideration at a future meeting.

        
The report stated that with the skills landscape changing faster than ever, there was a significant opportunity for member councils to collaborate across authorities in the years ahead to consider common challenges and to work collectively to consider new approaches to ensure all of residents benefitted from the enormous opportunity for economic growth in Greater Lincolnshire. This was particularly timely as the focus moved towards the opportunities afforded by the Shared Prosperity Fund from 2022 and the importance of ensuring that Greater Lincolnshire’s skills requirements were reflected in that programme. A number of reasons for developing a new skills eco-system for Greater Lincolnshire were identified and the important role of the GLLEP in developing skills thinking in the region through its Skills Advisory Panel highlighted.

The Strategic Regeneration Advisor in his report explained that the skills ecosystem was complex and multi-layered and through a Greater Lincolnshire Skills Eco-System, the following roles and responsibilities would be developed jointly:

·           Businesses forecasting and communicating skills needs that impact sectors; influencing, disrupting, and shaping the provider markets; galvanising sector voices,

·           Providers ensuring responsive skills offer; marketing the offer; convening around specialisms; cooperating on specific skills challenges –by sector and by skills set,   

·           Conveners facilitating and enabling challenging conversations; engendering system level accountability; providing high level economic assessment; influencing policy and

·           Individuals accessing information, advice and guidance; engaging in lifelong learning as a route to prosperity.

It was proposed that officers would jointlyprogress stakeholder engagement across Greater Lincolnshire, with individuals, providers, universities and businesses, and local authorities, in the next 6-12 months to identify potential areas of focus. This would be reported back to the Joint Committee to consider findings and recommendations for next steps. Once priorities were finalised, a future report would identify specific outcomes and those initiatives which could be put in place to meet those outcomes. Examples of areas where a joined-up approach may be appropriate across Greater Lincolnshire were summarised in the report.

The Joint Committee through debate considered key elements of what would be a significant piece or work which would be enhanced further through the opportunity of devolution. These included –

·           Improving collaboration not competition especially in the post 16 (further education) sector, with improved focus on re-aligning skills required by business and career opportunities (expanding the current work of the Lincolnshire CC ‘Employment and Skills Commissioning Group’ across Greater Lincolnshire).

·           Develop a clear understanding of what skills are required by businesses, across established and new sectors to raise ambition, and to encourage schools and colleges to give focus to providing education for work and improve careers advice.

·           Raising aspirations, ambition and skills of more deprived communities providing opportunities across various business sectors, and

·           Providing focussed key messages to business, education and individuals promoting skills needed with tangible outcomes.

Resolved - (a) That the principle of collaboration to address local skills issues which are common to the three local authorities be approved; (b) that officers be requested to develop further the priorities set out in paragraph 2.13 of the report and consider approaches to collaboration for those specific themes and others as they emerge; (c) that the Joint Committee work in conjunction with the GLLEP Skills Advisory Panel on a joined up approach to the emerging Shared Prosperity Fund to ensure that these specific issues be prioritised, particularly with a view to developing new ways of working and challenging existing approaches, and (d) that Chief Executives consider and move forward proposals to improve collaboration not competition especially in the post 16 (further education) with improved focus on re-aligning skills required by business and career opportunities (considering the example of the current work of the Lincolnshire CC ‘Employment and Skills Commissioning Group’ realigning skills across Greater Lincolnshire).