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Agenda and minutes

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Contact: Moira Fraser / Janet Giddings 

Items
No. Item

8.

Minutes pdf icon PDF 484 KB

To approve as a correct record the Minutes of the meeting of the Committee held on 17 July 2020.

Minutes:

The Minutes of the meeting held on 17 July 2020 were approved as a true and correct record and signed by the Chairman.

9.

Declarations of Interest

To remind Members of the need to record the existence and nature of any personal, disclosable pecuniary or other registrable interests in items on the agenda, in accordance with the Members’ Code of Conduct.

Minutes:

There were no declarations of interest received.

10.

Apprenticeship Strategy (PC3968) pdf icon PDF 300 KB

Purpose: This report seeks approval of an Apprenticeship Strategy and associated documents for the Council as well as a proposal for additional resource to support delivery of this key project/Council priority.

Additional documents:

Minutes:

The Committee considered a report (Agenda Item 4) which sought approval of an Apprenticeship Strategy and associated documents for the Council as well as a proposal for additional resource to support delivery of this key project and Council priority.

Abi Witting introduced the report and said that it had been put together as a strategy centred on the apprenticeship work that the Council had already put in place.

The apprenticeship levy had been introduced in April 2017, at that time the Council had focused the funds on upscaling the existing staff. Abi Witting stated that they now had a well-established scheme in progress but it now needed to become more ambitious as set out in the strategy document presented.

In particular, it was necessary to broaden the remit to support for vulnerable children and adults, along with local businesses in West Berkshire. The purpose of the report presented was to seek approval of the apprenticeship strategy and the associated documents (which captured both the current practice that was in place and the future ambitions of supporting the vulnerable in West Berkshire). The document also looked to provide additional support for staff, managers, schools and businesses on how they could access the apprenticeship levy easily.

In addition, Abi Witting stated that she was looking for support from the Committee to approve additional resources. Both Corporate Board and Operations Board had had sight of the report and they both were supportive of the additional resources. The support required included increasing the current Assistant HR post that supported apprenticeships from 0.6 FTE to 1.0 FTE (full time). The actual cost of this for 2020/2021 would be £16,060 (including on costs). If the Committee were supportive of this proposal then she would ensure that it was included in the budget papers for Budget Board the following day.

Abi Witting advised the Committee of the seven ambitions of the report (page 11, paragraph 4.4) She further commented that having an ambitious apprenticeship strategy made it clear that the Council were an advocate for apprenticeships, valued learning and development and were willing to support the residents of West Berkshire and in particular the vulnerable children and adults.

Councillor Adrian Abbs asked Abi Witting to confirm that the cost of £16,060 for the position going from 0.6 to 1 FTE was just the salary? Abi Witting confirmed that it was salary plus on costs (including pension etc.). Councillor Abbs also asked if the Council was conducting blind type hiring or if they were applying a positive approach to this? Abi Witting responded by saying that the Council did not currently have blind applications but that was something to be considered under the Workforce Strategy and would be reflected within the apprentice strategy process. Currently, the apprenticeship recruitment process broadly followed the general recruitment practices.  Councillor Abbs said that he was keen to avoid any kind of bias and that blind hiring tended to guarantee that there was no bias. Abi Witting responded that the equalities data around  ...  view the full minutes text for item 10.

11.

Date of Next Meeting

·         12 February 2021

·         16 July 2021

·         12 November 2021

·         11 February 2022

·         29 April 2022

Minutes:

The Committee agreed to hold the next meeting on 12 February 2021 at 10:30 am.