Agenda item

Consideration was given to report of the Corporate Director Regeneration & Community Services.

The Skills Development Manager presented the report which provided performance information on the Aspire Programme and associated external business engagement; and also performance information on the BGCBC internal apprenticeship programme.

The Officer spoke to the report and highlighted points contained therein.

A Member asked whether Registered Social Landlords in Blaenau Gwent were involved in the Programme.

The Officer confirmed that they had not recruited any apprentices to date.  However, they did provide excellent work placements for looked after children on the Traineeship Programme in the construction sector.

The Member also asked whether apprenticeships could be offered within the Council’s Business Support Section.

In response the Officer explained that this had not been pursued due to limited capacity within the Team, as current efforts were focussed on supporting and filling apprenticeship vacancies within the Social Care Team.

Another Member commended the Aspire Team on the success of the programme.  He then referred to the shortage of staff within the Social Care Team and asked how it was intended to fill those vacant posts.

The Officer confirmed that the Team worked closely with Organisational Development to identify current vacancies that would be suitable for an apprenticeship.  There were currently five Level 2 vacancies within the Social Care Team, and work was ongoing with the training provider secure training and NVQ support for those posts.  However, in terms of identifying vacancies for apprenticeships, it was crucial that training providers have the funding capacity to provide training.  The Officer said Social Care was a priority area with the vast majority of Officer time dedicated to filling vacancies within the sector.

A Member commended the work of the Aspire Team and said there was a need for the Programme to be expanded moving forward, particularly in the automotive sector.

The Officer confirmed that discussions were ongoing with Cardiff City Region and Welsh Government to look at opportunities to develop the Programme and widen the scope across other LA’s.  The Officer said the automotive industry was a key sector to consider, particularly with the maintenance of electric vehicles etc., and the Team could work with training providers to develop pathways into that sector.  However, she pointed out that Aspire was a Programme Management Team and without sufficient capacity within learning providers then the Team would be unable to facilitate those opportunities, and she urged Members to lobby Welsh Government to ensure a sustainable future in the growth of apprenticeships and funding for learning providers.

In response to a question raised by a Member regarding funding, the Officer confirmed that discussions were ongoing with Welsh Government and Cardiff City Region to develop a proposal post 2022 and she hoped to provide an update on this in the near future.

A Member said College Gwent had a significant amount of money to develop the Monwel site and asked whether the Aspire Programme was involved in that work.

The Officer confirmed that Aspire was very much part of that work and had been working closely with College Gwent and Tech Valleys on this for a number of years.  In terms of the proposal itself, she confirmed that College Gwent had received funding to purchase equipment to develop programmes of learning in preparation for the opening of the Hive in September 2023.  She said apprenticeships were at the forefront of industry within Blaenau Gwent many years ago, and it was intended to bring back a more modernised apprenticeship that would fill future skills gaps, looking at technology within the manufacturing industry.  Hopefully a report would be presented in due course and Members would see significant development of that work.

The Committee AGREED to recommend that the report be accepted. (Option 2)