D2N2 Local Enterprise Partnership People and Skills Advisory Board Date: Wednesday 22nd April 2020, 10:00-11.30 Venue: Zoom Meeting MINUTES OF MEETING Attendees Kath Mitchell (Chair) University of Derby Jane Howson (Deputy Chair) Autism East Midlands Andrew Marsh Derbyshire County Council Emma Moorcroft-Robinson Derbyshire County Council Harminder Matharu AELP Joe Battye Derbyshire County Council Julie Richards Chesterfield College Karen Manuel DWP Veronica Dennant Newark and Sherwood District Council Mike Firth Education and Skills Funding Agency Natalie Gasson D2N2 LEP Nicola Caley Murray Park School Nicola Lees South Derbyshire District Council Nicola McCoy-Brown Nottinghamshire County Council Nick Booth Uniper Nicki Jenkins Nottingham City Council Peter Brammall The Futures Group Rachel Quinn D2N2 LEP Richard Kirkland D2N2 LEP Sajeeda Rose D2N2 LEP Sarah O’Hara University of Nottingham Sonja Smith Nottinghamshire County Council Sue Fielding DWP Trudi Waldram Food and Drink Forum Will Morlidge D2N2 LEP Maureen Vieyra (note taker) D2N2 LEP Apologies Cate Edwynn PHE – Derby David Wright BEIS Gary Parsons Talk Staff Iain Peel Derby City Council Ian Bond Inspire Culture Julie Beresford Bassetlaw District Council Katrina Starkie Purpose Media This project is part-funded by the European Structural and Investment Funds Growth Programme 2014-2020 in England. Sensitivity: Internal Mandy Ramm Nottinghamshire County Council Nathan Clements Boots Pauline Anderson Derby City Council Sian Rebourg Laing O’Rourke 1. Welcome and introductions The Chair welcomed everyone to the meeting. SR advised the meeting how the D2N2 LEP was working. She also advised that the LEP was now starting to focus on recovery and what that might look like. 2. Apologies Please see above. 3. Conflicts of Interest Members were asked to declare any conflicts of interest as they arose. There were none. 4. Minutes of the last meeting and matters arising The Minutes were accepted as a true record of the meeting and there were no matters arising. Actions from previous minutes a) Some work on strategy had been halted in order to assess the impact of COVID19. b) Vlad Epuri had completed some work visualising Gatsby Benchmark progress.. c) A request to support delivery of the Youth Engagement activity had been circulated and responses were being evaluated. d) NEET data – concerns were expressed about how to measure, track and display youth employment outcomes. Combining 18-24-year-old measures and outcomes had been discussed to determine who was being educated and who employed. e) Social care commissioning had not been progressed. f) The vacancy data tool was now live. g) ESF funding and future programme – there is a need to have another discussion as to whether the priorities identified two months ago still apply h) National Retraining Scheme – rollout currently paused. i) Skills Mismatch – Vlad has analysed some data with reference to programmers and software developers and this needs to be sense checked before circulation This project is part-funded by the European Structural and Investment Funds Growth Programme 2014-2020 in England. Sensitivity: Internal 5. COVID-19: Impact on the People and Skills Landscape See the presentation circulated prior to the meeting. A wide-ranging discussion took place. D2N2 LEP was analysing the impact of COVID-19 on the region. As part of recovery planning it was intended to form two groups, one for analytical work and the other for governance. Both would be formed by a wide-ranging membership. The purpose of the analytical group would be to focus on analysing intelligence and providing forecasts. D2N2 LEP was in contact with groups across the region to ensure that, as far as possible, there was no duplication of work. Elizabeth Fagan was representing the LEPs in the region in weekly meetings with Ministers and the meeting was informed that the LEP viewed its role as approaching HMG for funds. A meeting had taken place on 21/4/20 between D2N2 LEP and the three universities to establish a collaborative way of working. The Growth Hub had started a detailed survey of businesses over the impact of the COVID-19 restrictions. So far cashflow, financial planning and funding were identified as the greatest concern. Social isolation was also of concern, especially impact on staff mental health. The Derby Growth Hub had received a large number of enquiries from businesses seeking support. There was an increase in the recruitment of staff for health and social care. Based on research by Centre for Cities, Derby was at risk of one of the highest level of jobs losses in the UK (30% at risk) as a result of the prevalence of jobs in the manufacturing and other highly impacted sectors. The level of the impact would be dependent on when restrictions were lifted. Mansfield also identified as at significant risk. Loss of export capability was a concern and questions were being asked as to how to address this. The visitor economy had been hit very badly. Advice to employers from the Treasury on use of the Job Retention Scheme (JRS) was not aligned with other Government departments and messaging and has caused confusion. Anecdotal information from Derby showed JRS application process very difficult to navigate. The figures for crime rate and domestic violence were national and not local. Domestic violence and severe and sudden poverty were being reported regularly to schools - resources needed to be widely shared and with schools to ensure people can be signposted to support more effectively. The COVID-19 crisis had identified that a number of SMEs did not have any digital capability and it was suggested that a strategic response was needed to address this, especially in rural areas. Digital skills were agreed as a high priority. This project is part-funded by the European Structural and Investment Funds Growth Programme 2014-2020 in England. Sensitivity: Internal ACTION: 1. RQ to amend NEET reporting on the Labour Market Dashboard to include both in work and education figures 2. RQ and JH to discuss social care commissioning 3. KM to circulate to WM and RQ data from the Derby Growth Hub 4. RQ to share work on Programmers and Software Developers with colleges for ‘sense checking’ 5. Members to provide RQ with feedback and specific evidence / examples with regard to levelling up digital access. 6. WM to share intelligence derived from the analytical group with the meeting and wider audience as it is developed. Schools Some parents who had applied for Universal Credit were unaware that they could ask for an advance payment from day one. Murray Park School reported that they had received emails and visits from desperate parents who had been struggling while waiting for Universal Credit payments to be received. The school had been giving £50 emergency cash advances to some parents. Universal Credit had received in excess of 1.8 million applications, five times higher than the number of new claims at the same time in the previous year and representing a rise of 50% of the total number of overall UC claimants (although it was noted that not all will be eligible). Whilst Universal Credit department had initially been taking longer to process payments due to volume this had now improved. A request was made to email schools with details of where help could be sought with regard to financial advice service, domestic violence support and locations of food banks as this was not as widely known as thought. Food banks were finding it challenging to find stocks of food to distribute. Students from disadvantaged backgrounds did not have either the IT equipment or broadband access in order to study online and schools were struggling to support them. The government had announced that laptops and dongles would be provided to schools. Schools had identified that their IT departments had equipment that was being unused during the lockdown but that they were unable to make use of it. It was identified that a short, medium and long term digital strategy was needed for the region. ACTION: 1. NL to share the Derbyshire Welfare Rights document with RQ 2. RQ to connect schools with Local Resilience Forums to ensure information on food banks, emergency response teams and domestic violence support is shared with them 3. NC to share the website link to the government’s initiative for schools to access laptops and dongles 4. RQ, WM and KM to circulate a briefing paper about today’s discussions with a clear set of priorities identified This project is part-funded by the European Structural and Investment Funds Growth Programme 2014-2020 in England. Sensitivity: Internal Apprenticeships Retention, progression and completion of apprenticeships has been highlighted as a major risk by providers. There was a high risk of loss of apprenticeships providers with over 70% of delivery taking place in the private sector and paid on delivery. Apprentices are being furloughed in larger businesses- at present there is insufficient known as to whether these are continuing to learn There was grave concern as to the future provision of apprenticeships when restrictions were lifted. ACTION: 1. HM to share AELP survey response on apprenticeships 2. RQ to research the current state of apprenticeship provision in D2N2 and report back Charity Sector The charity sector was experiencing a massive fundraising downturn. A lot of smaller charities will not survive in the current climate and are expected to fail after the restrictions are lifted ACTION: 1. JH to provide RQ with information on charity sector support from the government. 6. Supporting Educational Quality in D2N2 The People and Skills Board needed to consider reviewing local strategy and delivery formulated prior to the COVID-19 situation. RQ asked for feedback on whether the broad ambitions aligned with the LIS remained and what could be done currently.