Agenda item

[To provide an overview of the key work that is being led by the Regeneration Directorate, working with a number of services across the council, to deliver the ‘Generate More Jobs and Learning Opportunities’ priority set out in the Council’s Relighting Our City strategy.  Briefing note is attached.]

The Cabinet Member for Education and Skills stated that the future of Wolverhampton would depend on the ability of the City to reskill people across the age groups into jobs which would be available in the future.  The world had dramatically changed due to the impact of Covid-19.  The Regeneration Directorate was cross cutting against many work streams including important partnerships such as the Black Country LEP, Central Government, WMCA, Adult Education and the Colleges.  This vital work was important to the reskilling agenda.  He commended the work which had taken place to date by the Directorate. 

The Director for Regeneration introduced the presentation on generating more jobs and learning opportunities priority.  The presentation aimed to cover the key emerging work and the deliverables.  The “Relighting our City” plan had five key areas, one of these was generating more jobs and learning opportunities. 

The Head of Enterprise commented that unemployment levels were increasing in the City.  There had been changes in the economy, such as some sectors shrinking with others having unprecedented growth.  The younger people in the City had been disproportionately affected.  It was also clear that people in their over 50s in long term employment were being affected by redundancy.  They were still grappling with the issue that a high number of people in Wolverhampton were classed as having a high number of low or no skills.  The digital divide in the City had been exemplified due to Covid-19. 

The Head of Enterprise stated that the combined total of NEET (Not in Education, Employment or Training) and Not Known 16-18-year olds in the City was 589.   33% of these (197) were currently being supported.  They did however wish to engage with the remaining number.  55% of Care Leavers aged 19-21 were in in EET (in Education, Employment or Training) this was a higher proportion than the Council’s neighbours where the average was 47%. 

The Head of Enterprise commented that 433 young people aged 18-25 in Wolverhampton had an ECHP (Education, Health Care Plan).  These plans were important because people aged 18-25 were a key group who were likely to be at risk of being long term unemployed.  In Year 12, there had been 71 people who had dropped out in the academic year of 2019-2020. 

The Head of Enterprise on the subject of digital, commented that prior to Covid-19 an estimated 35,000 residents had not been online in the last three months and 59,000 lacked all digital skills.  The presentation slide referred to 60% of Wolves at Work clients and 25% of Impact clients unable to access support online.  Three strategic businesses in the City had submitted a HR1 Redundancy notice.  She presented a slide on the unemployment claimant rate for 16-64 year olds.  The number of unemployed claimants in the City aged 16-64 was 17,280 which was 10.6%.  The national average in England was 6.6%.  The top three wards in Wolverhampton that had the highest number of claimants as a percentage of residents aged 16-64 years old were :-

St. Peter’s – 14.3%

East Park – 13.9%

Bushbury South and Low Hill – 13.2%

The number of unemployed claimants in the City aged 18-24 was 3,380 which was 15.9%, whereas the national average in England was 9.4%.  

The Head of Enterprise stated that generating more jobs and learning opportunities was a key driver to supporting the City’s recovery post Covid-19. This priority had refocused efforts to address the increased barriers emerging from the pandemic that many local people were now facing to get into or sustain employment and to access skills.  Working alongside the other packages already established, they had identified three key strands.  The Wolves Youth Offer which supported all young people in the City into employment, through training and improving their skills.  Digital Connectivity was vitally important to helping enable learning and employment opportunities.  The final strand identified was the City’s response to those affected by or at risk of redundancy.

The Skills and Employability Manager commented that the Wolves Youth Offer focused on the 16-24 years old age group.  They were working on developing a Skills Health Check through Youth Hubs.  The Skills Health Check would link with: -

·       Kickstart (paid placement)

·       Impact (bespoke support)

·       Wolves at work, work coach (guide, advise, mentor)

·       Apprenticeships

·       Skills and Learning programmes

The Strategic Projects and Funding Manager presented some slides on digital connectivity.  The issue of the digital divide had been further highlighted as a result of Covid-19, this included both access and skills.  They had discovered that the digital divide was affecting all age groups in the City.  It was impacting on people’s ability to access online learning and employment support.  It wasn’t just a digital skills issue it was also about access to devices and connectivity.  They had therefore been looking at a number of digital initiatives as part of a wider digital inclusion approach. 

The Strategic Projects and Funding Manager commented that they were developing a digital inclusion action plan which was looking at innovative approaches to enabling people to get online.  They had also developed a Wolves Online device and connectivity lending scheme, where there was an initial pilot for the lending of 50 devices, which they were hoping to increase the scale of in the future.  Digital skills were going to become increasingly important into the future, there was therefore a focus on seeing what the City could do to enhance people’s digital skills.  They were developing a #digitalwolves gateway for online and local digital skills provision.

The Strategic Projects and Funding Manager spoke on the matter of pathways to digital jobs.  It was important to ensure that the City’s workforce had the right digital skills to be able to access new digital jobs in the future. 

The Head of Enterprise spoke on the Council’s, Response 2 Redundancy model.  The Council through earlier engagement with businesses in the City was providing a preventative response for those who were at risk or affected by redundancy.  Working with national partners DWP and Serco, the Response 2 Redundancy model responded to the local impact on businesses who were affected.  The offer was summarised as follows :-

·       Provided a wrap around service of early interventions i.e skills, retraining, redeployment

·       Ensured residents had access to a Wolves at Work, work coach

·       Able to track and monitor individuals progress and outcomes

There were significant vacancies starting to arise for digital jobs and so it was most important to prepare the workforce.  If a business was considering making 20 or more redundancies they had to alert the Department for Work and Pensions and issue a HN1.  Some people that had been in work for several decades could be facing redundancy for the first time, so it was important to ensure they were supported with that process. They had also exhibited good partnership working in other Black Country areas, as some Wolverhampton residents travelled to other areas for employment and could face redundancy. 

The Director for Regeneration presented a slide with some questions which they asked the Scrutiny Panel to consider, these were as follows:-

·       As part of the Wolves Youth Offer how do we ensure a collaborative approach across the Council and partners to raise awareness, understanding and seek their support?

·       How we can ensure the Wolves Youth Offer is inclusive and we engage fully with all Young People in the city?

·       How are we going to sustain the successful Wolves at Work model?

·       How can we help to close the digital divide in the City?

·       How do we as a City manage and support the effects of redundancy in a way that can be scaled up?

A Panel Member stated that when considering the schemes from an employer’s point of view, he considered them to be too thin.  The Kick Start scheme gave support to employers on Zero NI and contributions towards 28 hours work for the first six months.  Employers he suspected would rather have support for a much longer period.  There were the added pressures of Brexit and the longer lasting effects of the impact of Covid-19 on the economy.  From a personal perspective he didn’t want to employ people for only six months or even twelve months, he wanted to employ people who he could offer a permanent position.

A Panel Member commented that the Wolves Online pilot loan scheme of 50 devices seemed a small number, she asked if this number would be increased and how the devices would be distributed.  The Strategic Projects and Funding Manager confirmed that it was a pilot which they were planning on rolling out.  They were looking at other sources of funding, they had secured some European Social Funding to obtain devices.  The plan was therefore to increase the scale of the pilot and look at a place based approach, for instance encouraging community organisations to set themselves up as online centres.  A range of mechanisms would be utilised to help reduce the digital divide across the City.

The Cabinet Member for Education and Skills commented that the Education Department had already distributed over 800 laptops to young people either on an educational and health plan or who were known to social workers.  200 had been distributed to schools and 200 routers had been given to young people who required them.

A Member of the Panel highlighted the important role of schools and the need to communicate with people who did not normally engage with Council services.  Working with community groups was an important part. 

A Member of the Panel asked how the success of the Wolves at Work model was measured, monitored and recorded.  The Director for Regeneration responded that they were engaging with a variety of different user groups.  They therefore had a good understanding of the need.  They were engaging with businesses, so they could understand their requirements.  Wolves at Work provided a support mechanism for businesses and individuals.  The Head of Enterprise gave an assurance that they had a tight monitoring system for the Wolves at Work model, which tracked every individual entering the system.  At the end of October 2020 they had supported 5,777 people into work.  The Skills and Employability Manager commented that they had managed to sustain over 3000 people into work, which was one of the best performance employability projects that they had seen.  It was therefore a project which was noted at a regional and national level.  A recent evaluation of the Wolves at Work Project had found that it had added £146 million to the economy in the City.

A Panel Member commented that he saw the unemployment situation in Wolverhampton as depressing.  It was therefore important to do as much as they could to help the situation.  He was concerned about the damage Covid-19 had done to the employment rate in the future, particularly in arts, entertainment and retail.  He was also mindful about the potential impact of Brexit with the transition phase coming to an end at the end of the year.  Embracing new sectors to encourage employment in the City was critically important.        

The Director for Regeneration referred to the Education, Skills and Employment Board which had been setup.  This brought together a number of the formal entities, such as Adult Education, the College and University but in addition the voluntary sector groups and other training providers.  The Board was able to provide a good oversight of the situation.  It was a challenging time for the City.  They were working with the Black Country Consortium on data relating to employment, so they could respond appropriately to support businesses and individuals.  He was happy to share this with the Panel in the future if requested.  The Chair confirmed they would like to receive the data in the future and to see some of the work that the Education, Skills and Employment Board had completed.

The Chair praised the team for the work they had completed on generating jobs and learning opportunities in the City and thanked the Officers for an excellent presentation.