Issue - meetings

The Board received a report updating them on a number of employment and skills developments in the Liverpool City Region (LCR).

These in included:

·         The Adult Education Budget (AEB) Procurement;

·         LCR Skills Show and Apprenticeship Graduation Ceremony;

·         The Apprenticeship Support by Be More Team; and

·         The LCR Insights Tool.

Arising from the update, Members discussed:

·         The diverse demographic in Halton considering its small size and the problems people had in more deprived wards in accessing these services because they did not have a car for example;

·         Citizens’ Advice Bureau and the ‘Big Local’ were named as organisations who may be able to provide some funds to help people with transport;

·         Housing Associations often support residents to access employment and training support;

·         Previous outreach events in the community and schools;

·         The targeting of schools in promoting the services in future;

·         The encouragement of local people to register with local recruitment agencies as opposed to those out of Borough;

·         The cessation of the funding for the Apprenticeship Support by the Be More Team in September 2022 and the need for this to be continued; and

·         The rescheduled ‘Skills Show’ now moved to 1 and 2 March 2022 – Members were welcome to attend this.

One Member requested data on the gender proportions that applied for different types of apprenticeships, in particular engineering.  This information was not at hand but could be obtained from the LCR database, so would be sent following the meeting.

RESOLVED:  That the information and comments made be noted.