P077.1 Workforce for the Future Progress Update
North Lanarkshire Council · 1 December 2022
Back to Policy and Strategy Committee — 1 December 2022 and its agenda
Text extracted from the council's PDF. Layout and reading order may differ from the original.
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North Lanarkshire Council Report Policy & Strategy Committee Does this report require to be approved? ☒ Yes ☐ No Ref DB/FW Date 01/12/22 P077.1 Workforce for the Future Progress Update From Derek Brown, Deputy Chief Executive E-mail BrownD@northlan.gov.uk Telephone 07793 599090 Executive Summary North Lanarkshire Council has a well-established Workforce for the Future Strategy, which takes forward the aspirations of our single Plan for North Lanarkshire to drive inclusive growth. Through the delivery of this strategy, we are seeking to ensure that our workforce across the area benefits from the opportunities available, particularly in our growth sectors. There are also many challenges now being faced by employers in North Lanarkshire in the current economic climate, and this report updates committee on how we are partnering with employers as we progress in rolling out our strategy, and in response to these emerging challenges. Our integrated and innovative approach to this work has now put us in an excellent position to capitalise on new opportunities, such as the UK Shared Prosperity Fund, which will enable us to better navigate the challenging economic landscape being faced by both our employers and future employees. Our plan is to create jobs and meet employment demand, by enabling our businesses to grow and develop their workforce. Furthermore, we plan to ensure that all opportunities, including apprenticeships and work placements, demonstrate the principles of fair work and pay, and the paper includes an update for members on the success of our recently launched scheme to reward businesses who demonstrate these values in practice. Finally, engaging with key industry sectors as part of our academy model is critical to our future success, and the paper also highlights a number of planned developments which will ensure more effective pathways are in place to employment in these areas. Lastly, the paper is clear about our successes so far in creating jobs and pathways to jobs, which should give further confidence to members about our future plans and the potential within this work to add significant ongoing value in our labour market. Recommendations It is recommended that Policy & Strategy Committee: (1) Note the increasing workforce demands now being seen within our growth sectors, and the concerning position with overall workforce availability in North Lanarkshire’s labour market.
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1. Background Labour Market Demand 1.1 The Lanarkshire labour market is shaped by a number of specific sectors which account for just over 60% of the total percentage of those employed across the region. Figure 1 below illustrates the top ten labour market employing industries. Figure 1 – Lanarkshire Labour Market 1.2 This shows a labour market profile largely dominated by two key sectors, Human Health & Social Care and Construction, which on their own make up just short of 40% of the labour market in terms of providing current and future employment opportunities. 1.3 Over the next 3-5 years, it is also expected that our key employing sectors will continue to offer significant job and career growth opportunity for our residents and our young people, and figure 2 below shows the projected North Lanarkshire demand in these (2) Endorse the good progress being made with the Workforce for the Future programme of work in this challenging context, including the significant employer engagement and positive feedback which is now informing our plans. (3) Note the further development of our academy model, and the first stage outcome of the construction skills options appraisal and endorse the development of a full business case to progress this work. (4) Note the increased funding and resources which have now been aligned to support delivery of our programme of work in the next phase. (5) Endorse the intention to bring a further progress update to Policy and Strategy in Cycle 2 of 2023. The Plan for North Lanarkshire Priority Improve North Lanarkshire's resource base Ambition statement (23) Build a workforce for the future capable of delivering on our priorities and shared ambition
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key sectors both in terms of replacement demand (from resignations or retirement) and actual jobs growth. 1.4 Importantly, these sectors are also known to offer more secure and well-paid opportunities for employment, in contrast to other significant but lower margin sectors such as tourism and food and drink, which have historically struggled to operate consistently to fair work principles and have tended to be negatively impacted during periods of economic turmoil including the ongoing impact of Covid-19. Figure 2 – North Lanarkshire Forecasted Demand 1.5 The Construction Sector in particular is showing a trend of significant future jobs growth potential, with North Lanarkshire having seen 30.4% growth in construction businesses in the last 10 years, compared to 15.7% in Scotland, and 33.2% growth in jobs compared to Scottish growth of 1.2%. 1.6 Moreover, within the wider region, it is expected that around £10 billion of construction spend is forecasted over the next 10 years and some of this will be aligned to the Council’s own construction supply chain and placemaking activities. With direct access to this through our community benefits, and other potential partnership arrangements, we will be able to create significant opportunities for jobs, apprenticeships, and work placements, for our young people and local residents. 1.7 In addition, forecasted job creation from businesses who are engaged with the council and moving to North Lanarkshire is currently 1,400 jobs in the next year with sectors such as manufacturing, energy, and creative industries forecasting the largest job creation potential. This excludes additional jobs being created by businesses already based in North Lanarkshire.
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Labour Market Supply 1.8 It is important to outline that all of the demand outlined above is set against a very difficult post pandemic and Brexit labour market within North Lanarkshire, which has shown a falling trend over the last 6-8 months in the number of unemployed residents who are actually available to take up positions. The most recent data shows that the number of out of work claimants looking for work who were aged 25 or over in North Lanarkshire falling from 11,510 in March 2021 to 8,480 October 2021 and most recently 6,100 in September 2022. 1.9 There are also some concerning additional trends, such as an increase in long term sickness, which are impacting on the overall availability of working age residents across North Lanarkshire, and this has significantly affected our labour market in the key sectors outlined above. A full snapshot of the current labour market position on workforce availability across North Lanarkshire is outlined in appendix 1. 1.10 This shows that the reversal in the labour market which has occurred in the last 18 months has been unprecedented, and there is clearly an inadequate supply of appropriately skilled and qualified labour in the market for the moment, with employers in North Lanarkshire and all key sectors confirming that they are struggling to fill existing vacancies or find enough skilled candidates to meet the growth needs of their business. 1.11 Due to a combination of current labour market conditions, and a historical lack of investment in skills, apprenticeships and pathways development, both of our key sectors, Health & Social Care and Construction are now reporting unprecedented levels of vacancies and skills shortages, indicating that there is also a concerning labour market supply gap for roles at all levels within these sectors. Direct Employer Engagement 1.12 With such unpredictable labour market conditions, having a clear grasp of where our businesses are is crucial to our and their future success and sustainability, and partnering with an increasing number of local businesses through this period and into the next phase is a key priority for the programme. 1.13 Aligned to this, and over the last 12 months, the Workforce for the Future programme team have undertaken a significant level of external engagement with a wide range of businesses and strategic partners in key sectors across North Lanarkshire, to better understand their workforce challenges and to share and test our ambitions and goals aligned to the strategy. 1.14 Feedback has been extremely positive, with business leaders confirming the key role the Council can play in helping to address workforce challenges, and many indicating their keenness to play an integral part in providing increased industry input, sponsorship, and support to assist with the further development of the key sector focused workforce strategies, pathways, and programmes which are badly needed to close ongoing gaps. 1.15 This high level of business and partner input and support will be integral to growing the wider impact of this work in the next phase, and it is underpinned by the many challenges we are collectively facing in a very difficult economic climate. On a more
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positive note, it is clear from our conversations with businesses that there are significant opportunities within this work to build strong and integrated partnership working which will deliver real value for our residents and our young people. 1.16 Set out in the remainder of this report is a further update on our progress within the strategy and against our 6 commitments, as well as some growing examples of the partnership work with business and key sectors now driving improved outcomes. Also outlined are our ambitious plans for the next phase of this work and in particular the further development of our construction sector skills and pathways offering within our overall academy model. 2. Report 2.1 Our Strategic Commitments 2.1.1 Our Workforce for the Future Strategy is underpinned by six strategic commitments which form the primary focus of our broader programme of work. These commitments are intended to leverage the full range of our vocational education offerings, our employability and skills programmes and funding, and our employer and other partnership working capabilities to improve outcomes within our labour market and within key sectors. 2.1.2 As a reminder, our six commitments are set out in figure 3 below and our work to advance these is delivered through a broad range of activities which involve joint and integrated working with officers from Education & Families (including Employability and Community Learning & Development), Planning & Regeneration, Strategic Communications, People & Organisational Development, and external partners including NHS Lanarkshire, Routes to Work, Skills Development Scotland, New College Lanarkshire, and the Department of Work and Pensions. Figure 3 – Our Six Strategic Commitments
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2.1.3 A full update on our progress to date against these six commitments is set out in appendix 2, and this includes significant work delivered to date in securing work placements for our young people as well as detail regarding our successful NL Employer Charter. 2.2 Programme Delivery Structure 2.2.1 To ensure the broad delivery of our ongoing commitments, and the advancement of our sector-based offerings, the Workforce for the Future programme is structured through key workstreams which fully integrate our schools based vocational pathways activity, with our employability programmes and our direct work with businesses and sectors. 2.2.2 Alongside this we have established an academy model which has a focus on three specific growth sectors; Health and Social Care; Construction and Digital and Creative. The inclusion of digital and creative reflects our strategic ambition within the Plan for North Lanarkshire to make our region a leader in digital skills and encompasses a need to support the development of our growing Film Industry within North Lanarkshire which we expect to create real jobs growth and opportunity for residents and young people. 2.2.3 Set out below in figure 4 is an overview of the programme structure; the programme is overseen by our Workforce for the Future Steering group, with our Deputy Chief Executive as Executive Sponsor and led by Heads of Service from Education, Planning & Regeneration and People and Organisation Development, along with key third and fourth tier officers from these services. This ensures the ongoing delivery and integration of all key activities aligned this work. Figure 4 – Overview of the Programme 2.2.4 Further detail and a progress update on the work being taken forward within each of the three sector academy programmes is provided in appendices 3, 4 and 5. This includes a description of work underway to identify detailed future demand within each sector, and an outline of existing pathways and the numbers of apprenticeships and training opportunities which have been delivered through these pathways.
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2.3 Academy Model Development The further development of our sector academy programmes and our overall academy delivery vehicle, is a key priority within the next phase of our work, and a blueprint for how this will operate is set out in figure 5 below. This will leverage a number of resources already established within the Council including our modern apprenticeship team. 2.3.1 A full options appraisal has been completed for the Construction sector academy programme, with input from key stakeholders and employers across the sector. This will build on the successful vocational and school-based pathways which have now been established with a number of important construction sector employers, including Morgan Sindall and Kier Construction. Figure 5 – Academy Delivery Vehicle 2.3.2 Desktop research and site visits have also been undertaken to consider a number of other established and successful Local Authority led academy organisations in Scotland. These include City Building in Glasgow, Shared Apprentice Ltd in Dundee, and Capital City Partnership in Edinburgh. 2.3.3 All three of these organisations are providing a similar approach within their local labour markets, connecting employment opportunities within businesses and sectors and providing skills and pathways offerings at scale including apprenticeships. 2.3.4 Each is also set up as a partnership with the Local Authority, businesses (including those within their supply chain) and skills/education providers to offer relevant sector skills and apprenticeship programmes to their local area. Learnings from these organisations will be incorporated as we shape the next phase of development for our academy model.
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2.3.5 Early feedback from the Construction Sector options appraisal has been very positive, with universal agreement of the need for a joint approach and a strong partnership between industry, the Council and the further and higher education and skills bodies operating in this space in North Lanarkshire There is also agreement that there would be value in considering a shared apprenticeship model which will support smaller SME’s operating in the sector who often have limited access to funding for apprenticeships. 2.3.6 Initial considerations which have been put forward as part of the options appraisal include a shared apprenticeship model/joint funding vehicle and a bespoke physical construction academy within the Council. This initial scoping of the opportunity and appetite for this approach will now require a more detailed mapping of the most appropriate model, taking into account funding, wider sector feedback on priorities and other aspects such as existing capacity to deliver training and apprenticeships within the wider FE and HE sector. 2.3.7 The outcome of the options appraisal, which is expected to be available in November, will be followed by the development of a full business case, including any funding or other investment required to establish a full academy offering, and it is expected that a further report will be brought to Committee for final approval in cycle 1 of 2023. 2.3.8 An important element of the success of the academy model will be its ability to fully leverage economies of scale and the linked arrangements, funding and resources we already have in place, including existing assets and services that the Council has established such as our supported employment service and our ALEO Routes to Work. 2.3.9 It is also vital that our academy work in each sector is fully connected to and shaped by the key business stakeholders, their workforce demand, and other relevant challenges within that sector. This includes a critical early requirement for us to agree the highest priority recruitment and skills pathways needed within each sector to meet identified workforce gaps and bridge the supply demand gap. 2.3.10 To support this, plans are underway to establish a number of formal sector aligned skills boards with representation from industry and other partners within each sector to steer and support the work of the academy, create employment and training opportunities, agree pathway priorities, solutions, and joint approaches to funding. The terms of reference and make up of the sector boards will be shared with Committee in the next update. 2.4 Funding 2.4.1 Funding is a key enabler of our work to support the ongoing development of our skills and pathways offerings, and within this next phase there are opportunities to fully integrate and leverage a number of key sources of funding to drive the delivery of positive outcomes within this work and these include: The Council’s share of the apprenticeship levy, which amounts to approximately £2m per annum and can be drawn down to support both apprenticeships and shared apprenticeships across several frameworks which are aligned to our key growth sectors in Health & Social Care and Construction. The people and skills allocation of the UK Shared Prosperity Fund to March 2025 has now been confirmed as £5,289,000 of the core UK SPF funding allocation of £10,901,862. Of this, £1,950,000 is aligned to activity
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dedicated to the Workforce for the Future Strategy (inc. development of the Health and Social Care, Construction and Digital Academies, and Pathways programmes, and Vocational Education offering) whilst £3,339,000 is replacement funding for current EU funded employability activities, such as Working Matters and North Lanarkshire’s Working. An additional, £2,395,402 is ringfenced for Multiply which supports adult numeracy activities for individuals aged 19+. Further additional joint funding for shared apprenticeships and other training activities, to be pursued and agreed with partners and businesses, including those within our own supply chain, and as part of the wider delivery of large contracts aligned to our house building and place making ambitions. Funding managed through our Local Employability Partnership and our ALEO Routes to Work, aligned to key programmes such as No One Left Behind and Young Persons Guarantee, to deliver positive outcomes for unemployed or economically inactive residents. Since April 2021 across all employability programmes this has helped 1,724 residents into employment and the Council’s Employability team have invested £2.095 million of external funding in local employers with a further £750k currently committed to them. 2.5 Resourcing of the programme in the next phase 2.5.1 Given the workforce challenges now evident for all employers across North Lanarkshire, and in order to take forward the full breadth of our plans, it has been agreed that a number of full-time resources will now be required to deliver against our ambition aligned to the programme, particularly as we scale up our sector aligned skills and pathways programmes. 2.5.2 To support this, an NLC17 Workforce for the Future Delivery Manager has now been appointed, and this role will sit within the People and Organisational Development service reporting to the Head of People and Organisational Development with full alignment to the Workforce for the Future Steering Group. 2.5.3 It is further envisaged that by the end of the year that additional resources will be aligned underneath this post, including the Council’s current modern apprenticeship team consisting of an NLC12 and 3 NLC7’s, a further senior programme management resource and other sector aligned resources subject to funding. This additional resource will greatly assist with the ongoing delivery of this work which has largely to date been managed by officers across the programme within their existing remit of activity. 2.5.4 Further resources will be considered as this work grows and this includes consideration of how we take forward our NL Employer Charter work and a more integrated approach to the realisation of community benefits. 3. Measures of success 3.1 Demonstrated progress against our six strategic commitments. 3.2 Increased pathways and apprenticeships within our key sector academy programmes. 3.3 Increased funding through partnerships and leveraging our supply chain contracts and community benefits.
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4. Supporting documentation 4.1 Appendix 1 – Labour Market Snapshot 4.2 Appendix 2 - Progress against our Six Commitments 4.2 Appendix 3 - Academy Model, Health & Social Care Sector Update 4.3 Appendix 4 - Academy Model, Construction Sector Update 4.4 Appendix 5 - Academy Model, Digital & Creative Sector Update 4.5 Update to Policy & Strategy March 2022 Microsoft Word ‐ Workforce for the Future ‐ Policy & Strategy March 2022 Final (2).docx (northlanarkshire.gov.uk) 4.6 Workforce for the Future Strategy June 2021 att96241.pdf (northlanarkshire.gov.uk) Derek Brown Deputy Chief Executive 5. Impacts ( http://connect/report-template-guidance ) 5.1 Public Sector Equality Duty and Fairer Scotland Duty Does the report contain information that has an impact as a result of the Public Sector Equality Duty and/or Fairer Scotland Duty? Yes ☐ No ☒ If Yes, please provide a brief summary of the impact? Yes ☐ No ☒ 5.2 Financial impact Does the report contain any financial impacts? Yes ☒ No ☐ If Yes, have all relevant financial impacts have been discussed and agreed with Financial Solutions? Yes ☒ No ☐ If Yes, please provide a brief summary of the impact? 5.3 HR policy impact Does the report contain any HR policy or procedure impacts? Yes ☐ No ☒ If Yes, have all relevant HR impacts have been discussed and agreed with People and Organisational Development? Yes ☐ No ☒ If Yes, please provide a brief summary of the impact? 5.4 Legal impact Does the report contain any legal impacts (such as general legal matters, statutory considerations (including employment law considerations), or new legislation)? Yes ☐ No ☒
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If Yes, have all relevant legal impacts have been discussed and agreed with Legal and Democratic Solutions? Yes ☐ No ☐ If Yes, please provide a brief summary of the impact? 5.5 Data protection impact Does the report / project / practice contain or involve the processing of personal data? Yes ☐ No ☒ If Yes, is the processing of this personal data likely to result in a high risk to the data subject? Yes ☐ No ☐ If Yes, has a Data Protection Impact Assessment (DPIA) been carried out and e- mailed to dataprotection@northlan.gov.uk Yes ☐ No ☐ 5.6 Technology / Digital impact Does the report contain information that has an impact on either technology, digital transformation, service redesign / business change processes, data management, or connectivity / broadband / Wi-Fi? Yes ☐ No ☒ If Yes, please provide a brief summary of the impact? Where the impact identifies a requirement for technology, has an assessment been carried out (or scheduled) by the Enterprise Architecture Governance Group (EAGG)? Yes ☐ No ☐ 5.7 Environmental / Carbon impact Does the report / project / practice contain information that has an impact on any environmental or carbon matters? Yes ☐ No ☒ If Yes, please provide a brief summary of the impact? 5.8 Communications impact Does the report contain any information that has an impact on the council’s communications activities? Yes ☒ No ☐ If Yes, please provide a brief summary of the impact? Strategic Communications are fully involved in the ongoing programme of work. 5.9 Risk impact Is there a risk impact? Yes ☐ No ☒ It has been flagged in the report that failure to undertake equality impact assessments can put the Council at risk from legal challenge and / or reputational damage. This is already included in the Risk Register
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1 Appendix 1 Labour Market Snapshot – North Lanarkshire Workforce Availability* 1. Unemployment and Economic Inactivity 1.1 As of September 2022, there are in the region of 6,100 residents who are unemployed and looking for work across North Lanarkshire. This equates to 3.8% of the working age population and is one of the lowest levels of workforce availability which has been seen since before the impact of the financial crisis in 2008. Over the course of the pandemic, our levels of unemployment across North Lanarkshire rose to a high of around 6% in July 2020, but they have fallen rapidly over the last 18-24 months, effectively reducing by half the number of available unemployed residents to take up positions. Figure 1 below shows this trend. Figure 1 – Unemployed (available for work) Profile 1.2 Although low rates of unemployment are desirable, they also indicate that we may have a problem with wider workforce availability and supply as our local economy recovers and grows, and this data fits with what our local employers are now telling us in terms of record numbers of vacancies, particularly in skilled sectors with high demand. 1.3 More concerningly, and since the start of the pandemic, we have also seen a marked increase in economic inactivity, which is in effect working age residents taking themselves out of the local workforce by opting not to work for a variety of reasons. This has had a further impact on total workforce availability across North Lanarkshire. 1.4 Set out in Figure 2 below is data to the end of July 2022, which shows this marked increase in economic inactivity since the start of the pandemic. It should be noted that this is a trend which has been seen in other local authority areas and within the Glasgow City Region, but it appears to be more pronounced in North Lanarkshire.
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2 Figure 2 - Economic Inactivity (percentage not available for work) 1.5 Importantly, the combination of rapidly falling unemployment and a marked increase in economic inactivity has created a “perfect storm” with regards to workforce availability, and we know from our discussions with employers in all sectors across North Lanarkshire that this is significantly affecting their ability to recruit to positions at all levels. 1.6 Figure 3 below illustrates the total impact of this combination of factors on the levels of economically active (or total available working age population) across North Lanarkshire at this time, with a squeeze on our labour market at either end and current levels of available workforce which are at 69.4%, the lowest level in recent history and almost 8% lower than the Scottish average. Figure 3 – Total percentage of working age residents
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3 2. Reasons for Economic Inactivity 2.1 The reasons for such a dramatic increase in economic inactivity across North Lanarkshire are not yet fully known, however data would suggest that a large volume of this is due to an increase in the numbers of long-term sick, either directly due to covid (and long covid) or to the impact of covid on available medical capacity to treat those with conditions and other medical needs which have been delayed or postponed. 2.2 Figure 4 below shows recently published information from the October Glasgow City Region Economic Briefing, which provides a breakdown of the some of the reasons now thought to be contributing to this concerning rise in the numbers of long-term sick. A general rise in depression and mental illness is also seen to be a contributing factor. Figure 4 * All data extracted from the office of national statistics regional profile for North Lanarkshire
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Appendix 2 – Progress Against our Six Strategic Commitments Commitment What we have delivered in the last 6 ‐12 months) What we will continue to measure Planned Activity In the next 6 months 1. Grow jobs across the region and increase the number of employers engaging directly with the strategy. Forecasted job creation from businesses who are now engaged with the Council in moving to North Lanarkshire is currently 1,400 jobs in the next year with sectors such as manufacturing, energy, and creative industries driving this growth. Activities undertaken to engage employers with our wider strategy have included: The full launch of employer charter in May 2022 with social media campaign on Linked In and Facebook. ‐ Email sent by Corporate Comms to over 4000 businesses in North Lanarkshire. ‐ Press release sent to all locals which was picked up by the Daily Record, Wishaw Press and Airdrie & Coatbridge Advertiser. ‐ Feature in the Chief Executive’s Newsletter. ‐ We have a list of over 4000 businesses who applied for the COVID restrictions Fund and SFBF which we are steadily emailing (100 per day). ‐ Enterprise Development Officers sent an email to all current contacts (around 600 emails). ‐ Business Support team have also been asked to email their business contacts. To date as a result of this activity we now have: ‐ 12 employers accredited ‐ 16 new enquiries on the NL Business Charter since full launch in May 2022 (including ‐ Numbers of jobs created from inward investment or through Council or supply chain activity ‐ Number of employers engaged in events/meetings regarding WFF ‐ Number of existing employer charter members at Gold, Silver and Bronze Awards. ‐ Number of new enquiries about the NL Employer charter. Further targeting of inward investment through the Council’s Enterprise Service to increase jobs growth. Targeting an increase in NL Employer Charter members to 50 employers by April next year through targeted campaigns in North Lanarkshire in: ‐ Herald Scotland.com ‐ Daily Record.co.uk ‐ Google Display. ‐ Twitter - Promoted tweets ‐ You Tube - Promoted tweets ‐ Linked In - Sponsored messaging and sponsored content ‐ StackAdpat Pre-roll video ‐ Promotional materials being developed for EDOs / Business Advisers to use when engaging with businesses
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2 Construction Sector employers within our supply chain) A Workforce for the Future business breakfast was hosted by the Deputy Chief Executive on 28 June 2022 with 19 small to large local businesses in attendance across a range of key sectors. A larger Developing the Young Workforce – An Employer Engagement Event was held on 27th October 2022 with 300 delegates from over 90 businesses and North Lanarkshire’s schools in attendance. The Deputy Chief Executive is meeting businesses individually to discuss their growth, recruitment and skills plans and outline how North Lanarkshire Council can work to support them; 5 visits have taken place with local employers so far. ‐ Presentations wherever appropriate at various working groups / workstreams Additional 10 business visits and industry forums are planned within the next phase. We are also considering an event to award and further showcase businesses meeting the NL Employer Charter standard in early 2023. 2. Expand the numbers of work placement opportunities, matching young people with business mentors. Since the start of this academic session in August 2022 through our pathways and other vocational programmes, including foundation apprenticeship programmes, we have provided 678 work placements to young people (including those most at risk of entering a negative post- school destination) in their senior phase of learning. In addition, we have 239 Young Stem Leaders, 22 STEM ambassadors and 236 young people signed up for our Leadership Academy in the areas of sport, dance, drama, enterprise, digital skills and STEM. This will provide them with leadership opportunities, wider ‐ Work placements/mentors through DYW ‐ Work placements/jobs from foundation apprenticeships ‐ Number of mentors secured for pathways programmes Following the Developing the Young Workforce conference and the future launch of the Council’s DYW plan, our focus will be on increasing numbers of work placements and business mentors through ongoing business engagement. As a direct result of this conference, we have now had 150 enquires from employers looking to participate in our schools offering and this will be followed up in the next phase and we will be seeking
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3 achievement accreditation and the opportunity to access employment. to increase the number of work placements to around 1000. 3. Expand numbers of apprenticeships and employment pathways, particularly in growth sectors. To date, and across all of our sectors there are now 8 viable pathways for progression across a range of apprenticeships including foundation, modern and graduate. Within the last 12 months alone these pathways have enabled just short of 300 apprenticeship places and this figure rises to 527 apprenticeships when taken over 2 years and there is significant potential to increase this further as our academy model progresses. ‐ Number of pathways now in place across our key sectors including NHS Lanarkshire priority pathways and commitments ‐ Numbers recruited directly into apprenticeship schemes ‐ Numbers of new pathways from school directly to employment in growth sectors We will be targeting development of 5 additional pathways, including those in healthcare, in partnership with NHS Lanarkshire, and in construction and the creative sector. Agreement of the formal Memorandum of Understanding with NHS Lanarkshire by the end of December 2022. Priority will be given to the establishment of a Construction Skills Sector Board to be agreed and established by the end of December 2022. We will seek to increase our annual number of apprenticeship places to around 500, within key sectors. This represents around 30-40% of the total number of apprenticeships across North Lanarkshire. 4. Tackle unemployment, facilitate sector swaps and increase qualification Levels of unemployment are currently low across North Lanarkshire and as of September 2022, there are 6,100 residents who are unemployed and looking for work. Numbers of residents helped into work through core employability & skills programmes. Aligned to the Council’s Shared Prosperity Fund allocation, £2.3m has been ring fenced for the delivery of adult numeracy activity under the UK- wide branding of “Multiply”. The three key objectives of Multiply are:
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4 levels for working age residents. In 2021/22 NLC funded employability activities engaged 2,467 residents on its programmes and in the first six months of 2022/23 has engaged with 1,018 unemployed residents. Engagement of clients remains below that of before the pandemic with the main sources of referrals being self-referral and Job Centre+. With regards to our adult learning activities, our Community Learning & Development (CLD) team continue to lead on the delivery of community-based adult learning across North Lanarkshire, including the development of the core skills of literacy, numeracy, communications, working with others, problem solving and information and communications technology (ICT). Over the last 12 months, 2271 adults, aged 16 and over, enrolled in CLD programmes, This figure is an increase on the 1851 adults enrolled in the previous year. Numbers of adult learning skills/qualification programmes delivered for unemployed residents. 1. More adults achieving maths qualifications / participating in numeracy courses (up to, and including, SCQF Level 5). 2. Improved labour market outcomes (e.g. fewer numeracy skills gaps reported by employers, and an increase in the proportion of adults that progress into sustained employment and / or education). 3. Increased adult numeracy across the population. Multiply will support additional adult numeracy programmes between December 2022 and March 2025 for those aged 19 and over who live, work, study or volunteer in North Lanarkshire and do not currently have numeracy qualifications up to and including SCQF Level 5 (e.g. National 5, Standard Grade, O Level, etc). These qualifications will become a critical part of our pathways development, enabling low qualified residents to gain entry level qualifications which give them access to other higher level qualification or employment. 5. Increase the number of school leavers achieving To date, across the Council’s pathways programmes for young people, there have been 331 young people Total number of pupils through school pathways programme. Following our very successful Developing the Young Workforce employer conference and the future
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5 a sustained positive destination. registered, all identified as having multiple barriers to learning and employment. Of this number, 251 young people from S4-6 across all schools have entered a positive post-school destination including modern apprenticeships, employment, further education on their leaving date or within six months. Of the remaining 80, a small number chose to return to school with the rest of the young people receiving continued support until such times as they are ready to enter a positive destination, or an appropriate job or college place comes up. The Pathways Team now work with around 150 young people in the senior phase of learning on a full-time employability focused curriculum. In addition, a further 230 young people from across all secondary schools are supported on a five-week programme delivered during the Future Fridays enrichment afternoon. Number achieving sustained employment. Numbers of children engaging with Future Friday’s activity. Number of Future Fridays activities directly aligned to growth sectors. launch of the Council’s revised DYW plan, our focus will be on sustaining and extending our pathways programme and fully aligning our Future Fridays curriculum to our growth sectors to encourage more young people to engage with pathways and careers in these sectors. 6. Expand our employability provision to support those furthest from the labour market. The Supported Employment team is currently engaging with 250 clients at various stages of their journey into work and use an evidence-based, personalised approach that supports around 100 people into employment per annum across North Lanarkshire with participants sustaining employment in higher rates than in mainstream employability programmes. To date 11 young people have completed the No Limits project with 100% achieving a job outcome, four of whom have gained a modern apprenticeship in various sectors. Numbers of disadvantaged residents supported into sustained employment though our various programmes. Continued progression and expansion of our supported employment plans and programmes, including through our partnership with NHS Lanarkshire and focused on increased numbers with other employers through the potential extension of our NL employer charter to include commitments in this area.
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6 The Young Person’s Guarantee is currently funding No Limits 2 and the team are supporting 15 young people to start their one-year placement. As part of Pathways to Textile Care, a partnership between New College Lanarkshire, local employer ACS clothing and North and South Lanarkshire Councils, 16 disadvantaged students are receiving a range of industry recognised training before completing an SVQ in Textile Care or Warehousing and Logistics. The programme has been shortlisted for the Partnership Award by the College Development Network. Project SEARCH is a longstanding partnership between NHS Lanarkshire, New College Lanarkshire and the Council, which allows for supported employment clients to gain work experience at 2 acute sites in University Hospital Wishaw and University Hospital Monklands. This accommodates around 16 placements between the two sites each year. Over the life of the partnership there have been: 168 students 109 have found jobs - a total of 65% 88 of those remain in work - a total of 80% A total of 176 jobs have been found, some students finding 2nd & 3rd jobs
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7 NL Employer Charter – Roll out Progress The NL employer charter contains key principles, which are aligned to drive positive improvements in outcomes in our North Lanarkshire labour market, and which are reflected in the four pillars of the scheme. As a reminder the 4 pillars and award levels are: The four pillars The NL employer charter focuses broadly on compliance with our four key principles: Fair Pay – increasing our average weekly wage in line with the Fairer Scotland Duty All directly employed staffed are being paid the Real Living Wage (£9.90 per hour) and this can be confirmed by evidence. Employer is actively working towards paying the Real Living Wage within the next 12 months. Employ North Lanarkshire – ensuring that job opportunities go to NL residents Employer is committed to engaging with NL Working when new employment and apprenticeship opportunities arise within the organisation. Employer promotes and provides apprenticeship / work experience / work placements and actively engages with local schools and education. Employer promotes volunteering and volunteering opportunities within the wider community. Buy North Lanarkshire – enhancing supply chain / procurement / community benefits Employer commits to including North Lanarkshire businesses in its supply chain wherever possible. Employer is involved in community benefits / social value through procurement. Be the Best – ensuring fair work practices which attract and retain employees Employer offers flexible working and family friendly working practices Employer offers workforce training, development, and progression
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8 Employer has a health and wellbeing policy Employer has an equality and diversity policy The Award levels Awards will be made on the level of compliance to specific criteria. Partners will sign up in principle to the scheme and will work towards meeting the specific criteria outlined under each of the four pillars: Bronze Award recipients will be able to evidence meeting the criteria of two of the pillars. Silver Award recipients will be able to evidence meeting some of the criteria in three of the pillars and be working towards meeting all four. Gold Award recipients will be able to evidence meeting all the criteria in all four pillars. When the scheme was approved by Policy & Strategy in March 2022, 7 employers were awarded either silver or bronze as part of a pilot scheme. This has now increased to 15 employers with 21 new applications awaiting review, including two from the Council’s own Construction Sector supply chain partners. Set out below in Table 1 are the local employers who have now been awarded under the scheme. Company Name Company Address Comments Hair Design Airdrie 28 Anderson Street, Airdrie, ML6 0AA Early Adopter / Silver Award Pulptec 8 Grayshill Road, Cumbernauld, G68 9HQ Early Adopter / Bronze Award Glass Systems 1a Dunns Wood Rd, Glasgow G67 3EN Early Adopter / Gold Award GCN Ltd 5 Smith Avenue, Wishaw, ML2 0RY Early Adopter / Bronze Award Active Access Goil Avenue, Righead Ind Estate, Bellshill, ML4 3LQ Early Adopter / Silver Award Belac Group Ltd 1 Sandpiperway, Strathclyde Business Park, Bellshill, ML4 3NG Gold Award The Power Within Training Eurocentral, Maxim 1, 2 Parklands Way, Motherwell, ML1 4WR Silver Award Antibody Company Bo'Ness Rd, Chapelhall, Motherwell ML1 5UH Silver Award Secureshield Ltd Apleona House, Crosshill Street, Motherwell ML1 1RU Gold Award
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9 ACS Clothing 6 Dovecote Rd, Centralpark ML1 4GP Silver Award WH&R McCartney Insurance Brokers 110‐112 Hamiliton Road, Motherwell, ML1 3EH Bronze Award Preah Building Services Greenside Road, Newhouse Silver Award Inex Works 3 Mid Road, Blairlinn Ind Estate, Cumbernauld, G67 2TT Bronze Award Clarke Fire Protection Products Ltd Grange Works, Lomond Road Coatbridge Bronze Award Antibody Analytics Braidhurst Industrial Estate, Motherwell ML1 3ST Silver Award
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1 Appendix 3 – Academy Model, Health & Social Care Sector Progress Update 1. Employment Demand 1.1 Despite already being the largest employment sector within North Lanarkshire, the Health & Social Care Sector has experienced significant increased demand and ongoing workforce challenges over the last four years, and as a major service deliverer within this sector, the Council has directly experienced that impact in terms of both jobs growth and replacement demand. 1.2 This has included dramatically increased recruitment across our Health & Social Care Partnership to meet service growth and other workforce pressures relating to Covid- 19 in addition to the rapid expansion of our Early Years provision with a significant volume of new jobs created and recruitment at all levels. 1.3 Table 1 below sets out the significant volume of recruitment that the Council has fulfilled within this sector over the last 4 years alone, with this figure representing around 75% of the total forecasted volume of 2,300 openings within the forecasted North Lanarkshire profile for 2021-2025. This data further underlines a pattern that suggests that future job opportunities in this sector are likely to far exceed this forecasted number, particularly when recruitment demand volumes within NHS Lanarkshire and the private sector are taken into account. Table 1 – Recruitment 2019/20 2020/21 2021/22 2022/23 Home Support 67 225 147 157 Social Worker 55 23 31 56 Locality Support Worker 17 16 26 6 Locality Worker 8 7 7 2 Residential Worker 11 14 0 4 Senior Social Worker 19 3 1 16 Support Officer 0 22 19 14 Early Years & ASNA 405 186 61 119 Total 582 496 292 374 Cumulative total 1,370 1744 1.4 In addition, we know that the age demographic of the workforce across the sector is an issue, with a high proportion of staff aged over age 50, particularly in areas such as Social Work and Homecare.
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2 1.5 The Council itself has seen a doubling of its turnover rate in our Health & Social Care services over the last 12 months and therefore for all of these reasons, we expect recruitment demand in this sector, and across a wide range of roles, to continue to outstrip the supply of available skilled and appropriately qualified candidates in the labour market. 1.6 Work is also now underway with NHS Lanarkshire build a more accurate and detailed picture of their broader forecasted demand for priority healthcare roles where there are known recruitment shortages and gaps. These include Nursing, including Community Mental Health Nursing, Allied Health Professionals and other medical roles, with vacancy levels as high as 15% now being identified in some of the acute services across North Lanarkshire. 1.7 An additional challenge within the sector is the increasing professionalisation of the workforce, even for roles that were previously considered easy to access such as Home Support, with Homecare workers now requiring to complete an SVQ2 level qualification, and discussion underway about increasing this to level SVQ3. 1.8 To avoid this becoming a barrier to entry to this sector for many residents, the Council has had to take steps such as relaxing required qualifications for these roles and offering a “work towards” approach to ensure adequate levels of applications. Although this approach can add additional burdens to the service initially, it has been very successful with almost 3000 applicants for these posts over the last 3 years. 1.9 NHS Lanarkshire have also confirmed that they have had similar success by engaging with newly qualified nursing cohorts in advance of the individuals qualifying, to offer employment to nurses while awaiting their registration as B4 practitioners, and they intend to embed this refined process going forward. 1.10 This further underlines the fact that there is simply no job ready workforce available across North Lanarkshire ready to meet the future demands within this sector and therefore our continued partnership working and focus on developing pathways will be critical to create the future workforce we need. 2. Pathways & Partnerships 2.1 The Council has a strong track record, over a number of years, of good partnership working on skills and employability within this sector, with both NHS Lanarkshire and the North Lanarkshire Health & Social Care Partnership. 2.2 Importantly, even with the known pressures in this sector, especially over the last two years, our partnership working has seen a continued focus on investing in apprenticeships and training and the development of pathways to enable progression. Set out in table 2 below are the volumes of apprenticeships and other training pathways we have delivered in the last 4 years.
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3 Table 2 – Apprenticeships and Training 2019/20 2020/21 2021/22 2022/23 HSC Modern Apprentices 10 0 4 0 (4 from 21/22 are contracted until Mar 2023) Home Support SVQ 2 38 38 Early Years Modern Apprentices 19 0 17 10 ASNA Modern Apprentices 27 14 HSC Foundation Apprentices 19 17 31 Social Services Children and Young People Foundation Apprentices 167 57 46 79 SW Hub - Students 35 24 35 28 NHS Lanarkshire Social Services and Healthcare MA 7 7 15 NHS Lanarkshire Social Services and Healthcare Foundation Apprentices 0 7 Placement only Social Services Health & Social Care Foundation Apprentices 31 18 Postgraduate Cert in Child Welfare 14 13 18 15 MSc Leading People – Integrated Care 1 1 MHO Training 4 2 Postgraduate Cert in Autism 1 1 Postgraduate Cert in Advanced Practice 1 3 Postgraduate Cert in Contemporary Drug and Alcohol Studies 1 Postgraduate modules in Adult Support & Protection 4 Total 265 162 261 191 Cumulative total 879
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4 2.3 Examples of the career pathways which have supported this volume of training and recruitment are set out in figure 1 and figure 2 below: Figure 1 – Social Work & Social Care Pathway Figure 2 – Early Learning & Childcare Pathway
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5 2.4 Despite the impact of the pandemic on the availability of NHS Lanarkshire staff to participate consistently in this work, NHS Lanarkshire have recently reaffirmed their formal commitment to working in partnership with us to address ongoing workforce gaps across the sector as part of our wider Workforce for the Future Strategy. 2.5 Following a strategic employability meeting on 15th August and again on 23rd August between NHS Lanarkshire (NHSL), North Lanarkshire Council and South Lanarkshire Council, and including the Chief Executives’ of NHSL and North Lanarkshire Council, work is now underway to establish an Employability Hub within NHSL, and to agree a formal Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) between our organisations with a joint programme of work to be take forward. 2.6 This formal MOU has now been drafted and includes agreed priorities around the further development of critical pathways within the sector, both in social care and healthcare, and the development of a shared apprenticeship approach with future targets for increasing apprenticeship numbers and expanding supported employment efforts. 2.7 The MoU requires all parties to work together to support the Workforce for the Future Strategy and aims in particular, each party commits to: Developing and facilitating joint apprenticeships between councils and the health board. Jointly supporting recruitment fairs and attraction activities around health and social care. Running joint recruitment campaigns across health and social care. Providing foundation and modern apprenticeship programmes in health and social care, commitments on total numbers to be confirmed by each party. Reviewing relevant policies by all parties to ensure support for a joint and integrated approach. Working with Education across both councils to build awareness of careers in health and social care. Increasing student opportunities across all organisations from both school, further and higher education establishments. Working together in any way possible to increase the pipeline of talent into health and social care as part of our workforce for the future. 2.8 The draft MOU is currently being reviewed by the legal teams within all three organisations and once agreed is for an initial period of 2 years, which may be extended by agreement in writing between the parties. A twice-yearly review of the progress and outcomes of the MoU will be undertaken by all parties. 2.9 As part of this work, NHS Lanarkshire are also now working to confirm their initial priority pathways, with a particular focus on engaging school leavers in careers in shortage areas such as Allied Health Professionals, Physiotherapists, Healthcare Assistant roles and mental health professions. 2.10 A full NHS Lanarkshire Employability Strategy is in development, and this includes an annual commitment to 15 Modern Apprenticeships in Social Services and Healthcare and 10 Modern Apprenticeships in Business Administration. Additionally, NHSL have now engaged 7 Foundation apprenticeships, with 3 FA’s started in Social Services and
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6 Healthcare and over the next 6 months, they intend to increase work placements, including placements for long term unemployed, as set out in table 3 below. Table 3 – NHS Lanarkshire Ongoing Commitments NHSL Placement/Apprenticeship Number LTU over 25’s Paid placements – 6 months 30 Foundation Apprenticeships 10 Modern Apprenticeships 25 Total (per year) 65 2.11 They have also recently committed to recruiting 30 paid placements for the NHS Demonstrator Project with over 46 individuals applying for these placements. The majority of these individuals have now started. 2.12 This will further build on our growing body of work around successful progression pathways in the wider social care sector such as in Early Learning and Childcare, Health & Social Care and our emerging ASNA pathway and apprenticeship programme. Training and progression routes are also now in place to support the ever- growing demand for qualified Homecare staff. 2.13 Good progress has also been made within the Council on the further development of a Social Work Student Hub, and this will be the subject of a separate report to Committee from the Chief Social Work Officer on our approach to building social work capacity. To date the hub has successfully graduated 8 final year students from Strathclyde University by providing a generic experience across all social work services and an in depth and fulfilling placement which met the requirements of the Standards in Social Work Education in Scotland. 2.14 The intention of the Social Work Student Hub model will be to support and assess two full cohorts per year in August and January. Universities currently pay placement providers £18 per day per student and we expect that a full cohort of up to 50 students could generate an income of £90,000. Students from several Universities across Scotland will be given placements within the hub and will be overseen by an Operational L&D Senior from the People and Organisational Development service and supported by Practice Teachers from across the Social Work service. 2.15 Focusing on the link with schools and young people in this sector, a Higher National Certificate in Social Care for young people in S6 is currently in development, in partnership with New College Lanarkshire. This will lead to entry to year 2 of the HND and the team are currently exploring this potentially leading to third year of a degree at UWS. 2.16 We are also working with Glasgow Caledonian University on providing Occupational Therapy students access to OT Assistant roles within the Council, and this sits within the development of a wider student opportunity framework which includes industrial paid placements, unpaid placements, internships, and work experience opportunities for H&SC students. 2.17 Monklands Replacement Project - work is underway to identify the employability and community benefits approach for the Monklands Hospital replacement programme of work. This work is in the early stages, but opportunities around employability and skills benefits are thought to be significant, and key areas of focus have been identified in the table 4 below:
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7 Table 4 Theme Target Groups Opportunities Employment Young school leavers (16-18) Work experience Training to qualification Apprenticeships Long term job opportunities Unemployed (general)/new entrant Skills and training programmes Apprenticeships Long term job opportunities Unemployed/new entrant (disability/vulnerable) Work experience Training to qualification Apprenticeships Long term job opportunities New Graduate Work experience Job opportunities SME’s Business mentoring Education, Skills & Training Workforce qualifications (main contractor, sub- contractors, supply chain). Training for all workforce / competency Primary/secondary school children School visits – project, construction industry, career opportunities Managed site visits Project related school competition Work experience Digitally Literacy Digital skills programme 2. Focus in the next phase 2.1 In terms of a forward plan, our academy work within the Health & Social Care sector will focus on a number of priority work programmes including: Ongoing demand profile work to understand future demand requirements and to identify, and develop priority pathways, especially within healthcare. Formalising our joint plan for the Health & Care Academy model between NHSL, NLC and South Lanarkshire Council including shared apprenticeship and funding discussions.
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8 Local labour market focus engaging Routes to Work and other employability bodies to direct people towards existing pathways and opportunities. The introduction of a Higher National Certificate in Social Care for young people in S6, in partnership with New College Lanarkshire. This will lead to entry to year 2 of the HND and the team are currently exploring this potentially leading to third year of a degree at UWS, replicating the model we have successfully piloted other areas of the Council where we have developed qualification pathways including construction management and cyber security. Working with GCU on providing Occupational Therapy students access to OT Assistant roles within NLC. The development of a wider student opportunity framework which includes industrial paid placements, unpaid placements, internships, and work experience opportunities for H&SC students. Building clear strategic relationships with important FE and HE providers in the H&SC sector including Glasgow Caledonian University and New College Lanarkshire particularly around the development of new frameworks in the sector which can be aligned to new pathways and funded through levy funding. This includes a potential graduate apprenticeship framework on Social Work currently in development. Work to map out cross organisation career and qualification pathways between health and social care including shared apprenticeships. Further innovation around recruitment our joint recruitment strategy and ongoing work on the Care Academy website.
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1 Appendix 4 – Academy Model, Construction Sector Progress Update 1. Employment Demand 1.1 To provide a robust evidence base and to inform the partners on the current state of the construction sector across Lanarkshire, a construction survey was undertaken in early 2022 with Construction businesses across North Lanarkshire. This was followed up by focus groups with a small number of businesses in March 2022, to reinforce the results and enable a more detailed discussion on the findings to validate results. 1.2 The outputs of the survey have further reinforced the need for the development of an integrated approach within this sector, with: almost two thirds of businesses reporting difficulties with recruiting staff with the right skills in various construction roles. One of the main reasons attributed to skills shortages was due to a lack of apprentices being recruited and trained. the top 4 barriers to accessing skills training were: identifying appropriateness of training to business needs; time required to undertake training due to business workloads; prohibitive costs of training; and lack of funds to undertake training. 82% of respondents expected that demand for workers with related construction skills within their organisation will increase over the next 5 years with 70% likely (or very likely) to recruit within the next 6-months. The primary reason for the increase given was customer expectation and demand. There was a strong perception that high levels of recruits were either minimally or not-prepared at all for construction related roles: Postgraduates – 60%; Graduates - 65%; Apprentices – 70%; College Leavers – 60%; and School Leavers – 82%. 1.3 A further event focussing on construction sector recruitment and skills is planned with the council’s Developers Forum on 17th November 2022. The Developers Forum brings together key council services and stakeholders with employers in the construction and housebuilding sectors to discuss challenges and opportunities for recruiting within for construction jobs and how provision for future skills needs can be fulfilled. 1.4 With regards to construction sector demand generated within our own supply chain, North Lanarkshire Council’s Enterprise & Growth Committee approved the Economic Regeneration Delivery Plan in 2019. This focuses on physical infrastructure projects ultimately aimed at improving economic opportunities and outcomes for all. This ambitious plan has four key elements including: increase housing supply across all tenures to meet our current and future housing requirements and support our wider regeneration objectives; support the regeneration of our town centers through the development of long term Vision Plans and strategic projects; develop our strategic infrastructure to support the physical and economic regeneration of North Lanarkshire; and
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2 enable and promote the provision of good quality industrial and office space in the right locations to help attract and retain businesses and improve our economic output. 1.5 Each of these priorities have an associated programme of work which has resulted in investment in local communities and has created construction employment opportunities as a direct result of that investment. Between 2019 and 2022 this investment alone created 1,040 gross construction jobs, measured in Person Year Equivalent (PYE) terms due to the short-term nature of these jobs which occur during the construction phase of a project only. Over the course of the ERDP investment to 2035, it is estimated that almost 6,500 gross Construction PYE jobs will be created via NLCs investment. 2. Pathways & Partnerships 2.1 Our focus within this sector has been on the early development of pathways directly from schools, and the Vocational Education Team have now developed a range of new partnerships with local and national employers, from Foundation Apprenticeship and HNC directly into Graduate Apprenticeship positions in Construction Management (Level 4 & Level 6) Quantity Surveying (Level 4 & Level 6) or Civil Engineering (Level 6) 2.2 Table 2 shows the numbers of young people who have now progressed through these routes in the last two years. Table 2 2021/22 2022/23 Civil Engineering Foundation Apprenticeships 19 17 HNC Cyber Security 15 14 HNC CAD 6 13 HNC Construction Management 8 0 Total 48 44 Cumulative total 92 2.3 This work will enable NLC students to become the “talent pool” for a range of construction companies who may wish to develop these individuals onto their GA programs having already completed an FA or HNC prior to leaving school. To date 2 young people from North Lanarkshire Schools have now progressed through these pathways following work placements as part of their foundation apprenticeship and have secured a full-time graduate apprentice position with Kier Construction and Morgan Sindall. In addition, a further 16 young people have successfully passed their HNC last session with 14 progressing on to an HND (year 2 of their degree).
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3 2.4 Additionally, both Morgan Sindall and Kier Construction have now expressed an interest in more formal arrangement with work placements and foundation apprentice trainees, and discussions are underway to grow the numbers of young people progressing through these pathways, with a further 9 civil engineering companies on board to develop Foundation Apprenticeship work placements with the intention to move into graduate apprenticeships in our three chosen pathways. 2.5 Working in close internal collaboration with internal services including the Hub Delivery Team and the Community Benefits Team, work placements have also been secured within the Civil Engineering discipline for 14 students currently undertaking their studies and have engaged a range of new employers keen to support the development of young learners and develop a construction workforce for the future here in North Lanarkshire. 2.6 Within the Council’s own construction workforce, and over the last 4 years, significant work has also been undertaken to build pathways for the development of a future pipeline within Surveying and Building Standards. Support and funding for this has been drawn from the Council’s levy funding to support a number of graduate apprenticeships over this time, and a summary of these is set out below: 2019 3 Graduate Apprentices in Surveying, external candidates who have now achieved a post within the council as Quantity Surveying Technicians (NLC6/7) whilst studying for their degree. 2020 3 Graduate Apprentices - internal applicants, undertaking a 4 year degree in Construction and the Built Environment with view to progressing in their areas. 2021 1 Graduate Apprentice - external applicant recruited as Building Standards trainee 2022 2 Graduate Apprenticeships - external and currently out to recruitment for a trainee in Quantity Surveying, and a trainee in Building Standards. Over a period 4 years this is a total of 9 Graduate Apprentices with a number of these having been recruited directly from the labour market. An example of the building standards career pathway which is used to support this work is set out below in figure 1.
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4 Figure 1 – Built Environment Pathway. 2.7 A key challenge which has been identified within the Construction sector is the attractiveness of many of the careers options and roles to young people, and to address this, work is also underway to better promote and address perceptions. This includes partnership driven events including a “Step Into Construction” programme which will focus on key target audiences, notably young people and will also capitalise on national events such as Scottish Careers Week 2022 https://www.myworldofwork.co.uk/scottish-careers- week, SDS Apprenticeship Awards https://www.apprenticeships.scot/events/awards/, SDS Apprenticeship Week 2023 https://www.apprenticeships.scot/scottish- apprenticeship-week/ and other key recruitment points across the year. In addition a number of senior phase parents evenings are taking place across schools and are supported by the early careers, vocational education and pathways teams. 3 Focus in the next phase 3.1 Our academy work within the Construction sector will focus on a number of priority areas of work including: Deliver the next phase full business case for the Construction Skills Academy programme offering and agree a recommended way forward to develop an effective sector-based approach. Establish the terms of reference and membership for a Construction Sector Skills Board (likely to be industry led). Agree our approach to generating sustainable funding for skills, shared apprenticeships and pathways programmes through the Council’s Construction activities and contracts. Continue engagement with wider construction sector businesses to drive work placements and sign up to our NL Employer Charter.
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1 Appendix 5 – Academy Model, Digital & Creative Sector Progress Update 1. Employment Demand 1.1 Within the Digital and Creative Skills Sector, a business-focused survey was undertaken in early 2022, and this highlighted that 67% of businesses who responded reported a digital skills gap; and 83% of respondents cited business skills as either critical or important to their business. 1.2 The main reasons given for this rise in demand for digital skills were the pace of technological change; customer expectations and demand; the need to remain competitive; investment in new technology; changes in business models; and exporting and selling to new markets. 1.3 As part of the survey, employers also identified reasons for the digital skills gaps, included difficulty in keeping up with the pace of change; difficulty in recruiting staff with the right skills; inability to recruit at an appropriate salary level; lack of staff motivation or willingness to learn a new skill; and the cost of training. 1.4 Within communities, 7 of the 9 LOIP’s have also identified digital as a key priority and the Driving Digital Local sub-group has been gathering information to understand requirements across the 9 Community Board areas. Innovative digital skills projects and Intergenerational projects with schools are being taken forward and work has been undertaken to map local digital skills provision across North Lanarkshire. 1.5 For this reason, digital skills must form a core part of our priority sector focus, and to date, this work has been led by the Council’s Digital Skills and Inclusion group who are focused on maximising the outcomes of community benefits within the council’s digital contracts, including successful community benefits achieved through Agilysis, and the procurement of the Connectivity Framework with Commsworld. 1.6 In the wider creative sector, North Lanarkshire has recently seen the addition of two further film studios over and above the established Wardpark Film Studio. Pioneer Film Studios campus in Stepps is a 1.1m sq ft film campus comprising studio space, 7 sound stages, workshops and office facilities, whereas Nightsky Studios in Coatbridge was a former photography studio repurposed for the film industry. The council is well engaged and supporting both businesses through its enterprise team and Business Gateway Lanarkshire service. 2. Pathways & Partnerships 2.1 Our skills and pathways work in the digital area has been led by the Council’s Digital Skills and Inclusion group with a focus on maximising the outcomes of community benefits within the council’s digital contracts and the Commsworld contract in particular has now enabled the development of a shared apprenticeship model. 2.2 Under this arrangement, which will see a funding investment of around £40K by Commsworld, 3 modern apprentices have been appointed in 2022, and they will undertake rotational work experience within Commsworld (who will employ them) and the Council to provide a unique blend of both public and private sector digital work experience. It is expected that a further 6 apprentices will be appointed in this way over the next 2 years.
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2 2.3 The council has also been working with Commsworld and their partners SmartSTEM and Young Enterprise Scotland to finalise a bespoke programme of activities and events to inspire and engage young people. To support this a full-time equivalent resource will be in place to support the ongoing design and roll-out of activity being co- designed with support from the Digital Schools team, the DYW team, the council’s STEM team, the Enterprise team and through the employability hubs and Future Fridays. 2.4 Discussions are also being progressed for a more formalised approach to the sector digital skills and pathways offering, with the potential engagement of other organisations operating in this space and proposals for the associated skills action plan being finalised. 2.5 The model will focus on the themes of living digitally, working digitally and operating digitally and in particular will: Develop ongoing curriculum and skills training to endure no-one is left behind digitally in our communities Ensure our young people, those seeking employment and those hardest to reach are equipped with the digital skills they need Ensure business have access to the skills support and trained staff they required. 2.6 Community Learning and Development and the Libraries teams are also very active in the development and delivery of digital skills through the Digital North Lanarkshire project, including access to devices and the planned upgrade of the Public Access Computer systems to the new LearnNL platform which will enable the development of a new, expansive menu of bespoke learning modules and online learning activities for a range of different customers. Work is also underway to create a digital learning hub within Motherwell Library. 2.7 An example of a flagship digital skills initiative has been the immersive classroom in the Muirfield Centre in Cumbernauld. Plans are underway to replicate this model across North Lanarkshire to provide more opportunities for young people and communities to engage in this exciting digital learning opportunity. The immersive classroom also provides opportunities to the health and social care and construction academies to deliver skills training in a unique and engaging environment. 2.8 Additionally, the council, in partnership with New College Lanarkshire and the University of Strathclyde, successfully bid for funding from the Scottish Government’s Advancing Manufacturing Challenge Fund to create Smart Hub Lanarkshire. The Hub will provide robotics learning opportunities for school pupils to encourage interest in STEM, and potential career options through a Cobot Taster Programme and 4-week learning blocks which will commence in September. The initial pilot will focus on the S3 age group in Motherwell and Wishaw secondary schools with a view to rolling out across North Lanarkshire schools. Sessions with the Pathways Programme participants have also commenced this term. 2.9 In the wider creative sector and following several very productive discussions between the Deputy Chief Executive, Workforce for the Future steering group members, Active and Creative Communities and Creative Scotland, work is now beginning to shape a skills and pathways offering which will support the creative sector and assist its recovery post pandemic. The sector is a major contributor to the wider Scottish
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3 economy and in North Lanarkshire there are now a growing number of film studios, which will bring significant future jobs growth potential. 2.10 Early joint priorities which have been identified in discussion with Creative Scotland include: Creative learning linked to the school curriculum. Creative mentorships to encourage and support emerging talent. Pathways for careers into the creative industry with an initial focus on our growing film industry in North Lanarkshire. 3 Focus in the next phase 3.1 In the next phase, our digital academy offering will consider current and future digital skills requirements and skills shortages, upskilling/reskilling opportunities and will map pathways into key digital roles and careers. Funding to support the delivery of digital skills has been allocated within the UK Shared Prosperity Fund. 3.2 In the creative skills area and linked to the further development of our Film Industry across North Lanarkshire, meetings have been agreed between the Council and Creative Scotland and these will be scheduled in this next phase with a view to formalising a plan of work which can be taken forward in the next 6 months.