Issue - meetings

To provide an update to the panel on activity related to Post 16 Employment and Skills activity in the district.

Contact: Gillian Wallace, Head of Employment and Skills

Gillian Wallace, Head of Employment and Skills provided the panel with an update on activities related to Post 16 employment and skills in Kirklees, and an overview of programmes being delivered directly by the Council.

In summary, the panel was informed that employment skills is a broad area and is growing in scope and importance. The aim of the update today is to give a top line overview of the approach, the reasons, partners and the projects and programmes being undertaken. The focus of the information is based on adult provision and less information on provision taking place with school aged children.

The Panel was provided with the following information:

·       Unemployment claimant rate remained steady at 4.3% (August 2023)

·       Kirklees employment rate is the lowest in the region at 73%

·       Economic inactivity rate, which is where people are actively removing themselves from the labour market, is the highest at 27%

The Employment Skills Team, works to address some of the challenges, however this is only part of the solution. The employment and skills infrastructure is complex and is a mix of national, regional, and local provisions that the Council can only deliver a part of. A key part of the role is influencing the delivery that is taking place nationally and regionally and bringing partners together to address this, through the Employment Skills Partnership.

The panel was informed that the Local Skills Improvement Plan is now published, and focus is on a Local Skills Improvement Fund which has the potential to make a real difference to some of the skills provisions on offer in Kirklees.

The Panel was directed to key statistics in the presentation, which outlined a number of graphs, showing that the unemployment claimant rate has remained steady at 4.3%, however, the estimated claimant rate amongst young people (18 – 24) in Kirklees was 6.2% and increasing. Intervention is required as unemployed adults can often remain unemployed for their life cycle; therefore a great deal of attention is required to address this. Comparing Kirklees to the regional and national averages, it is evident that Kirklees has the lowest employment rate and the highest inactivity rate. There is also evidence to show that the economic inactivity rate does vary across selected disadvantaged groups such as disabled people, people with low skills and ethnic minority groups. This needs to be the area of focus in order to influence the figures.

The panel was informed that there has been year on year growth in job postings across all sectors, for all five local authorities in West Yorkshire. In order to address productivity issues, there needs to be a focus on people that are not in the labour market, and match them to available vacancies.

Low skills can often be a barrier to people entering the labour market, however it is recognised that not having a proportion of people with higher skills can also be a barrier to productivity. It is generally accepted that a Level 2 qualification is required to enter  ...  view the full minutes text for item 8