Issue - meetings

            The Board considered a report of the Strategic Director, Enterprise, Community and Resources, which provided an update on apprenticeships in the Council, together with a regional and national picture. The apprenticeship programme was the outcome of The Richard Review of Apprenticeships, published in 2012. The Governments key changes were around Standards replacing Frameworks and the introduction of the Apprenticeships Levy from April 2017. The Levy required employers with a wage bill of £3million or more to pay 0.5% of their pay bill to invest in apprenticeship training. For Halton Council this equated to £259,696 per year (2018/19).

            It was noted that the development of apprenticeships had been successful with the current number of apprentices at 16 (12 male and 4 female). Since the Levy regime began in April 2017 the number of apprenticeships was 67. Whilst the number of new apprentices who had acquired a permanent position with the Council during the last 2 years was 15. The Council had been innovative in its approach in order to provide the best opportunities to recruit apprentices in areas where it had previously experienced difficulties recruiting.

            In addition, within the scope of the Apprenticeship Policy, the Council also planned future development of its existing workforce via the Apprenticeship Levy, again across a diverse range of roles and service areas to meet the growing service demand and to maintain a professional and qualified workforce.

            The Board also noted the collaborative work that took place to promote the concept of apprenticeships between the Council and the Liverpool City Region (LCR). The work had proven successful and a proposal was currently being considered for the LCR Chief Executives to extend this additional support until the end of 2019.

            RESOLVED: That the report be noted.