Agenda and draft minutes

These had been received from Councillor Mike Hancock who was unwell and from Councillor Will Purvis who was absent on other council business.

When there was mention of Solent, NHS Councillor Smith made a declaration in that his partner is a director.

Minutes of EDCL panel meeting held on 30 January 2014 are attached for approval.

RECOMMENDED that the minutes of 30 January 2014 be approved as a correct record.

RESOLVED that the Minutes of the Panel Meeting held on 30 January 2014 were approved as a correct record.

a)    The following witnesses are expected:

·         Lyn Exley - post 16 curriculum map - information to follow

·         Mark Rodwell and Tessa Bailey - Looked After Children and the New Belongings Project

·         Penny Lane (Strategy), Sam Cox (City Development) and Gemma Limburn (HR) to attend to present a summary of the draft findings and priority themes from draft PCC report 'Growing our own: delivering apprenticeships for Portsmouth'

·         A Portsmouth student - to give the panel an account of his own experience of careers advice at a local secondary school

b)    Written Submissions to include:

·         Amanda Percy of Southdowns College (to follow)

The Chair welcomed all the witnesses to the meeting which was expected to be the last evidence gathering exercise for the Panel.

(a)       Lyn Exley, Post 16, Education Adviser, Portsmouth City Council

Panel Members have been circulated a draft copy of the 'post-16 curriculum plan for 16-19 year olds and up to 25 young people with special educational needs for the academic year 2013/14 and 2014/15 (Version 4)'.  She circulated updated pages on the consultation feedback on current provision as well as charts which were the appendices outlining the exact provision of vocational courses, traineeships, academic courses and outlining organisations that work with young people and support access to an engagement with education, training or employment in the local area.  It was stressed that this is a consultation document that was to be discussed with schools and the post-16 providers to see where there was over provision or gaps and to look at the support available on the courses.  This was in tandem with the ITYSS tracking and outlined the main organisations that young people progress onto and the predicted numbers there.  The consultation process was on-going and the plan would be sent to all schools the following day to ask them to sign up to this as well as consulting with the post-16 providers.  Lyn presented the updated key pages 8-10 of the document. 

Over Provision Identified

(a)          A Levels - there was a concern that with the growth in availability it will be difficult for the providers to offer a full range of subjects with sustainable student numbers which might have an impact on the offer to young people after they have begun their programme.

(b)          Some BTECs - poor progression opportunities beyond one year courses have been identified as an issue where numbers on courses within an individual provider, may not enable progression to a full two year programme and therefore limit progression to higher education and employment.

This may lead to further discussion with the colleges regarding the need to pool for certain A Levels or BTECs to give provision for these courses.  This would help address the risk when starting the first year of a course that the second year may not be viable and enable students to complete.

Insufficient Provision and/or Gaps in Provision

The identified insufficient provision particularly for work-based programmes such as traineeships and apprenticeships is not about the lack of post-16 providers as they were willing to offer the identified provision, instead this is dependent upon the ability to find employers willing and able to offer work experience, internships and employment which are required by these programmes. 

The lack of entry level provision especially hit hard the Harbour School pupils.  There is a concern on the vocational programmes at entry level that with poor  English and Maths skills students cannot progress to level 1 or 2. 

Whilst traineeships are limited numbers for occupation areas this was a growing area.  An identified problem was that the young people wanted payment for  ...  view the full minutes text for item 10.

It was agreed that there should be an informal meeting on 11 March at 6 pm and hopefully the report will be signed off at a full meeting on Thursday 20 March at 6 pm.