Purpose

The Government, through the Department for
Education (DfE), wishes to devolve skills funding, previously
commissioned nationally, to Upper Tier local authorities to manage
at a place-based level. As a result, East Sussex County Council has
been awarded a total annual funding amount of £2,358,050.00
to deliver Skills Bootcamps. These are flexible short vocational
courses designed to improve the skills of the workforce in
key sectors, offered to adults aged 19 and over.

In East Sussex, there are known skills gaps in construction,
engineering, green jobs, adult social care, the visitor economy,
the land-based and food production sector and in digital skills and
leadership and management across all sectors. The Council needs to
ensure that local businesses and providers have the workforce that
can enable them to meet forthcoming pressures in line with new
Government policy (i.e. early years childcare provision, teaching,
green energy and the industrial strategy).

The Council has designed a call for Bootcamp provision to meet
identified skills gaps in the local economy; and it is seeking
accredited training providers to offer the courses specified to 570
East Sussex residents in total, over a period of one year from
April 2025 to March 2026.

Decision

The Director approved a series of contracts to
be issued to local providers for the delivery of the Skills
Bootcamps programme in the value of £2,358,250.00.

Alternative options considered

The Director could have refused the funding.
However, the information presented in the procurement report
justified the decision to award the funds and due process has been
followed.