The Lancashire Skills and Employment Board meeting on 5 December 2024 received presentations about a number of national skills and employment schemes, and the likely effects of the recently elected Labour government's industrial policies on Lancashire. The meeting also received an update on the progress of devolution in Lancashire, and a number of reports on the implementation of skills and careers initiatives in Lancashire.

Lancashire Combined County Authority and Devolution

The Board was scheduled to receive a verbal update from Simon Lawrence, Director of Growth and Regeneration at Lancashire County Council about the arrangement for Devolution and the establishment of the Combined County Authority. ¹

The minutes of the previous meeting record that conversations were ongoing to establish a Devolution deal and conversations around the governance structure of the Combined County Authority were still being had , and note that since the last meeting the Devolution Deal for Lancashire has now been agreed by central government and will be moving forward toward the establishment of a Combined County Authority. ²

Careers Hub and associated projects - priorities for 24/25

The board were scheduled to be given a presentation about the Lancashire Careers Hub ³, and its associated projects by:

• Mark Bowman, CEO of Inspira
• Kay Vaughan, Careers Hub Lead at Inspira, and
• Kerry Harrison from the Digital Skills Partnership Skills Hub.

Get Britain Working White Paper and Connect to Work

The board were scheduled to be given a presentation about the Get Britain Working White Paper and Connect to Work.

Lancashire Skills and Employment Hub and Partners

Dr Michele Lawty-Jones, Director at the Lancashire Skills Hub, was scheduled to provide the board with an update about the Lancashire Skills and Employment Hub and its partners. The report was to cover the following:

• An update on the progress of the Careers Hub against the eight Gatsby Benchmarks of Good Career Guidance, reporting that it has achieved 6.8 out of 8 benchmarks, against a Department for Education target of 5.5.
• An update on the Digital Hub workplace encounter pilot, which saw 178 year 9 students from two schools visit Digital Hub co-working spaces.
• That 132 teachers and tutors had undertaken Teacher Encounters at businesses in Lancashire.
• That the Early Connect pilot has been extended until October 2025.
• That funding had been approved for the Further Education Bursary Programme, and that 100 students had attended an induction event for the programme in July.
• That 326 Lancashire residents had achieved a positive outcome from the Skills Bootcamps programme.
• That although the Universal Support programme had been paused, there is appetite to take forward a similar supported employment programme.
• That a further 100 Young Apprenticeship Grants had been requested.
• That Lancashire & South Cumbria was one of 15 areas chosen to pilot the Work Well Partnership Programme.
• That the number of businesses signed up to the Lancashire Skills Pledge had increased to 425, making 1,523 pledges in total, and that there are 257 Skills Pledge Members.