The Resources Scrutiny Committee was scheduled to meet to discuss the council's talent strategy and to answer questions from the public. The committee was also scheduled to review the minutes from their meeting on 27 February 2025.

Talent Strategy

The Resources Scrutiny Committee was scheduled to discuss the council's talent strategy, with a focus on the use of the apprenticeship levy¹. The apprenticeship levy requires employers with a pay bill over £3 million to contribute 0.5% of their total national insurance pay bill into a digital account for apprenticeship training. The government then adds a 10% top-up to encourage usage and flexibility. These funds can be used to develop internal colleagues, offer new opportunities for employment, or be shared with smaller organisations locally to enable them to recruit and develop apprentices. Any unspent levy funds are reclaimed after 24 months.

According to the Scrutiny Report Apprenticeship Strategy v1, Derbyshire County Council uses the levy to fund training for internal employees, including those in maintained schools, and also transfers a portion to support external organisations. Approximately 3% of council employees (including maintained schools) are currently undertaking apprenticeships, with 90% of apprenticeships being used for professional development of existing staff, and 10% of those recruited directly as apprentices.

Popular apprenticeship programmes include:

• Social Worker (Level 6)
• Team Leader (Level 3)
• Operations Manager (Level 5)
• Chartered Manager (Level 6)

The report noted that the council has struggled to return to pre-pandemic levels of external apprentice recruitment. It stated that:

apprenticeships require significant time investment from employees and managers and with more pressure on service delivery the teams have not been as able to commit to apprenticeships; there have been recruitment freezes that have limited opportunities to build external talent pipelines; and budget challenges within the council.

The aspiration for maximising the levy usage is to align Derbyshire County Council to the Public Sector apprentices starts per year target, which is currently 2.3% of headcount (230). The council was aiming to achieve this by fostering a learning culture, identifying business-critical roles, and developing structured career pathways.

Actions to progress this were already underway including:

• Assessing future learning needs and skills gaps with L&D Business Partners.
• Aligning apprenticeship planning with the Council Plan, departmental plans and strategic workforce planning.
• Expanding cohort-style apprenticeships to build talent pipelines in key areas.
• Collaborating with departments to identify roles suitable for apprentices and develop offboarding plans.
• Reviewing the recruitment process for key areas to ensure that managers consider apprenticeships as part of the recruitment process.

The Managing Director, Emma Alexander, recommended that the committee note the current position in relation to the apprenticeship level, provide feedback on the future strategy, and agree to receive a further report and update on the strategy at the committee meeting on 11 December 2025.

Public Questions

The Resources Scrutiny Committee was scheduled to receive questions from members of the public. According to the Procedure for Public Questions at I S Committee meetings, members of the public who are on the Derbyshire County Council register of electors, or are Derbyshire County Council tax payers or non-domestic tax payers, may ask questions of the Improvement and Scrutiny Committees, or witnesses who are attending the meeting of the Committee. The maximum period of time for questions by the public at a committee meeting is 30 minutes in total.

A question may only be asked if notice has been given by delivering it in writing or by email to the Director of Legal Services no later than 12 noon three working days before the committee meeting.