Agenda item

Digital Inclusion Working Group Final Report

Report of the Chief Legal and Democratic Officer

 

Councillor McKinley, the Lead Member of the Working Group will attend to present the conclusions and recommendations set out in the report

 

Minutes:

The Cabinet considered the report of the Chief Legal and Democratic Officer which incorporated a copy of the final report produced by the Working Group appointed by the Overview and Scrutiny Committee (Regulatory, Compliance and Corporate Services) to review the opportunity for the Council in supporting and enabling Digital Inclusion within the Borough of Sefton and the wider City Region.

 

Councillor McKinley, the Lead Member of the Working Group outlined the conclusions and recommendations set out in the report. 

 

Decision Made:

 

(1)

It was noted that the Working Group was impressed with the Visitor Economy (VE) ‘Passport to Success’ scheme aimed at college students across the Liverpool City Region coming into the tourism industry; whereby students are able to achieve a bronze, silver or gold passport standard to provide them with a range of opportunities to either gain quality work experience, an interview, apprenticeship or a full-time job.

 

The Working Group, at its meeting held on 23 May 2018 acknowledged that literary and numeracy skills should be embedded as a priority along with digital skills.

 

Accordingly, it is agreed that:

 

(A)

The Liverpool City Region Combined Authority Employment and Skills Board be requested to consider the development of a Digital Skills Passport Scheme (incorporating numeracy, literacy and communication skills) to help Sefton residents to gain future employment, via the Learning and Skills budget to be devolved from 2019; and

 

(B)

Sefton Council, via Sefton@Work, in conjunction with local organisations such as Sefton Community Learning Service, work with the Liverpool City Region with the aim of exploring the application of such a Skills Passport for the benefit of Sefton employers and residents;

 

(2)

using the Poverty Modelling and Digital Inclusion “Mosaic” data, areas of high unemployment be targeted to enable those Sefton residents excluded from the labour market to develop their ICT skills to improve their opportunities for gaining future employment; 

 

(3)

to facilitate the above, the Liverpool City Region Combined Authority be requested to devolve sufficient funding to Sefton Council to appoint a project worker with the clear objectives of:

 

(A)

Working with local employers to map ICT/digital skills;

 

(B)

Working with local partners such as Sefton Community Learning Service to develop and deliver bespoke training programmes to target residents in the areas identified in the Poverty Modelling and Digital Inclusion “Mosaic” data;

 

(C)

Identifying, using the data from the Poverty Modelling and Digital Inclusion “Mosaic”, a number of residents who would benefit from and be able to undertake training as referred to in resolution (3) (B) above; and

 

(D)

Working with local employers to develop a compact agreement to enable those residents who successfully complete the bespoke training programme(s) to gain relevant employment; 

 

(4)

if further opportunities arise for a roll out of the Include-IT project and to support the objectives of resolution (2) above, then Sefton CVS be requested to consider such roll out to the priority areas identified within the Poverty Modelling and Digital Exclusion document; and

 

(5)

the Chief Legal and Democratic Officer be requested to submit a monitoring report to the meeting of the Overview and Scrutiny Committee (Regulatory, Compliance and Corporate Resources) to be held on 5 March 2019, setting out progress made against each of the recommendations set out in the report and that thereafter, monitoring reports be submitted to the Committee on a six-monthly basis.

 

Reasons for Decision:

 

The Working Group has made a number of recommendations that require approval by the Cabinet.

 

Alternative Options Considered and Rejected:

 

No alternative options were considered. The Overview and Scrutiny Committee (Regulatory, Compliance and Corporate Services) established the Working Group to review Digital Inclusion and the Working Group has performed this task.

Supporting documents: