Agenda item

Members considered a report on the delivery of a Level 2 and 3 Engineering Apprenticeship Programme within Gainsborough in partnership with the Lincoln College Group and the Made in Gainsborough Engineering Consortium.

The Senior Project and Growth Officer introduced the report, and informed Members of the following:

·         The project had started initially as a direct request from employers in Gainsborough;

·         At a national level, the number of apprenticeship starters had reduced; the Apprenticeship Levy introduced in 2017 had not fulfilled its full purpose;

·         In 2017, The College Consortium, West Lindsey District Council, and a local consortium worked together on a two year programme for apprentices;

·         100% of the course needed to be developed in Gainsborough.  To achieve this, the college in Gainsborough had had to reconfigure its existing premises.  This had incurred additional costs, and which were required to cover fixtures and fittings;

·         Part of phase 1 of the project was still to be completed.  Phase 1 included a welding and fabrication workshop; phase 2 contained milling and turning capabilities;

Following this introduction, Mark Locking from the Lincoln College Group addressed Members, and added the following points:

·         The aim was to make Gainsborough College an exemplar of performance in mechanical engineering and construction;

·         £168,000 was invested collectively as a community to create a successful programme.  Last year, 20 students were recruited (consisting of 16 apprenticeships, 4 students on a full-time programme), working with 10 local employers;

·         100% of the students that finished in the previous educational year received distinctions in their endpoint assessments. It was believed that part of the reason for this success was because the programme was intensive at 5 days week;

·         65% of those students resided in Gainsborough; the rest were from areas in, and just outside the district of West Lindsey;

·         The programme cannot develop without the necessary funding.  Students were on occasion travelling to Lincoln as part of their studies; however an aim of the programme was to keep students local to Gainsborough.

Members then provided comment on the report:

·         The report epitomised what can be achieved by partnership working – the results were hugely encouraging.  What was also encouraging was the number of applications to join the course;

·         In a rural area with a tradition of engineering it was important to attract the best investment possible;

·         The apprenticeship scheme was an excellent way of regenerating industry;

Officers were thanked for their support on this project.

                        RESOLVED to:

(1)  Support the proposal for officers to seek external funding for the project as a priority;

(2)  Approve the request to re-allocate up to £75,000 of the Investment for Growth Earmarked Reserve designated for Phase 1 to gap fund Phase 2 of the project.  This will only be utilised should the project be unsuccessful in securing external funds as outlined in (1) above and subject to the project meeting required due diligence outlined within the Gainsborough Growth Fund (GGF) process;

(3)  Agree to delegate the signing of any funding agreement to the Executive Director of Resources in consultation with the Chairman of the Corporate Policy and Resources Committee.