In connection with the Committee’s ongoing theme of Youth Unemployment, the Committee will have the opportunity to scrutinise the work of a selection of local employers across the District
Minutes:
In connection with the Committee’s ongoing theme of Youth Unemployment, the Committee had the opportunity to scrutinise the work of a selection of local employers from across the District regarding the employment of young people and barriers experienced. Unfortunately representatives from Eminox had had to withdraw at a very late stage, and apologies were offered to Members for this. However, Mr Richard Waring and Mr Joshua Waring of Rand Farm Park were in attendance to answer the Committee’s previously prepared questions, by way of presentation and a period of supplementary questioning.
The questions which had been posed were as follows: -
4. What links do you have with schools, colleges, training providers and the DWP to promote employment opportunities or express issues you may have in respect of filling vacancies?
5. What role could the Council play in addressing the issues you face?
The Chairman welcomed Mr Joshua Waring to the meeting and invited him to make his presentation to Members. Mr Waring made the following statement to the Committee: -
Good evening: My name is Joshua Waring and I am here on behalf of Rand Farm Park.
“You've heard from education providers and have now decided to seek the opinion of local employers. We bridge that gap; not only do we employ 55 full and part time staff in various departments across our business, we also provide NVQ level training for up to 72 students per year in conjunction with Lincoln College. Our business is very much education based and attracts students from across West Lindsey and beyond. Further to this, we welcome around 3,000 residential pupils a year to stay on our farm to learn about food, farming and the environment.
During recent recruitment campaigns, we have struggled to fill our skilled positions namely in animal and farm management and our catering department. The applicants, despite having extensive experience often lack the qualifications to back up their practical ability. Perhaps the most concerning issue is the age of these applicants. There are many older candidates who have amassed relevant qualifications during a lengthy career but rarely a clutch of fresh-faced graduates who possess the required qualifications, relevant practical knowledge and the desire to start their career with us. We have even advertised directly in further education centres but still without success.
The obvious question is therefore: were we willing to remunerate applicants sufficiently? Although we never disclose salaries in our adverts, we frequently state that salary will not be a barrier to the right person and at present, we have employees who are earning up to £30,000 per year - a substantial sum considering the average annual salary in Lincoln is just over £18,000. In addition, we are currently exploring share option schemes and other remuneration packages to reward and retain our most valued employees. We consider ourselves a pleasant place to work and testament to this is the fact that of our 16 full time employees, 9 of them have been with us for over five years and some as long as 17. In addition, many of our full time employees came part time during their school and university careers and have now come back to join us as full time members of the team.
It would appear then that the stumbling block is, as the committee has already determined, the lack of appropriate education in our region. To address initially our agricultural department: we currently employ seven full time equivalent people working with our animals but have struggled to recruit team members with the knowledge and skills to manage this department. Our last campaign saw us advertising for a farm manager; a position that was never properly filled. We do not have arable land but a very diverse range of animals that need specific and attentive care. The distinct lack of knowledge in our applicants was unsurprising as there no longer appears to be adequate provision of a practical large animal care course in the region. There is no local facility that focuses on training students how to care for "traditional farm animals" - the anima ls, whose commercial rearing brings significant income to the district.
Our catering department makes up for 23% of our overall turnover, feeding approximately 100,000 visitors through our two catering outlets every year. Finding a competent manager for this department has proven exceptionally difficult and again, the applicants were older than perhaps expected. The two that we have previously appointed have had catering experience or management experience but not both.
Another newer arm to our business is childcare. We have been running a holiday club in association with an out of area childcare provider for a couple of years and are building a strong reputation within the community, resulting in up to thirty children per day using our facilities during the school holidays. We are also underway with a new phase of development and have plans to open a nursery for up to ninety children of varying pre-school ages. Again, this area requires the recruitment of skilled individuals to look after the children in our care. This skills shortage is predicted to be a significant challenge when setting up as we know of other childcare businesses recruiting from abroad to fill their positions.
It would appear then that the skills gap is not a specific one but a general lack of vocational expertise. With central government's new scheme to keep students in education until they are eighteen, vocational courses have never been more important. Moreover, through our extensive work with residential groups who come and stay at Rand Farm Park, we have recognised the affinity that less academic students as well as students with additional needs often have with farm animals. From experience, I believe that the investment in the provision of practical agricultural training should be focused on with immediate effect and the provision of catering and childcare education close behind.
Despite the new legislation keeping students in education, society's perception of vocational learning being second rate is increasingly prevalent. This stigma clearly needs addressing ahead of any investment in the delivery of training.
As more schools become academies, they are often shunning work experience: another program that we believe in whole-heartedly. We welcome students from all over the county for work experience all year round and the benefits to the students a re unparalleled. Despite this, we know of several other local businesses who no longer offer work experience as the bureaucracy associated with the program is to them not worth the hassle. With work experience comes many life skills: students are not taught to an adequate level the fundamental skills required when applying for a job. We all too often see poor levels of literacy: CVs and Cover Letters written in "text language" with poor paragraph structure and littered with spelling mistakes: not to mention the substandard interview techniques of some of our applicants. This may not be an issue born of lack of education on offer but by the detachment that students feel between education and the real world. By educating people in a work environment, this dissociation will be refuted. As an organisation, we champion such schemes and Kay/Mum/one of our directors has been interviewing work experience age students at Banovallum School in Horncastle for several years: it is also a service we have offered our current college partner.
Having complained about the lack of education in our region - the reason I was invited here this evening - I would like to offer a solution to this problem that will presumably only worsen as time goes on.
As you have heard, we champion learning and have invested significant time, money and effort in the education and personal development of our region's young people for over twenty years. We have been offering college courses for four years now and as testament to our belief in the cause invested £120,000 in a new classroom for exclusive use by our students four days per week.
As part of next growth project, this year, we have plans to erect a large, purpose built animal barn, which is being designed with education and safe animal contact as the two main considerations. This building will be the ideal location for students to interact with and learn about a wide range of small and large animals.
Rand Farm Park is a very diverse business and so, we have experienced skills gaps in multiple subject areas. The benefit of this diversity is the ability to provide varied training with our in house facilities: we are well equipped to support the education of students in agriculture, catering, tourism and management, childcare and customer service and our strong brand within the district will continue to be an attractive hook for new candidates.
I am appealing therefore to your judgement not only to recognise this gap in skills but I am also offering to you the organisation that I represent. We have extensive facilities not only to educate students of varying ages from within the region but also to put West Lindsey on the map as being a provider of excellent standard teaching in a range of subjects.
Members asked a number of questions of Mr R and Mr J Waring during which they confirmed they currently linked in with Lincoln College as opposed to Riseholme. The academic focus of education was considered to be further impacting on the situation.
Members indicated some sort of compact agreement, may be of assistance as education, training and employment appeared to be disjointed.
The Chairman thanked Mr R and Mr J Waring for their invaluable contribution to the Committee’s work and wished them and their business every success for the future.
Prior to concluding the item, the Director of Resources, outlined a conversation which had been had at briefing, regarding organising a concluding session with Young People, in a more café style forum. The Committee were open to this suggestion and it was indicated that the proposal would be further worked up, looking at a proposed venue, attendees and questions for consideration at the Committee’s next meeting.