Agenda item

The Director of Learning Services submits a report detailing how the Adult Skills and Learning Service is helping the increasing adult population from diverse and new communities in Leicester to compete for employment and training opportunities and engage better in local community life,with particular regard to those adults having language difficulties and/or difficulties accessing digital services.  The Commission is recommended to:

a)     note the work being carried out in this area and refer residents to the service when needs are identified; and

b)     identify and inform the service of areas of unmet need, so that, if possible, they can be addressed within the planning of programmes for 2018-19.

Members of the Economic Development, Transport and Tourism Scrutiny Commission have been invited to the meeting to participate in the scrutiny of this item.

The Interim Director of Learning Services submitted a report detailing how the Leicester Adult Skills and Learning Service (LASALS) was helping the adult population from diverse and new communities in the city to compete for employment and training opportunities and engage better in local community life,with particular regard to those adults having language difficulties and/or difficulties accessing digital services.

Members of the Economic Development, Transport and Tourism Scrutiny Commission had been invited to attend the meeting to participate in the scrutiny of this item.  Councillor Kitterick was in attendance in this capacity.  The Chair welcomed him to the meeting.

The Head of Adult Skills and Learning Services introduced the report, explaining that there were long-term low levels of skills in the city, particularly in English and maths, with 62% of residents being qualified at less than Level 2.  One way in which this was being addressed was through LASALS’ work as a key partner in the Leicester to Work theme of the Leicester: Great City Economic Plan (2016-202), its role within this being to address low skill areas.

It was noted that:

·           To make it easier to enrol on courses, weekly drop-in enrolment sessions were held at the Leicester Adult Education College every Thursday.  These had been very successful;

·           Basic level IT skills and IT skills for job searches courses were free, but one barrier to participation in some other courses was recognised as being the cost of course fees and eligibility for assistance with fees.  For example, an English for Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL) course could cost approximately £800.  Approximately 60% of ESOL learners received the course free of charge and payment instalment plans were available to those required to pay at least part of the fee;

·           People with irregular working patterns could find it difficult to attend classes, so attendance requirements were as flexible as possible.  For example, some people attended different classes each week;

·           People started the courses with very different skill levels, so the flexibility and funding that could now be offered meant that people could take longer to learn if they needed to;

·           Refugees and asylum seekers could encounter problems obtaining funding for courses, so when funding was not immediately available they attended classes that were already running but had spaces available;

·           The core programme of digital inclusion courses included courses of general interest and those focussed on work-based skills and searching for work on-line;

·           There had been a retention rate of 88% during the previous year on digital inclusion courses and a success rate of 80%.  These figures were in line with national averages;

·           People were required to apply for, and manage, Universal Credit on-line, but many did not have the IT or language skills to do this.  An introduction to Universal Credit course therefore was being developed.  It also was hoped that funding would be available for Universal Credit Champions, who would be based at locations where people could drop-in for advice;

·           Over the last five years, LASALS had been working with all tutors to embed English, maths and IT in all courses.  One pleasing result of this was that nearly 60% of people providing feedback on courses said that they had learnt how to stay safe on-line.  (Not all learners completed feedback forms, but approximately 7,000 were received last year);

·           The majority of LASALS’ students were qualified to Level 1 or below;

·           When students on ESOL courses reached a certain level they became entitled to access free English courses.  Many took this option, reducing the number of students progressing to higher levels with ESOL courses;

·           LASALS was not the only provider of ESOL courses in the city, so resources were directed at work that did not duplicate that being done elsewhere.  This meant that LASALS focussed on learners that other providers could be unable to help and used different venues to those providers;

·           LASALS also had long-term relationships with community organisations providing learning and worked with them to do outreach work, for example through festivals and events; and

·           Approximately 1,800 students currently were enrolled, which was approximately the same as last year.  Some of these had been referred, (for example, by health professionals), or had come via the Job Centre, (as improving English skills could be a condition of their job search), but the largest recruiter was word of mouth.  A new role of Learning Recruitment and Welfare Officer was being created for specific subject areas and it was expected that these officers would play a significant role in recruiting course participants.

In discussing the report, Members suggested that a further barrier to people accessing courses could be lack of confidence.  If they struggled to speak English they could stay away from situations they found challenging, which could impact on take-up of the courses being offered.

Some concern as expressed that people could be deterred from visiting certain places if no specialist support or advice was available there, such as language support.  It was noted that dedicated telephone lines were available in the Council’s Customer Services area, which connected people to the Community Languages service.  it also was hoped that the new Universal Credit Champions also could help overcome this problem, although it was recognised that government funding for this role was directed at getting people in to work.  Members were asked to report incidents of people being told that language support was not available at Council offices to the Director of Finance for investigation. 

Members questioned why there had been a drop in 2014 in the percentage of the city’s population with no qualifications.  The Head of Adult Skills and Learning Services explained that there was no clear reason for this, although there was concern that it could be associated with a reduction in funding for adult education in the city, as this had reduced nationally by approximately 40% since 2010.  The introduction of the Apprenticeship Levy provided opportunities to upskill the adult working population which needed to be maximised.

It was noted that people could arrive in the city with qualifications that were not recognised in this country, so although they were qualified it could appear in the statistics that they were not. 

Some courses were run on a full-cost recovery basis, particularly when providing them for other employers.  It was difficult to identify opportunities to obtain a profit from such courses, as they were being offered in a market in which there were a lot of commercial providers.  The government provided funding for qualification courses and non-accredited courses in different ways and the funding for one sort could not be used to offset the costs of the other.

AGREED:

1)    That the Director of Learning Services be asked to provide the following information to Commission members:

a)     data on who the courses discussed above are targeted at, including which countries they are from;

b)     the number of enrolments to date on IT and Digital Inclusion courses provided by Leicester Adult Education and Learning Services; and

c)     the actual numbers of the city’s population with no qualifications;

2)    That the Economic Development, Transport and Tourism Scrutiny Commission be asked to consider a more detailed report on language and IT training, the Chair of that Commission to agree the content of that report with the Chair of this Commission, subject to 3) below; and

3)    That the Chair of the Economic Development, Transport and Tourism Scrutiny Commission and the Chair of this Commission be asked to include information on help available at all levels for people with limited English language skills in the report referred to under 2) above.