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Cynulliad Cenedlaethol Cymru |
National Assembly for Wales |
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Pwyllgor yr Economi, Seilwaith a Sgiliau |
Economy, Infrastructure and Skills Committee |
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Partneriaeth Sgiliau Rhanbarthol |
Regional Skills Partnerships |
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EIS(5) RSP13 |
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Ymateb gan PeoplePlus |
Evidence from PeoplePlus |
1. PeoplePlus is an employment, skills and justice provider in the UK with an ambition to have a positive impact on 1 million lives by 2022. To date we have positively impacted over 220,000 lives.
2. We deliver services in Wales, Scotland and England and are the largest levy apprenticeship provider in the UK and hold all top 9 Work Programme Provider positions out of 39 providers. We are part of the Staffline Group who are the largest recruitment agency in the UK employing over 50,000 workers per day.
3.
We are currently contracted by Welsh Government to deliver
traineeship and apprenticeship provision in Wales. We also deliver
skills provision in schools in North Wales to pupils at risk of
exclusion as part of the TRAC programme. Our employability
provision currently includes Work Programme as a sub-contractor and
various job entry programmes commissioned by JCP as part of their
DPS provision, currently delivering in Cardiff and RCT. We are also
commissioned by Local Authorities in South East Wales to deliver
over 200 hours of monthly ESOL home tuition programme for refugee
families, supporting them to integrate in Welsh Communities.
What
is Working Well
4. The RSPs provide a regional focus to the needs of learners and employers, rather than previously where the focus was at either a National or Sector specific level. There will be small sectors or small geography’s that will have been previously overlooked, however now as much emphasis in put on smaller West Wales towns as well as larger city areas such as Cardiff.
5.
The annual plans give the sector an ability to invest and develop
learners in key future employment areas. Previous needs analysis
would have been Nationally focused and too high level for providers
to use as part of regional planning cycles.
6. The 3 RSPs are three very different entities with different membership models and different formats for their annual plans, it would be useful to have some consistency across them, with one standard format of the term of reference or annual plans, so we can see any generic national trends and make direct comparison’s across Regions.
7. There is limited engagement from RSPs with skills and employability providers, which means we are not able to feed-in our learners needs and employer demands. They can be closed shops with very little understanding of how as a provider we can feed in our views. We are part of the NTFW who provide representation at the RSP but this doesn’t filter to all members,
8. The plans are sometimes too aspirational and too long-term. We understand that there needs to be an aspirational vision but they don’t provide a clear outline of how we change from today’s learner needs and employers demands to what is required in 5 years, with key investments in new employment areas such as digital, rail electrification etc. For example, the types of learners and customers we support are those disengaged from education or the long-term unemployed, in deprived areas where the foundational economy such as health and social care and production is key. However the RSP priority might be in a more aspirational economy that doesn’t exist at present.
9. As part of accessing Welsh Government skills provision we are requested to align our skills delivery to RSP priorities, however if the priorities are future aspirations and don’t consider current need or demand how does that support our current learners or employers? If the RSP plan took a development plan view year-on-year that would allow Welsh Government to fund programmes that allow us to move current learners into better positions to succeed in the future aspirational market place.