Venue: Remotely via Teams
No. | Item |
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Welcome and Roll Call Minutes: The
Chair welcomed everyone to the meeting. |
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Chairs Announcements Minutes: The Chair noted that he had recently attended a meeting with
the Chair of Swansea Bay City Region Joint Committee Cllr Rob Stewart, along
with the Programme Manager Jonathan Burnes, Chief Officer Wendy Walters and he
was accompanied by officers from Neath Port Talbot Democratic Services to
discuss some of the ongoing issues that Scrutiny have faced. The Chair advised that item 6 (Highlight Report) would not be scrutinised, as Quarter 2 had not been presented to the Committee. Members expressed their dissatisfaction with the information
being provided in a timely manner to allow for effective scrutiny. It was agreed by the committee that the Chair write formally
to all those connected to highlight the issues being faced by the scrutiny
committee and suggest ways forward to ensure that the next committee are able
to scrutinise as required. |
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Declarations of Interest Minutes: There
were no declarations of interest received. |
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Minutes of previous meeting PDF 381 KB ·
9th November 2021 ·
23rd November 2021 Additional documents: Minutes: The minutes of the meeting held on 9th November 2021 were approved as a true and accurate record. The minutes of the meeting held on 23rd November
2021 were approved as a true and accurate record. |
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Skills & Talent - update HTML 76 KB Minutes: The Chair welcomed Jane Lewis to the meeting. Jane Lewis
provided Members with an update on the Skills & Talent Project. The purpose of the programme is to ensure that there is a
skilled workforce in the region to meet the needs of the new projects being
developed and delivered within the City Deal. The officer were highlighted the improvement in the figures
of persons with no qualification from 2019 to 2020. Members were reminded of the Skills and Talent objectives
which includes 2,200 additional skills and supporting the development of at
least 14,000 skills in individuals (levels 2-77), 3000 new apprenticeship
opportunities, working with schools to create a career pathway from school
education to higher/further education and apprenticeships in the key areas of
digital, construction, energy, smart manufacturing and life science/wellbeing.
Also to create 2 centres of excellence. To achieve this pilot projects will be
developed to resolve issues where gaps in skills are identified. To date a programme manager has been appointed who has
engaged with the City Deal projects to identify skills needs and gaps. A skills
barometer will be completed by mid-February. It is currently with external
consultants who are verifying the data and any new trends that are happening in
sectors which will impact on the future skills needs of the region. A Skills Solution Group has been established to identify
skills gaps across the region. In addition, a Provide Group has also been
established to deliver solutions to the skills gaps identified. Project ideas are being developed to identify projects to
meet the skills needs. There is planned engagement with head teacher forums for
14-19 co-ordinators in each Local Authority Area so see how skills can be
developed in these areas to meet the future needs of the projects. In the next six months another Gateway Review will be
undertaken following completion of the Barometer. There will also be wider
engagement with schools and colleges regarding the skills needs identified by
the Barometer. There will be approval of projects to deliver skills training
and upskilling across the 5 key areas identified and further upskilling
opportunities will be developed. There is also the planned creation of the
apprenticeship opportunities. Members queried where the funding for the project will be
utilised. The results of the Barometer will show the direction that the project
needs to go in. The funding needs to be utilised to develop new courses and fit
the needs of the projects that are being developed under the City Deal. There
is a large amount of interest in the funding to develop sources from schools,
colleges, private sector delivers of training and higher education. There will
be a set of criteria to ensure that courses which are provided are not
duplicated. Members expressed their concern about the timing of the project in that many of the projects are already up and running. The Deal is currently in year 5 of 15 and Members were concerned that the skills would not be in place for the ... view the full minutes text for item 5. |
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Forward Work Programme of the Swansea Bay City Region Joint Committee PDF 470 KB Minutes: Phil Ryder, went through the Joint Committee Forward Work
Programme. He outlined what items had been completed and items that were
ongoing. Members were provided with an update on Governance &
Assurance. The Benefits Realisation at Portfolio Level has been completed. The
wider benefits realisation is still ongoing and is due to be presented at the
forthcoming Joint Committee. With reference to the five recommendations from
the Gateway Review, it is noted that three out of the five are complete and the
remaining two are partially complete. Software Management is nearly complete, however there is one
query with regards to the required assurances and this should be resolved
imminently. Programme Project Dashboards have commenced. The portfolio level
dashboards are available to view. The roll of the SRO has gone through Programme Board. All
SRO’s will receive additional guidance support and where required training from
Welsh Government. The review of the Programme Portfolio Chair happened in
November, and in line with the Chair for Joint Committee this would be extended
until May 2022. The Gateway Assurance Framework has been set up and officers
are currently working on the memorandum of understanding. This should be
presented to Joint Committee in the coming months. The ministerial approval for the Skills & Talent Project
and Campuses Business Case has been received. There is an ongoing update on of
the Pentre Awel Business
Case update. The Communications & Marketing Plan has been updates and
the Communications and Engagement schedule. The infographics work is ongoing. The City Deal bi-annual event has been moved to March. The
bi-annual event will be a show case event taking place on the 3rd
March. All key stakeholders will be invited to attend and engage with
businesses and discuss opportunities coming forward. It is hoped that the event
will take place in person. It was suggested that an invitation be sent to the
Joint Scrutiny Committee so that a member can attend on behalf of the
committee. The declarations of interest are now complete with the
exception of ESB. This is due to the form being updated. Members advised that they had previously raised concerns
about the risk register. It is noted in the Forward Work Programme of the Joint
Scrutiny Programme that it is not going before Joint Committee until February.
Members asked that the information be brought back before the meeting scheduled
for March. Officers would welcome the challenge around the mitigation factors
identified on the risk register. Members also outlined the importance of seeing
the changes that are being made to the register in response to changing
circumstances. Members raised concerns about the perception that every
other meeting of the Joint Committee is being cancelled. Members briefly considered the procurement elements outlined
in the Forward Work Programme. Officers noted that procurement activity is
based within the local authorities. Members wished to have an overview with
regards to where items are being procured from in terms of locality and
benefits to the community. |
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Forward Work Programme PDF 521 KB Minutes: Members
were in agreement that there would be a meeting called for early March which
should include Quarter 2 and Quarter 3 Monitoring Reports, a Financial Update
and the Portfolio Risk Register. |