Agenda item

The Chairman welcomed the following witnesses to the meeting.  They had been invited to assist the Committee in its evidence gathering for its review of Careers Guidance in Maidstone:

·  Simon Harris, Team Leader, CXK

·  John Taylor, Invicta Chamber of Commerce

·  Abigail Lewis, Economic Development Officer, Maidstone Borough Council (MBC).

John Taylor was invited to inform the Committee on Invicta Chamber of Commerce and its link to careers advice. Mr Taylor made the following points:

·  Careers guidance was delivered through ‘Young Chamber’

·  There were two schools in Maidstone involved in Young Chamber and all schools in Ashford.

·  Its offer included public speaking and mentoring

·  It offered real business links

·  Young Chamber worked with young people in schools to prepare them for the business environments

·  The cost of the youth chamber was £950 per annum, per school.

·  Part of the Young Chamber involved the development of a business proposal.  Each school currently raised between £3,000 and £5,000 per annum for charity.

With regards to fund raising aspect of Young Chamber it was suggested by a member of the Committee that this successful enterprise could become self-funding, providing a route into all Maidstone schools.  Mr Taylor put forward a counter option of the Council seed funding the programme and schools paying back the Council back through their fund raising.

It was clarified for the Committee that young people involved in public speaking through the young chamber came from all schools and were of varying abilities.

Simon Harris from CXK informed the Committee on his organisation, CXK:

·  CXK were a charity that emerged from the organisation Connections.

·  A percentage of its revenue funding came from Kent County Council (KCC).

·  It received various other project/funding streams, including the National Lottery

·  The organisation worked with young people and adults

·  From 1 April 2015 CXK would be the primary contact for Local Enterprise Partnership (LEP) for careers.

·  CEX worked with adults via the job centre

·  Vulnerable people would have up to 3 interventions per year

·  Schools careers advice in the locality was very often someone trained by or previously employed by CXK.

·  It was delivering a project called Stepping for KCC, a development strategy to help young people cope better post 16, providing greater resilience. This was funded by a Member’s grant from County Councillor Gary Cook

·  It was the primary contract for the National Citizen Service for Kent, Sussex, including Brighton and Hove.

·  It ran community projects in Tunbridge Wells

·  It worked with young people with disabilities, ‘statemented’ students i.e. those with emotional and behavioural issues.

·  The organisation used and advocated Lego therapy and Art therapies were being looked at.

Abigail Lewis from MBC updated the Committee on the Council’s role and involvement with Careers Guidance. She explained that:

·  The Council worked with the job centre plus running work experience ‘coffee mornings.

·  As a result of the coffee mornings, 23 placements had been offered and 11 of those had gone on to secure, paid employment.

·  The Council’s role was described as a broker role.

·  Barriers that had been identified included local business’ engaging with Grammar Schools only for work experience placements

·  The Council had a role to play with apprenticeships and was developing a new website to signpost.

·  There was a misconception with regards to apprenticeships that they were not widely available or with attractive or high profile employers.

·  MBC were hosting an event the following week for employees of large business in Maidstone that had gone into administration. Its role was to coordinate support.  The event was for adults.

·  MBC would be working with KCC to provide 24 work placements at the beginning of the next financial year.  They would specifically working with individuals identified by the Troubled Family programme.  The work placements would be fully funded for businesses.

Members of the Committee asked the witnesses whether or not they thought young people were prepared for the workplace. It was felt that there were significant gaps overall.  The following reasons put forward:

·  Careers guidance delivered in school did not have the independent impartiality it should have.

·  Careers guidance should begin in the primary school setting. CXK were engaging with Year 6 pupils.  However, even at that age they were already closed off to possibilities.

·  From the point of view of an employer there was a lack of awareness from young people on how to present themselves in the work place.

·  Unlike schools, the Young Chamber was designed to prepare young people for the business world, it offered a broad spectrum of options.  It was focused on skills and conduct and not designed to channel young people towards a particular route.

·  The Future Schools Foundation’s Studio school and Medway Technical College were highlighted.  Both establishments took an intake of students from Maidstone from Year 10 onwards.  It was felt that there should be more vocational options like these available to young people.

·  The valuable contribution made by voluntary agencies within Careers guidance was highlighted to the Committee.

·  The Careers networking meeting was highlighted to members. A regular information sharing meeting between school’s career guidance officers

Finally, the Committee asked the witnesses what their aspirations were for Maidstone Borough Council’s role. The following points were made:

·  To get Young Chamber into as many schools as possible.

·  To help bring young people into contact with businesses.

·  To provided support for businesses and organisation.  The Council should have a visible profile within this area.

·  To help ensure career guidance works across all ages – i.e. the family unit was very important. Parents could be struggling as much as young people to sustain employment. Groups should not be looked at in isolation.

·  To understand that the barriers to employment were intergenerational.

·  Encouraging Careers guidance at Primary School age

RESOLVED: that the Committee notes the information given by the witnesses on careers guidance in Maidstone.