Agenda and minutes

Venue: Town Hall, High Street, Maidstone

Contact: Sam Bailey  01622 602263

Items
No. Item

113.

The Committee to consider whether all items on the agenda should be webcast

Minutes:

RESOLVED: That all items on the agenda should be webcast, except those listed in Part II of the agenda.

 

114.

Apologies

Minutes:

Apologies were noted from Councillor Powell.

 

115.

Notification of Substitute Members

Minutes:

Councillor Sargeant was present as a substitute for Councillor Powell.

 

116.

Notification of Visiting Members

Minutes:

There were no visiting members.

 

117.

Disclosures by Members and Officers

Minutes:

There were no disclosures by members or officers.

 

118.

To consider whether any items should be taken in private because of the possible disclosure of exempt information

Minutes:

RESOLVED: That items listed in Part II of the agenda be taken in private because of the possible disclosure of exempt information.

 

119.

Minutes of the Meeting held on 27 January 2015 pdf icon PDF 60 KB

Minutes:

RESOLVED: That the minutes of the meeting held on 27 January 2015 be approved as a correct record and signed.

 

120.

Careers Advice and Guidance Review pdf icon PDF 53 KB

Interviews with:

 

·  Paul Barron, Director of Kent Foundation for Young Entrepreneurs

·  Alan Reading of South Maidstone Business Association and Lenham Valley Business Association

Additional documents:

Minutes:

Paul Barron, Director of Kent Foundation for Young Entrepreneurs (KFYE), was invited to speak on this item by the Chairman.

 

Mr Barron made a presentation to the committee that covered the following points:

·  KFYE delivered workshops on business skills to young people around the county. These sessions were delivered in schools and colleges, as well as other venues as ‘open’ courses;

·  KFYE targeted young people aged 16+ for these courses, as KFYE  tended to have the most success with young people of this age;

·  Mr Barron found that there was better engagement from young people who attended the ‘open’ courses as young people who chose to attend the course, rather than those that had to as part of the curriculum, had more interest in starting their own business;

·  The workshops that KFYE delivered taught young people soft skills- such as how to network- as well as the more technical skills required for setting up a business- such as how to write a business plan;

·  KFYE charged a fee for delivering these sessions. When the sessions were held as ‘open’ sessions, rather than run at a school or college, KFYE sought sponsorship to cover the fee;

·  KFYE had also set up a mentoring programme for young people who were interested in becoming entrepreneurs. The mentoring programme had around 80 business owners who were prepared to mentor young people; and

·  Around 80 young people per year, each year, had received mentoring from KFYE’s mentors. Of these 80 young people, around 25 per year end up starting their own business.

 

Members thanked Mr Barron for his presentation and proceeded to ask him questions.

 

A member of the Committee asked Mr Barron whether they, or their mentors, ever advised young people that starting a business was not for them. Mr Barron responded that KFYE, and their mentors, encouraged young people who they worked with to explore all of the options available to them so that they could make their own decision.

 

In response to a question from the committee Mr Barron informed the committee that the approximate cost, excluding promotional work, of running an open session was around £500.

 

The committee thanked Mr Barron for his evidence and invited Alison King, of Red Rocket Associates, to speak on this item.

 

Mrs King gave a presentation about Red Rocket Associates that covered the following points:

·  Red Rocket Associates was a business set up by two business partners from a corporate background and two business partners from an education background;

·  The reason the company was set up was that it had been identified that young people were coming out of education not work ready;

·  What was missing were soft skills, for example how to behave when meeting  potential employers for the first time;

·  To address this, the company had set up a programme called the ‘work academy’, which was 50 hours of lessons and activities teaching employability skills to young people. This programme was being piloted at a school in Faversham;

·  Much of the work that  ...  view the full minutes text for item 120.

121.

Future Work Programme pdf icon PDF 43 KB

Additional documents:

Minutes:

Sam Bailey, Research and Performance Officer, updated the committee on the future work programme. The only change to the draft future work programme was that Marcus Lawler would be bringing a report on options for charging for parking at Mote Park to the next meeting.

 

Mr Bailey updated the committee on planned activities and other work around the Careers Advice and Guidance Review, which included:

·  A possible trip to both Cornwallis Academy and Maplesden Noakes School to observe how Careers Advice and Guidance is delivered;

·  A possible trip to the ‘Kent Choices 4 U’ careers fair on 26 March 2015;

·  Kent Association of Further Education Colleges, Federation of Small Businesses and Marden Rural Business Forum were all potential witnesses for the next meeting. Contact had already been made with these organisations;

·  Cllr Martin Round had been nominated as a co-optee for the review; and

·  A list of questions will be drawn up to address equalities concerns for the review (particularly age and disability) and sent to relevant organisations before the next committee meeting.

 

RESOLVED: That the future work programme and SCRAIP update be noted.

 

122.

Exempt Appendix: SCRAIP Update

Minutes:

RESOLVED: That the SCRAIP update contained in the exempt appendix be noted.

 

123.

Duration of Meeting

Minutes:

18:30 until 20:27