Purpose

Proposed
decision
That the Cabinet Member for Economic
Development agree that KCC deliver a Department for
Education-funded Skills Bootcamps Programme for Kent & Medway
subject to approval by DfE
 
Reason for the decision:
KCC has been invited by the
Department for Education (DfE) to submit a funding application for
a Kent & Medway Skills Bootcamps programme for 2025-26. Skills
Bootcamps are intensive, Level 3-5 flexible training courses of up
to 16 weeks which equip adults with technical skills that enable
them to access new or enhanced employment opportunities and enable
local businesses to tackle skills gaps.
 
Background:
Skills Bootcamps were
initially tested in Autumn 2020 by the DfE and have extended across
England and across an increasing range of vocational sectors. Kent
& Medway is currently one of the only areas in the UK without
an active skills bootcamps programme.
 
The recently submitted
Skills Bootcamps application focuses on the following industry
sectors with known skills gaps in Kent & Medway: Creative,
Agri-food, Construction, Retail, Health & Social Care, Early
Years & School.
 
Other
options considered but discarded :
Not run
a local Skills Bootcamps Programme in Kent & Medway. This would
miss an opportunity to support known needs of local businesses and
local people seeking employment or career development opportunities
and leave Kent & Medway behind other areas successfully running
bootcamps programmes such as Hampshire.
 
How
the proposed decision supports Strategic Priorities:
The bid adheres to
Securing Kent’s Future’s requirement for full cost
recovery.
The bid supports
ambitions in the Kent & Medway Economic Framework and Framing
Kent’s Future to support people into work, develop the local
workforce and ensure that employers have access to people with the
right skills.
 

Decision

As Cabinet Member for Economic Development, I
agree (subject to receiving confirmation of funding from the DfE)
to: 
 
(i)         APPROVE
the acceptance of the National Skills Fund Grant, subject to final
review and consideration of detailed terms and conditions from the
Department of Education, for delivery of the Skills Bootcamps
Programme for Kent & Medway.
 
(ii)        DELEGATE
authority to the Director of  Growth and
Communities after consultation with the Cabinet Member for Economic
Development, to review and agree to the required terms and
conditions to enter into the necessary grant arrangements.
 
(iii)      DELEGATE authority to the
Director of Growth and Communities to take other necessary actions,
including but not limited to entering into contracts or other legal
agreements, as required to implement the decision to deliver a
Skills Bootcamp Programme for Kent and Medway.