Agenda item

Naomi Cooke, Head of Workforce, introduced the item two, Appendix B.

Naomi’s update focused on; pay negotiations for teachers, fire service staff and local government services staff; the Workforce team’s most recent survey data (including the Gender Pay Gap); Workforce Focus; future migration rules pertaining to Brexit; and Apprenticeship work with government.  

Following this update, members made the following points:

-       Discussions around the government’s response to the apprenticeship levy, and their concerns over those that are either over-spending or underspending. Discussions then took place over flexibility of funding and the differences of opinions held by government, who would rather focus on targets.

-       Members questioned the response rates to the surveys undertaken, and if officers deemed this high.  Naomi responded that these were higher than previous years, however, the main focus of this was the importance of getting quality evidence. Naomi confirmed that the workforce survey response is up by almost 10 per cent.

Following the discussions, the Chair thanked Naomi for the update and members for their comments.

Action

1.       Members noted the update.