Enable (the VCS Umbrella Organisation for Training and Development in Notts and Nortahants) have recently produced a new briefing on 'Apprenticeships and the Voluntary Sector'. The briefing identifies 'what an Apprentice is', 'How does the Apprenticeship scheme work' and also the benefits to a third sector organisation in taking on an Apprentice.

The briefing can be downloaded by clicking this link.

Many thanks to Alexis Rich of Enable for supplying this information. 

West Lindsey District Council are hosting an 'Employment and Skills Fair' on Tuesday the 7th September in Gainsborough between 10 am and 2 pm. To find out more please phone 01427 676657 or click here to download a flyer for the event.

Many thanks to Nicoya Palastanga of WLDC for supplying this information

Catherine Klimes has recently contacted this web site to give us some good news from the University of Northampton. She write:

I thought the Compact web site visitors would like to hear some good news regarding Hayley Fountain - a student who was mentored by two colleagues from the Northamptonshire Learning and Disability Partnership Board earlier this year through the University's Pilot Disability Mentoring Scheme.

She graduated back in July 2010 and went on to secure a post through the University's Funded Graduate Internship Scheme. She joined a small business called ‘Artclass’ based  in our University Portfolio Centre at our Avenue Campus. The studio is involved in a range of things, and from what I understand, her employer is thrilled with Hayley and hopes very much he might be able to retain her once the funded Internship comes to an end at the end of next month.The work suited Hayley as it was directly in her field  and as the hours were part time it also fitted well around her medical considerations. I think the work the mentors did with Hayley went along way in giving her the confidence to apply for and secure her Internship and the University will definitely be calling on her to act as a role model and case study.

Many thanks to Catherine from the University of Northampton for providing this excellent news item,

The Chartered Institute of Public Finance and Accountancy have recently published a guide for public sector managers entitled "Leading in Hard Times". The booklet is a response to the new contraints that sector managers now find themesleves working under. The guidance is for everyone involved in the leadership of public services and can be downloaded by clicking the link below

http://www.empscompacts.org.uk/landr/docs/LincsandRutland/CIPFA_Leading_in_Hard_Times_June_20101.pdf

Many thanks to Andy Brookes of Lincolnshire County Council for sending in this report for dissemination.

Recently there has been a toolkit produced by the Homes and Communities Agency to help large organisations procure services more effectively ... and address the skills agenda at the same time. The foreword to the toolkit states: 

At any time, maintaining and creating jobs is a priority. Against the backdrop of the current economic downturn, now more than ever it is absolutely vital. As the national housing and regeneration agency, we have an important role to play in maximising employment opportunities, as well as helping to ensure that industry has the
necessary skills to build the homes and communities the country needs.

We believe that homes and jobs should go hand in hand and we’re working hard to safeguard and create employment and skills opportunities for local people through our investment in housing. That is why we are embedding employment and skills initiatives in our operations and encouraging our partners to do the same.

We’re committed to providing practical advice to support this work. So in partnership with legal and procurement experts, we’ve developed an employment and skills guidance and toolkit for registered providers.
This guidance will help our partners to develop and implement robust employment and skills strategies and build requirements into the procurement processes of construction projects. It provides a framework for registered providers, contractors and the supply chain and includes tender documentation, templates for procurement and contract
clauses, benchmarks that set outputs required per scheme and best practice examples of successful employment and skills initiatives sourced from across the country.

This guidance builds on government and local authority guidance previously commissioned by ConstructionSkills. The full guidance document is avialble for dowload by clicking the link below.

Please note that although the guidance is contruction specific it may be that the information will be of interest to the public sector more widely.

http://www.empscompacts.org.uk/docs/Nottinghamshire/Developer-Contractor-Guidance%20for%20Eand%20S.pdf

Following on from the presentation by Shared Service Archirects at the Northants L&D meeting in June, the 'Architects' are now hosting a number of one day workshops. Manny Gatt of Shared Services Architects writes:

After six months of research and following a successful pilot earlier this year, we are ready to launch our ‘Accelerating Innovation in Shared Services’ one-day workshop.

Co-designed with Professor Victor Newman, a leading exponent in the field off ‘fast innovation’ and forged from the practical experiences of public sector professionals leading shared service projects, this one-day master-class has been specifically designed to build the skills and knowledge in innovation and creative techniques across shared service project teams.

You’ve already experienced the shared service architects approach to learning. Academically rooted, practitioner focused, our shared service architect's toolbox and taught programmes has received 100% recommendations from over 200 public sector delegates who have attended our programmes. Our new workshop adopts the same principles.

Delegates attending the ‘Accelerating Innovation in Shared Services’ workshop will receive the ‘Innovation in Shared Service Toolbox' containing a suite of tools, techniques and templates that can be used immediately and are proven to have a real and lasting impact on the creativity and breakthrough thinking of teams.

We have produced a one-page introduction to Victor Newman’s “Accelerating Innovation in Shared Services’ as a pdf attached with this news item for download

To download a flyer for the workshops please click this link 

Newark and Sherwood District Council are currently supporting three Apprentices. The Apprentices are loving it and the organisation is benefitting from the strong contribution from the youngsters.

Read more about this impressive success story by clicking here

Many thanks to Sue Kimber of the Council for providing this Case Study

The 'hand in glove' relationship between the NHS in Nottinghamshire and TUC unionlearn was evident again during a very effective partnership aarrangement that sought to encourague participation in learning during Adult Learners Week.

This year the focus was on wellbeing within the learning agenda and ULRs within the NHS helped stage a number of successful events during the week.

A Case Study of the events can be accessed by clicking this link

Many thanks to Jo Beckwith of the NHS for supplying this information

Last month the Shared Services Architects were kind enough to give a presentation at the Northamptonshire Compact Learning and Development Theme Group meeting. They have now provided the Compact with an e-copy of their Summer 2010 Magazine.

In this issue there are Case Studies, reports on collaboration in FE and also a very informative article on 'Shared HR in local Government'.

To download a copy of this e-mag please click this link

Further to the news item relating to the Regional Skills Strategy posted yesterday (see below) EMDA have now published an 'East Midlands Skills Priorities Statement' setting out the skills required to support economic recovery and growth in the region.

The statement can be downloaded by clicking this link

EMDA are conducting a consultation process to canvass opinions on what should constitute the regional skills strategy. The deadline for responses has just passed and the NHS have submitted some interesting views including the following in response to the question: What kind of skills do you feel that young people need to make them work ready?

How to behave in the work environment, getting used to a 37.5 hour week, health and safety, interview skills, application forms rather than CVs (NHS does not accept CVs)

Customer care, communication, verbal and non-verbal, good listening skills, how to work in a team, partnership working.

To be aware of what employability skills are through greater links with business and education and teachers/advisors becoming aware of them too.

The full NHS response can be downloaded by clicking this link.

Many thanks to Jo Beckwith the Widening Participation Manager of the NCTPCT for providing this information

Leading By example Toolkit. Is a self assessment & reference tool developed by Local Authorities and JCP Plus to help Public Sector organisations assess where they are with Workforce development issues such as Apprenticeships, LEP, staff development etc. You can access more information and the background to this using the following link:

https://www3.jgpskills.co.uk/leadingByExample/Public/Report.ashx?r=12003_1

Although it refers specifically to Local Authorities, the toolkit can be equally useful for the NHS too and this message was promoted at one of the workshops during the Working for Wellness event in Nottingham.

As part of Adult Learners Week staff in the Culture and Adult Education department of the Lincolnshire County Council took part in a Learning at Work Day. Part of the day included staff having access to the 'Test the Organisation' resources for numeracy and literacy. The tests proved very popular and here is some feedback from the participants

“Interesting to find your own gaps of knowledge”

“Doing the maths and English tests has given me a good insight into them and will help me to empathize with my customers”

“It was a real challenge to get the grey matter working; but enjoyed it!!”

“Very well invigilated and made me feel welcome and comfortable and I really enjoyed the test”

“Excellent way to achieve a qualification on an accredited course.  Relaxed, familiar surroundings but formal and professional”

The full report of the Learning at Work Day is available by clicking this link.

Many thanks to Angela Seal of the County Council for sending in this report

Members of the Lincolnshire and Rutland Compact have been working for some time to develop a tailored Business Administration Apprenticeship for the public sector.

Following solid ground work by Vicki Blissitt (NAS), Angela Seal (Lincs CC) and Carl Francis (WBA) the Compact submitted a tailored unit for the Business Admin framework for those working in the sector for approval.

A national consultation took place and over 200 responses were made. The overwhelming feedback was to endorse this approach. Lincs County Council will be recruiting Apprentices on to the "Business Administration (Public Service) Apprenticeship" programme from August.

This programme will be available nationally from July. Many congratulations to Vicki, Angela and Carl and indeed all involved within the L&R Compact for having the foresight and energy to develop this approach.

The results of the consultation can be accessed via this link.

The Business Admin Public Service unit descriptor can be downloaded by clicking this link 

The Northants Compact staged an excellent 'Equality Impact Assessment' workshop on the 13th July. Feedback from the attendees shows that this event has been well recived and is perceived to be of use to professionals in addressing the E&D agenda in their organisations.

Many thanks to the Fire and Rescue Service for hosting this event and to Sian Butler of the Service and Kate Birch of Northamton College for making the key inputs.

Please click this link to get downloadable access to the materials used in delivering the workshop

The 'Key Messages' from the Notts Compact Coaching and Mentoring Workshop hosted by Rushcliffe Borough Council in June are now available.

Please click this link to read and download

The Northamptonshire Learning and Skills Consortium supports the third sector in the county. They are seeking to appoint a new development worker based in Kettering but working countywide.

To download full details of this vacancy please click here.

Applications close on the 19th July

The Compact's Regional 'Dissemination of Good Practice' Event held in Grantham in late June has been well received.

Fifty delegates attended and each of the five counties described the specific project work undertaken in their counties. Leics kicked things off with 'Routeways into Employment, Northants focussed on the E&D work undertaken by the Compact, for Notts it was Procurement, Lincs & Rutland related the partnership work in progress to develop collaborative approaches to Leadership and Management training and Derbyshire rounded things off with news of their exciting 'Action Learning Sets' project.

The 'key messages' from the event can be access by clicking this link.

The five presentations are also available for download from this web site.

December 2009 saw the launch of the Equality Framework for the Fire and Rescue Service.

http://www.idea.gov.uk/idk/core/page.do?pageId=10499684

The Fire and Rescue Service Equality Framework (FRS EF) is a bespoke version of the Equality Framework for Local Government (EFLG). It allows fire services to build on the work they have done with the EFLG, and the previous Equality Standard, while taking account of the services that they provide.

Each Fire and Rescue Service is permitted to have a Peer Assessment against this framework by 2012, Northamptonshire Fire and Rescue Service wish to have a critical friend review against the framework this November. They require 4 ‘critical friends’ in total. They have one individual confirmed hence need to source 3 people from an equality background to come and assist in a three day assessment of the fire service in relation to the equality agenda.

If this is something you would like to partake in please contact Sian Butler (sbutler@northantsfire.org.uk) and she will supply further details.

On Friday the 18th June Rushcliffe Borough Council hosted a Nottinghamshire Public Sector Good Practice Coaching and Mentoring Workshop. The hosts presented the Rushcliffe experience and both the County Council and Mansfield District Council also described their journey in promting access to coaching and mentoring to their workforce.

The event was attended by representatives of local government organisations, the NHS, the Police, the Fire Service, FE and the Third Sector and was very well received.

To access and download the presentations from this event please go to the Workforce Development section on the Nottinghamshire page of this web site.

Many thanks to Anne Cotterell of Rushcliffe Borough Council for leading on and Chairing this event.  

As part of the Northamptonshire Compact's ongoing commitment to developing collaborative approaches to addressing the E&D agenda, the Compact has produced it's first E&D newsletter. It is hoped this newsletter will be published every 6 months.

Please take the time to download (by clicking this link) and print and read of how partnership working has helped to develop E&D good practice in the sector in the county.

As stated on the final page to get involved in this aspect of Compact working please contact either Chris Donkin or Sian Butler of the Fire and Rescue Service.
 

Efficiency East Midlands (EEM) is a brand new Procurement and Benchmarking consortium of housing providers. It's key aim is to bring together all registered Housing Providers in the region to show how working together can bring savings to their organisations. EEM are launching on the 19th July at Castle Donington. The launch event may be of interest to the public sector more widely. 

If you are interested in this launch event you can download flyer by clicking this link.

To apply to attend and for further information about EEM please contact Pete Smith of Nottingham City Homes (and Chair of the Notts Compact Procurement Group) by emailing pete.smith@nottinghamcityhomes.org.uk

Northampton College has become the first college in the East Midlands to be awarded the Investors in Diversity (IiD) standard, in recognition of the continued commitment it has shown to promoting inclusion, equality, and diversity.

The College has shown continued dedication to the active promotion of diversity within the organisation, and – with the construction and implementation of a Single Equality Scheme – has become one of only ten colleges in the country to achieve the IiD standard, awarded by the National Centre for Diversity.

The standard helps organisations adopt and develop a set of characteristics and behaviours which can lead to real and sustainable gains through culture movement. The award will help the College to further develop and sustain an inclusive and adaptive organisational culture and environment, as well as a providing a helpful method of measuring success.

Kate Birch, Director of Human Resources at the College said “It’s fantastic to be amongst the first colleges to be awarded the Investors in Diversity standard. We really have worked hard over the last few years to promote all aspects of diversity within the College and achieving the standard is testament to that. We’ll continue to further develop and sustain the inclusive and adaptive organisational culture and environment we have established – this is just the beginning of our diversity journey.”

During Adult Learners week NHS Lincolnshire and Age Concern Lincoln both promoted a 'Test the Organisation' event to allow employees the opportunity to see if they needed to brush up on their maths skills.

Over 60 people took part in the two test events and the outcome is that many staff from the two organisations are now ready to attend numeracy courses. The events were supported by the Skills Funding Agency with Lincoln College and South Nottingham College providing opportunities for the workforce to access further training.

The report on the NHS 'Test' can be accessed by clicking this link

The report on the Age Concern 'Test' can be accessed by clicking this link

The East Midlands Apprenticeship Awards took place last Thursday at the Round House in Derbyshire. It was a great evening, with the following winners from our area:

Large employer of the Year – City of Lincoln Council; learning provider Lincoln College

Apprentice of the Year – Joel Dowse; employer City of Lincoln Council, learning provider Lincoln College

Finalist for Young Apprentice of the Year – Kevin Gilbert; provider Grantham College
 
Congratulations to all

As part of the University's committment to diversity, they run mentoring schemes for students with diabilities or dyslexia and also for undergraduates from an ethnic minority

You can find out more about these schemes by pressing this link

Many thanks to Catherine Klimes of the university for supplying this information.

A groundbreaking consortium of East Midlands housing organisations is set to be launched next month to show how working together can make huge cash and efficiency savings.

Efficiency East Midlands(EEM) –is a brand new Procurement and Benchmarking Consortium of housing providers. Its key aim is to bring together all Registered Housing Providers in the East Midlands to show how working together can bring savings to their organisations

The consortium will be officially launched on Monday 19th July at the Castle Donington Race Circuit. Registration will be from 8.30am for a 9.30am start.

For full details click this link

Many thanks to Pete Smith of Nottingham City Homes for providing this information

As part of Adult Learners Week, Ashfield District Council staged a very successful 'Test the Organisation' event. The voluntary 'test' event saw 25% of the workforce participating with many expected to enrol on SfL courses to address their identified issues.

The event was a model example of how TUC Unionlearn and a PS organisation can work together to support access to training.

The 'Ashfield Experience' can be downloaded by clicking this link.

Many thanks to Jacqui Mansell of Ashfield District Council for supplying this Case Study 

Much of the work in the five Compacts is common to all five sub-areas. However, over the last year each Compact has undertaken pilot work that has been unique to their county. In Leicestershire the Compact seeks to promote new routeways into employment to support the recruitment into the sector of disadvantaged groups. In Lincs and Rutland they are developing partnership approaches to Leadership and Management training. In Northamptonshire the Compact is addressing E&D issues by collaboration. In Derbyshire an 'Action Learning Set' approach is being employed to help public sector professionals to address SfL issues within their organisations. In Nottinghamshire the Compact's Procurement Theme Group have developed a Code of Practice to be included in tenders to encourage sub-contractors to share the sector's commitment to training.

To disseminate the good practice that has emerged from this pilot work, the Compacts are staging a regional event. This breakfast event will take place at the Ramada Hotel in Grantham on the morning of Thursday the 17th June 2010. An agenda for the event is attached to this email.

There are still places available - to book a delegate place at this event email chris@donkinitex.co.uk

An agenda for the event can be downloaded by clicking this link 

Northampton College has pledged its commitment to the continuous development of the skills and knowledge of its staff as well as its students, with the signing of a Lifelong Learning Agreement.

The College Principal and representatives from the three Recognised Trade Unions (Unison, AMIE and UCU) formally signed the Agreement on Friday, 21 May. The agreement defines the principles and objectives to support the growth of Lifelong Learning opportunities and the delivery of effective training opportunities for all College employees.
 
Principal Len Closs said, ‘We’ve held the Investors in People (IiP) standard for over ten years now, and continually update and review our Staff Development Policy to ensure the learning and development requirements of our staff are met. In signing this agreement we will work in partnership with the Unions to reinforce the culture where learning is seen as an integral part of the development and training of our staff.’

Liz Gray, who signed the Agreement on behalf of Unison ,said, ‘We’ve always challenged the view that learning is something you only do while in education – we all need to continuously learn and develop our skills throughout our lives. Unison will work in partnership with the other unions and the College to promote learning initiatives to our members.’

The College has established a Lifelong Learning Committee, which will be responsible for introducing, implementing and monitoring lifelong learning initiatives.

JTL, the principal work based learning provider for the building services engineering sector, has agreed to put £1m from its reserves towards supporting those employers recruiting electrotechnical Advanced Apprentices in England this year.  In addition to its standard grants package which already includes payment of all college and assessment costs, examination and registration fees and up to two attempts at the AM2 test , JTL has agreed to offer an employer grant of £1,000 for the first 1,000 electrotechnical Advanced Apprentices aged 16-18 recruited.  This grant will be available immediately.

For full details of how to apply - click this link

Many hanks to Julie Harris of NAS for providing this information

Recently Nottingham City Homes hosted an event to help delegates develop an 'Integrated Employment and Skills Strategy'. This event was well received and many Compact member organisations attended.

There was good coverage of the Procurement issue with the 'One in a Million' scheme being disseminated and the Compact's Code of Practice being made available for delegates.

All presentations are available for download by clicking this link

Many thanks to Pete Smith (the Chair of the Compact's Procurement Group) for providing this material and also for organising such a splendid and useful event.

After an approach from the Compact the Skills Funding Agency and TUC Unionlearn provided some support funding so that the Public Sector and the Third Sector could stage 8 different 'Test the Organisation' events in Lincolnshire and Rutland.

From the Public Sector West Lindsey DC, South Holland DC, the Fire Service and the NHS took part. From the Third Sector Community Lincs, TaylorITEX, YaSiG and Voluntary Action Rutland particpated. The project has engaged with over 200 people and has stimulated significant demand for SfL training.

To download a copy of the project report please click here

Yesterday the L&R Compact staged a very sucessful workshop to consider the issue of the 'Design in Public Service. The event benefitted from an excellent lkeynote input from guest speaker Professor Andy Penaluna of Swansea Metropolitan University. His presentation and e-copies of all the other presentation are available on the Compact web site. Also available for download are two key reports on the importance of effective design in public service.

Please visit the 'Design Workshop' section accessable from the 'Special Events' tab on the Lincs and Rutland page

You still have time to order Adult Learners' Week materials!

A range of free and affordable Adult Learners' Week resources - including posters, pens, balloons, bookmarks, bunting and cotton bags are available to help you brand and run your activities. Check out the Event in a Box, a complete kit of materials for an event of up to 50 participants.

Click this link to download more information and how to get your box

Many thanks to Lucie Andrews of Business Link for providing this information

Derby City Council believes in Apprenticeships as the way to train its future workforce and invest in young people. At present the Council has 60 apprentices; and it intends to establish more Apprenticeship opportunities this year.

To read and download the full Derby City Council Case Study click this link

Many thanks to Julie Harris of the National Apprenticeship Service for providing this information

The Compact has received the following communication from Connexions and we are pleased to give access to the first NEWS Newsletter  

"We are pleased to be able to send you the first newsletter from Northamptonshire Education and Work Service (NEWS) I hope you will find the information of interest.  We are still building our database of contacts so please forward this to any colleagues in your organisation that you feel should receive it.

If you have been forwarded a copy and would like to receive this information directly in the future please send your contact details to news@connexions-northamptonshire.org.uk  Happy reading!"

Click here for the April 2010 version of the Newsletter

www.4you2.org.uk/workrelatedlearning/docs/NEWS_Newsletter_FINAL_screen.pdf

The latest newsletter from the Northamptonshire Skills and Learning Consortium is now available.

This monthly mailer intends to provide a brief overview of consortium activity, an update on current projects and information on new opportunities for those involved in the VCS.  For further information on any items included in this mailer, or for any questions you have, please contact local Development Workers:

Alexis Rich        07891 826 994    alexisr@enable.uk.net
Emily Fairley     07891 826 881    emilyf@enable.uk.net

To download the newsletter - please click this link

The Northants Compact R&R Group recently expressed interest in having a look at some generic job descriptions for the Future Jobs Fund.

They have been supplied for download and reference by Job Centre Plus. Click here to view the JDs.

Many thanks to Aysha Rahman of JC+ for supplying this.

Public Sector Workforce Skills 2010 on Tuesday 21st September is your opportunity to discuss and debate how the public sector can create a highly-skilled Britain, served by an entrepreneurial, innovative and dynamic workforce.

This conference, now in its second year will bring together over 300 key decision makers from across the UK. Representation is taken from local authorities, central government departments, the NHS, colleges, universities, schools, regional development boards, training groups and the third sector.

With high calibre speakers, this is an unrivalled opportunity for you to hear how to raise standards and deliver the skills that will make the UK’s public sector workforce the world’s leader.

We look forward to hearing from invited speaker, Sir Gus O’Donnell, Secretary of the Cabinet and Head of the Home Civil Service from the Cabinet Office to discuss the government’s vision for a ‘New Professionalism’ by unlocking the creativity and ambition of public sector workers and establishing new relationships between the government and professionals.

To download a flyer for this event - Click this link

http://govnet.msgfocus.com/q/14xt4X9pwWLUHx/wv

Mansfield District Council have recently produced their 'Use or Resources' (UoR) report on 'Positive Outcomes for Young People' in Mansfield. The report highlights the execellent work that the Council are doing to provide work experience opportunities and also to offer Apprenticeship contracts.

The full report can be downloaded by clicking this link.

Many thanks to Gemma Etches of MDC for providing access to this report.

The Notts and L&R Compacts are supporting 12 different 'Test the Organisation' events - four in the third sector and eight in the public sector. The tests are being part funded by TUC Unionlearn and by the LSC - many thanks to both for their support.

 More information will be posted on this site as the scheme rolls out - keep visiting ! 

The recent 'Achieving and Progressing' event held at Sunley Management Centre is helping to shape Compact activity for 2010-11.

To download the notes from the workshops from this event please click here

At the recent meeting of the Derbyshire Compact Recruitment and Retention Group, Sue Bainborough of Job Centre Plus gave an excellent presentation outlining the potential of the Future Jobs Fund for the public sector.

Her update can be downloaded from the 'R and R' section - as can the minutes of the meeting

The Notts Compact buddying scheme is now well underway. Eight different 'buddies' are providing peer support to help 14 different organisations either commit to the Skills Pledge or increase their Apprenticeships intake.

For more on this innovative scheme see the Workforce Development section of the Notts page

The National Apprenticeship Service is delighted to bring you the East Midlands Apprenticeship Awards 2010.

If you employ apprentices, or if you are an apprentice or on an e2e programme, you could be eligible to apply
for one of the exciting awards for 2010.

You have the opportunity to join in the celebrations by applying for an award or nominating a person or an
employer for an award. You can also be involved by attending the awards dinner, or taking advantage of one
of our sponsorship packages.

To download a nomination form and to get more details click here

The University of Lincoln is looking for mentors to help their students gain the valuable 'soft skills' that are required when they graduate and start their careers. This could be a very useful development opportunity for HR workers in the sector them and would certainly benefit the students.

For further information about this scheme click this link.

Many thanks to Sara Hobson of the University for providing this information.

NHS East Midlands has signed up to the Backing Young Britain campaign and has agreed to promote the regional campaign, recognising the importance of building a high quality workforce for the future and the under representation of young people currently in the NHS.  This also reinforces our commitment to employment strategies that are consistent with our values of quality, fairness and inclusion.

A target of 505 apprenticeships for the region has been agreed with Department of Health to be delivered by March 2010. To date 247 apprentices have commenced training or have start dates planned. Over 60% of these apprenticeships will be for young people aged between 16 – 24 years old. In addition to this, work experience is being offered to apprentices that have been made redundant from other industries, recognising the importance of our corporate contribution in the current economic climate.

NHS East Midlands made a successful bid to the Department of Work and Pensions Future Jobs Fund in the first wave to create 30 posts for six months for unemployed young adults with mental health or learning disabilities. This benefits of the approach for the individuals is to improving their employability and bringing wider benefits to them in terms of their inclusion, physical, mental and social wellbeing.

The latest newsletter from the Northamptonshire Skills and Learning Consortium is now available.

This monthly mailer intends to provide a brief overview of consortium activity, an update on current projects and information on new opportunities for those involved in the VCS.  For further information on any items included in this mailer, or for any questions you have, please contact local Development Workers:

Alexis Rich        07891 826 994    alexisr@enable.uk.net
Emily Fairley     07891 826 881    emilyf@enable.uk.net

To download the newsletter - please click this link

The key powerpoint presenations from the very sucessful and very well attended 'Embedding Apprenticeship Programmes' breakfast event held at Notts County FC yesterday are now availble for download.

Click here for the National Apprenticeship Service presentation

Click here for the Nottinghamshire Training Network presentation

Click here for the Nottigham City Homes 'Case Study' presentation

Derby College launched Apprenticeship Week in Derbyshire by hosting an event for local businesses to discuss the benefits of taking on Apprentices.

Speakers at the event included Derby South MP Margaret Beckett and John Forkin from Marketing Derby.

A full report from this excellent and well attended event is available by clicking this link  

Kettering Borough Council have done the ‘Test the Organisation' with their employees. TUC Unionlearn were instrumental in supporting the KBC test. The local Colleges are keen to support such activity. Hence it was agreed at the last Learning and Development Theme Group meeting that the Compact post a message on the web site advising them that if  that if they wished to stage a ‘test’ event then support was available from Linda Garside (KBC), Mick Brightman (TUC) and Beverley Matthews / Libby Langley (Northampton College / Tresham).

For further information on how to access such support, in the fisrt instance contact the Compact facilitator Chris Donkin via chris@donkinitex.co.uk

A conference event is to be held by the East Midlands PSA 16 Sounding Board on Thursday, 18 February 2010 at Trent Vineyard, Nottingham. The objectives of the event are to:

 * Share practical approaches and case studies on how employers in the region have delivered improvement in employment opportunities for people identified in PSA 16 as experiencing social exclusion.
 
* Demonstrate the benefits for organisations working on this agenda.

* Provide opportunities for participants to engage in projects and networks to support delivery of their priorities.

Participation in the event from senior professionals in HR, occupational health and policy making roles will be especially welcome.

For more details about the event click the link http://www.events.eastmidlands.nhs.uk/all/2121

Derbyshire Compact supporter Frank Lord has sent in this information about the National Training Awards that will be of interest to many in the public sector.

"Given my involvement with both the National Training Awards for the East Midlands Region, and in my role as Chair of The Derbyshire Employment & Skills Board, I would like to promote the National Training Awards.  These awards are an excellent way to promote the Skills Agenda and highlight achievements. 

Free information sessions are being run in February and March by experienced NTA Professionals, who will walk prospective applicants through the process of preparing an entry and give hints and tips on what the Judges are looking for.  You will also learn how to gain the most out of composing your entry.  The opportunity also exists for you to learn about past NTA entrants and hear from previous winners on what made them so successful, and how they have benefitted from entering and winning.  Details of these sessions can been found by clicking this link – places are limited."

Many public sector organisations have found it very useful to work with the TUC and the local Union Learneing Reps to promote training and development. The Compacts continue to develop links with the TUC to work together to meet the professional development needs of the workforce.

If you are not yet fully engaged with TUC Unionlearn you may be interested to know what they have to offer and how they can support the sector.

A Guide to TUC Unionlearn in the Midlands has recently been published and it is available for download by clicking this link.

Many thanks to Alan Cook of TUC Unionlearn for supplying this guide

The National Apprenticeship Service in Northamptonshire have surveyed employers to explore the variation in Apprenticeship salaries. Most employers pay above the £95 per week minimum with the average being around the £110 mark.

To download the survey - please click here.

Many thanks to Vicky Ganley of the NAS in Northants for providing this information

As you may be aware over the summer the County Council undertook an open tendering process to appoint a provider of a ‘one stop shop’ for employer engagement and work related learning, including work experience, to support learning providers and employers.

Connexions has been selected as the provider of this new service .The service will operate under the name of the Northamptonshire Education and Work Service - NEWS. It is part of the national network of Education Business Partnerships, required by the DCSF. The existing Work Experience Team and Central Vacancy Unit are part of the NEWS team.

The team will provide a bridge between education and employment.  We will be able to help employers understand the benefits that can be gained from working with young people whilst they are still in school to employing and training them.

Some of the priorities of this commissioned team are to:

- increase the involvement of employers in work related learning
- target employers involved to support the new 14-19 learning pathways
- develop and disseminate county strategy, protocols and good practice for employer engagement
- promote to employers the benefits of employing young people, work based learning and apprenticeships
- offer a vacancy service that meets the needs of both employers and young people

If you feel you wish to hear more about what is happening or available to them in Northamptonshire regarding our free recruitment and matching service or the various enterprise events taking place locally, Connexions would be happy to come along to a meeting and show howgetting involved can have an impact on each company.

To download further information about the 'NEWS' service please click this link

Many thanks to Kerry Senntaore of Connexions for providing this information. Kerry can be contacted via Tel 01604 614939 or email ksenatore@connexions-northamptonshire.org.uk

Selling to the Public Sector is a series of seminars to be held in various locations in April 2010 to help local businesses understand the rules and regulations about procurement. These events provide information to help local businesses of all sizes tender for work with the public sector, not just in Lincolnshire but further afield. This half day event will give you the opportunity to understand how to complete and review standard public sector Pre Qualification Questionnaire and Invitation To Tender documentation for your business with help from procurement professionals.

Places are limited to ensure you are able to network with all the delegates. To book your place on the Selling to the Public Sector event please fax Charlotte Robson on 0844 5555220 or contact Charlotte at Commerce House, Outer Circle Road, Lincoln, LN2 4HY

To download the flyer for these events please click here

Many thanks to Glynis McEwing of Procurement Lincolnshire for providing this information.

Grantham College have been successful in their bid to secure funding to deliver a course entitled “A Foundation Degree for Leadership and Management for Public Sector employees engaged with Health and Social Care” on behalf of the Compact.

Wayne Dyble of Grantham College has invited HR and L&M professionals to a planning workshop to further scope out the structure and content of this course. The planning meeting will be a half day meeting starting with lunch at 12.30 on Tuesday the 19th January 2010. Interested Compact members are encouraged to attend.

To download an agenda for the workshop please click here.

December was a busy month with 3 Steering Group meetings and six Theme Group meetings taking place across the East Midlands.

The minutes and papers are now available for download from the county based pages.

Between the 25th November and the 4th December the EM Compacts staged 3 'Special Events'.

In both Lincolnshire & Rutland and Nottinghmashire the Compacts hosted 'Skills Pledge in Action' Events. In Derbyshire the Compact held an 'Embedding Apprenticeship Programmes' event. All three events were very well attended, well received and the feedback was very positive.

The presentations from these events can be dowloaded from the county pages.

In their efforts to secure support funding for the Compacts beyond March 2010 the Steering Group Chairs have produced a 'portfolio of benefit' document.

This document outlines some of the successes of Compact working thus far and is available for download by clicking here.

As part of the Council's commitment to support staff development anybody working for Lincolnshire County Council in Culture and Adult Education will have the opportunity to refresh their skills in literacy and/or numeracy and gain up-to-date qualifications, in a fun and friendly way.   

For Family Learning Tutors  and other Council employees this will be the opportunity to take an up to date Level 2 qualification.  The Council are planning on offering staff testing facilities during Adult Learners’ Week (May 2010).  Further details will follow.

Many thanks of Amanda Holmes of LCC's Culture and Adult Education team for providing this update

Selling to the Public Sector is a series of seminars to be held in various locations in April 2010 to help local businesses understand the rules and regulations about procurement. These events provide information to help local businesses of all sizes tender for work with the public sector, not just in Lincolnshire but further afield. This half day event will give you the opportunity to understand how to complete and review standard public sector Pre Qualification Questionnaire and Invitation To Tender documentation for your business with help from procurement professionals.

Places are limited to ensure you are able to network with all the delegates. To book your place on the Selling to the Public Sector event please fax back to Charlotte Robson on 0844 5555220 or post the form below to Commerce House, Outer Circle Road, Lincoln, LN2 4HY

To download the application form please click here.

Many thanks to Glynis McEwing of Procurement Lincolnshire for providing this information.

The latest newsletter from the Northamptonshire Skills and Learning Consortium is now available.

This monthly mailer intends to provide a brief overview of consortium activity, an update on current projects and information on new opportunities for those involved in the VCS.  For further information on any items included in this mailer, or for any questions you have, please contact local Development Workers:

Alexis Rich        07891 826 994    alexisr@enable.uk.net
Emily Fairley     07891 826 881    emilyf@enable.uk.net

To download the newsletter - please click this link

The City of Lincoln Council have won the 'Large Employer of the Year' award for 2009 at the East Midlands Apprenticeship Awards event.

Congratulations to all at the Council who manage and deliver this long standing and very sucessful Apprenticeship scheme which now boasts that 200 former Apprentices are employed by the Council.

To read their story please click this link

Asset Skills have been awarded a contract by TUC Unionlearn to manage and deliver the Get on at Work project in the public sector over the next six to eight months.

An information sheet has been produced by Asset and can be downloaded by clicking this link.

Many thanks to Aidan Jackson for sending this information.

Job Centre Plus have recently provided the Compact with an update on the variety of services that they can provide as 'support for redundancies'.

Please download the update by clicking this link.

NHS Nottinghamshire County, in partnership with the Skills Academy for Health, has addressed a number of organisational needs through the development of a tailored Apprenticeship programmme.

Now the video is available on the internet. Click this link to see the impressive young Apprentices describe their experience.

http://www.nottspct.nhs.uk/my-nhs/video-and-interactive-area/246-apprentice-scheme.html

Many thanks to Jackie Brocklehurst for the web reference.

The latest newsletter from the Northamptonshire Skills and Learning Consortium is now available.

This monthly mailer intends to provide a brief overview of consortium activity, an update on current projects and information on new opportunities for those involved in the VCS.  For further information on any items included in this mailer, or for any questions you have, please contact local Development Workers:

Alexis Rich        07891 826 994    alexisr@enable.uk.net
Emily Fairley     07891 826 881    emilyf@enable.uk.net

To download the newsletter - please click this link

NHS Nottinghamshire County, in partnership with the Skills Academy for Health, has addressed a number of organisational needs through the development of a tailored Apprenticeship programmme.

To find out how they did this click this link to download the Case Study

The TUC Unionlearn are hosting an event entitled 'Skills for Recovery' that is seeking to address the issue of developing workers for the Upturn. This event is for employers and unions and will take place on the 13th Bovember in Corby.

It provides an opportunity to look at ways to ensure that the workforce have the necessary skills to survive the downturn and to develop skills for the future. High profile key note speakers include Phil Hope MP and Tom Wilson the Director of Unionlearn.

To download a flyer for this event please click on this link.

Many thanks to Mick Brightman of TUC Unionlearn for providing this information.

Skill Boosters is part of the award-winning BDP Media Group. For over 8 years they have been designing, producing and delivering engaging and inspiring learning solutions in diversity, performance improvement and communication.

Their current catalogue of courses has just been released and contains many E&D opportunities that may be of interest to the sector.

The catalogue can be downloaded by clicking this link.

Many thanks to Clare Reynolds for providing this reference.

The Business Interchange is run by Lifelong Learning UK and is a scheme whereby training staff can go out on placement to update learning materials, improve employer engagement, etc and the organisation is paid £500.  Business Interchange will support up to 15 staff per organisation at this rate and a further 30 at £100.

The closing date has been extended to 31 October 2009 for registration and to 31 January for completing the project.

The website is www.businessinterchange.org  and "line managers" must sign up first as they/he/she need to approve each application

You can take part if you are a publicly funded learning provider in England and do not currently receive funding for work placements from an alternative source.

Many thanks to Alexis Rich of Enable for providing this information

On October 22nd the National Apprenticeship Service will launch the ‘Good for Business’ campaign. The campaign will run until the end of November, and then for a further month in January. The objective of the campaign is to increase the number of Apprenticeships available, in particular to those aged 16-18. We will be focusing our marketing and communication efforts on employers to engage and explain the business benefits that Apprentices can bring to an organization. Employers in both the public and private sectors will be targeted. 

This campaign is a continuation of the work started in February and March with the Sir Alan Sugar TV advertising which was very successful at raising awareness and employer interest in Apprenticeships. This campaign will focus ‘below the line’ to convert the high interest to leads, and more Apprenticeship places.

The theme, Good for Business has been tested with groups of employers who liked the style and directness of the messaging and design. National and Regional Press and Radio Advertising will be used alongside PR, Digital and Direct Marketing.

For more information see the NAS website www.apprenticeships.org.uk

New College Nottingham are hosting an event on the 2nd December 09 to illustrate how they can support public sector organisations in employing and training Apprentices.

A flyer for the event can be downloaded by clicking here.

Please contact Daryl Thomson for more information via daryl.thomson@ncn.ac.uk  

On the 10th November in London NIACE are hosting a national event to illustrate how local authorities and their partners can develop and implement a vision for better, employment, skills and life oppportunities for adults.

To find out more and to book a delegate place go to:

http://www.niace.org.uk/campaigns-events/events/every-adult-matters 

Learning Lincs are organising an event in Lincoln on October the 29th to encourage small organisations to try to gain contracts from the public sector.

Procurement Lincolnshire will be providing generic training on understanding, completing and evaluating a Pre-Qualification Questionnaires. Specialist information on engagement and tendering will be provided by Adult Social Care and Children’s Services.

If you are a third sector organisation interested in providing services to the public sector then Come along and gain an insight into the Pre-Qualification Questionnaires and Invitation to Tender process.

Click here to download a flyer for this event.

Many thanks to Emma Strafford of Learning Lincs for supplying this information

The Department for Innovation, Universities and Skills has recently published the 'Promoting Skills through Public Procurement; guide. The foreword of the guide states:

"The clear message in this Guide is that there are opportunities to embed skills and apprenticeships at all stages in the procurement process. The Government looks to all procurement professionals in Government to take these opportunities, in whatever ways are appropriate for the particular procurement exercises they are handling. This includes working with existing contractors on a voluntary basis post-contract award to encourage them to provide training and apprenticeship opportunities for their project workforce."

A full copy of the Guide can be downloaded by clicking this link.

Many thanks to Nigel Jackson of the Nottinghamshire LSC for making this available.

At the recent Workforce Development Theme Group of the Nottinghamshire Public Sector Compact we received an excellent presentation describing how Apprenticeships are now part of the workforce development plans within the NHS in the county.

The presentation and some useful resources (i.e. a Training Provider Brief and Guidance for Managers in Employing Young People) can be downloaded from the Resources page on this web site.

Many thanks to Jo Beckwith for the presentation and for supplying the downloadable materials.    

Barbara Adlington our key contact with Job Centre Plus is keen to ensure that all local sector organisations get the benefits of working with Job Centre Plus as part of a Local Employment Partnership (LEP). She has advised us of the great progress made by Lincolnshire Co-op and the moral of the story is that your organisation can access similar suppport. Barbara writes:

Lincolnshire Co-operative has signed an agreement to enter into a Local Employment Partnership with Lincolnshire and Rutland Jobcentre Plus. It means the Society is committed to working with Jobcentre Plus to provide opportunities for those seeking employment. The Society's Head of People and Performance Heather Lee said:

"We believe the services Jobcentre Plus runs in our trading area are vital to those local communities. We have worked closely with Jobcentre Plus on many initiatives over the years to help people find work and help us find the right people for our jobs. The LEP is an extension of that work.

We are also delighted to have been re-accredited with the 'two ticks' symbol because that shows that we welcome applications from disabled

people and are positive about their abilities"

Many thanks to Barbara for this contribution.

The University of Northampton Graduate Careers Fair – November 4

Exhibiting at this event would be a really cost-effective way of filling your current vacancies, raising your organisation’s profile or just developing links in order to secure future talent through offering placement or internship opportunities.  For more information, go to www.northampton.ac.uk/careers/fair, email careers@northampton.ac.uk or telephone 01604 892727.

At the recent Learning and Development Theme Group meeting in Northamptonshire the Group received an excellent presentation on 'Test the Organisation' from Andy Brickles of the Fire Brigades Union.

In the Fire and Recue Service they have rolled out the 'Test' to great effect. One of the reasons for the success is that they call it a 'Skills Challenge' rather than a 'test'. Another reason is that they get great support for the 'challenge' from the Union Learning Reps.

Since the meeting Andy has been kind enough to supply a full e-set of the materials used to administer and deliver the test / challenge. These high quality materials are now available for download by going to the Skills for Life section of the Resources page.

Many thanks to Andy for all of this

The latest newsletter from the Northamptonshire Skills and Learning Consortium is now available.

This monthly mailer intends to provide a brief overview of consortium activity, an update on current projects and information on new opportunities for those involved in the VCS.  For further information on any items included in this mailer, or for any questions you have, please contact local Development Workers:

Alexis Rich        07891 826 994    alexisr@enable.uk.net
Emily Fairley     07891 826 881    emilyf@enable.uk.net

To download a copy of the September Newsletter - please click this link

“Erewash Borough Council is signed up and committed to the Backing Young Britain Campaign, as our organisation is committed to mentoring school leavers to help them find their feet in the jobs market, providing work experience places and volunteering places, delivering successful Government Future Jobs Fund initiatives. We have signed up as a member of the local employment partnership with Job Seekers Plus to make sure our job vacancies are advertised to local unemployed people.

We work in partnership with Erewash Partnership Ltd who have successfully secured funding through neighbourhood learning in deprived communities to offer 50 training places for first step training to help people access work over the summer and beyond.”

Sue Blakeley, Director for Regeneration & Community, Erewash Borough Council

For more information see http://interactive.bis.gov.uk/backingyoungbritain/backing

Compact stalwart Janette Goodchild has alerted Compact members to the potential of 'Growing Ambitions' .. please see below - Janette writes:

"I've come across an organisation called Growing Ambitions to build an on-line UK resource of careers speakers to talk to young people about the world of work. Growing Ambitions is a social enterprise and all speakers are volunteers. They are keen to have a broad spectrum of speakers from apprentices to executives across all parts of the UK. Anyone can sign up for free.

In addition, for a small fee organisations can have a Growing Ambitions portal on their intranet facilitating internal communications and communication with local education establishments.

Please will you make members of the Public Sector Compacts aware, the web address is www.growingambitions.co.uk "

Many thanks to Janette for this contribution

The latest (issue 3) Newsletter for the Joint Investment Framework (JIF) between the LSC, the NHS EM and Skills for Health has just been published.

It notes that during the lifetime of the JIF that over 4000 learning interventions have been completed by NHS staff. Other articles describe regional success stories in committing to the Skills Pledge, increasing Apprenticeship opportunities and addressing Skills for Life issues.

To download a copy of the newsletter please click on this link

Bolsover District Council are offering an exciting opportunity for a new appointment to co-ordinate the delivery and development of the Bolsover and District Apprenticeship programme. This innovative arrangement will create 90 Apprenticeships in the public and third sectors by March 2012.

For an application pack please click on this link ... but hurry, your application needs to be submitted by September 11th.

Learning Lincs is the umbrella organisation for Third Sector Organisations enaging with training in Lincolnshire and Rutland. They have just produced their first newsletter. It states:

"Our newsletter will endeavour to keep you up to date with all the latest news from the sector, feature case studies on our members and all you need to know about providing, procuring or accessing learning and skills in Lincolnshire and Rutland."

To download the newsletter click this link. Many thanks to Emma Strafford of Learning Lincs for providing this for Compact members.

In the early part of 2009, the Compacts supported the research element of a study conducted by the TUC entitled "Supporting Unionlearners into higher education in the East Midlands".

This report has recently been published and is a very interesting read. The report can be downloaded by clicking this link.

Many thanks to Jake Jackson of the TUC for providing this report.

The Local Government East Midlands Workforce Learning and Development Network have flagged effective liaison with the Compacts as an aim of the group in their Terms of Reference. Specifically they propose to:

"To provide a forum to consider, discuss and exchange views and information on a range of issues in relation to workforce learning and development and to facilitate the sharing of information from other regional public sector partnerships such as the five Public Sector Compacts. http://www.empscompacts.org.uk/"

We look forward to working more closely with this group in the future. To download a full e-copy of their Terms of Reference click here.

Many thanks to Jan Mehmet of Lincs County Council for this piece of news.

In partnership with the LSC and Boston College the Compact are organising a programme of Leadership and Management Master Classes.

The first in the series is 'Partnership in Public Service' will be held on the morning of the 21st September and high profile contributors will set the scene with a series of presentations. The guest speakers include Nigel Howells, Mick Gill and Paul Collins. There will also be an oppportunity for attendees to experience 'speed partnerships'

It will be fun and productive - to download a flyer for this event click this link

Nottinghamshire Connexions are holding an Opportunities Day for potential Aprentices at their Carlton Street Centre on Friday the 4th September. To download a flyer for this event click on this link.

Many thanks to John Endersby of Connexions for supplying this information 

Action Learning Sets (ALS) are based on the philosophy that learning is maximised through doing, Action Learning Sets aim to provide participants with space to reflect on their own work issues, to gain insight from those around them to learn new ways of doing things, and get the support to put them in to practice.

The Derbyshire Compact are committed to exploring the ALS approach to develop common approaches to Leadership and Management training. At the recent Workforce Development Theme Group meeting, the 'Key Players' outlined the benefits of the ALS method. A summary of their input can be downloaded by clicking on this link. 

This summary (below) has been kindly provided by Angela Stansfield of Job Centre Plus - many thanks to Angela 

"Local Authorities have a role to play in tackling worklessness as well as delivering public services. The Public Sector is responsible for employing 1in 5 of the UK workforce it is therefore vital that the role of Councils as employers is not overlooked.   Following recommendations from a report conducted by Cllr Steven Houghton (Tackling Worklessness:  A review of the contribution and role of local authorities and partnerships) Local Government, Cabinet Office, several Local Authorities and Jobcentreplus have produced a Strategic Framework & Toolkit that provides a self-assessment tool based on criteria on LAA and PSA 16 targets.  The expectation is that this is driven forward at the highest level to help LAs, JCP and other partners to increase the numbers of apprenticeships and those from disadvantaged groups recruited into Local Authority jobs.  This also makes good business sense as Nationally Local Authorities currently spend over £2 billion on the services of Recruitment Agencies at an average cost of £7,750 per recruit and have over 91,000 vacancies each year.

We have therefore been asked to start this process and will be initially contacting the 2 top tier authorities (Derby City and Derbyshire County Council) who will be contacted by Derbyshire Jobcentreplus District Manager, Bob Kendall to begin discussions."

The Compact will be working closely with the Lincolnshire and Rutland Employment and Skills Board in the future. There may even be an opportunity for partnership working in staging events and/or workshops and/or Master Classes - watch this space !

Roy Harper has kindly supplied a summary of the work of the Employment and Skill Board and this can be downloaded by clicking this link.

Roy will also be joining the Compact Steering Group

The website www.jobsgopublic.com has just undergone a recent re-vamp and the new and improved version can be accessed via the link quoted. At present there are over 800 sector vacancies advertised on this platform.

The site also produces a regular newsletter and the Aug 09 edition can be downloaded by clicking this link.

Thanks to Dianne Jeffrey (a Derbyshire Compact Stalwart) for sending this information.

Recently the L&R Public Service Compact held a workshop entitled 'Managing Talent and Succession Planning'. The event featured an excellent input from the City of Lincoln Council explaining how they try to meet the aspirations of their talented young people. The workshop also include a presentation from Thomas International to demonstrate their personaility profiling software that is used by two of our sector organisations. The Council's Case Study is available on the L&R page of the web site under Special Events (Managing Talent).

The workshop also allowed sector professionals the opportunity to discuss 'managing talent' issues within their organisations. The output from this discussion makes interesting reading and contains some good tips. To download the 'key messages' please click this link. Many thanks to Keith Tharby of Boston College for facilitating these discussions.

Thanks also to the University of Lincoln for hosting this event and supplying an excellent buffet to conclude the workshop.

The Northamptonshire Skills and Learning Consortium (NSLC) aims to support VCS organisations and groups in meeting the learning, skills and economic development needs within the communities of Northamptonshire.  The consortium is increasing in numbers and we are always keen to welcome new members. 

Our aims are:
• To be the recognised forum and communication channel for involvement and consultation
• To facilitate collaboration within the sector and other sectors
• To develop the capacity of the sector as providers of learning
• To provide an infrastructure that will enable VCS organisations to contract for the delivery of learning

To find out more contact either Alexis or Emily

Alexis Rich       
07891 826 994   
alexisr@enable.uk.net

Emily Fairley    
07891 826 881   
emilyf@enable.uk.net

NLSC have recently published their July Newsletter. To download a copy of the newsletter - click this link.

Many thanks to Alexis Rich of NSLC for sending this update.

Public Service organisations will be sharing a joint stand at the next JobsFair, held at the Walkers Stadium, in Leicester - on Wednesday 23rd September (10am-6pm), organised by the Leicester Mercury (newspaper)

'Finding your way back to work'
This event will offer details about real jobs, careers advice and voluntary work experience opportunities. There will also be career talks, and one to one employment advice sessions throughout the day.

This stand is part of the new routeways in the city and county (offering training pathways to prepare people for employment), these include retail, construction, public service -health and social care, business and hospitality/food manufacturing. 

South Holland District Council have provided a Case Study describing how they have increased the number of young people working for their organisation. Of specific interest to other sector organisations will be the intoduction of the 'Apprenticeship First' scheme to increase the number of apprentices employed by the Council.

To download the case study click this link.

The Integrated Employment and Skills (IES) agenda covers a range of services aimed at supporting unemployed people back into work. Whilst initially the focus of the IES offer was on supporting those furthest away from the Labour Market, the impact of the economic downturn has required an earlier, more urgent response to support employers who are reducing the size of their workforce and individuals who are either under notice of redundancy or who have already been made redundant.

Di Pudney of the L&R LSC has prepared an update paper on the various initiatives that are availble to support the IES agenda. This paper is available for download by clicking this link.

Many thanks to Di for this update and to Lynne Alexander for presenting the paper at the recent L&R Steering Group meeting 

Learning Lincs are the Learning and Development Consortium for the Third Sector in Lincolnshire and Rutland. Last moth they staged a 'Workforce Development Best Practice Event'.

High on the agenda were the Apprenticeships and Skills Pledge issues. Delegates have identified both barriers and positive factors in addressing these issues - on balance the feedback is very positive as the Third Sector seek to access training for their workers and volunteers.

The feedback from the event can be downloaded by clicking this link.

Many thanks to Emma Strafford of Learning Lincs for this information.

Earlier this week I met with David Bell the Cheif Executive of Standing Ovation - an organisation specialising in supporting organisational change.

Standing Ovation are keen to work with the public sector and to read more about how they could work with your organisation download the full desciption of their approach (known as the 'Organisational Orchestra') by clicking this link

Chris Donkin

Lincolnshire County Council are heading up 'Procurement Lincolnshire' a shared service for procurement for local authorities in Lincolnshire. The group recently ran a series of training seminars aimed at the business commmunity in Lincolnshire. The Report from these well attended seminars makes very interesting reading and the report can be downloaded by clicking this link.

Procurement Lincolnshire are now organising a series of follow up events to articulate 'Top Tips for winning business with the public sector' and details of these events (to be staged in Oct 09) can be downloaded by clicking this link.

Many thanks to Glynis McEwing of Procurement Lincolnshire for providing this information.

Many public sector organistions are currently considering engaging with the 'Test the Organisation' initiative. Mansfield District Council (MDC) have recently 'tested' their employees.

The project has proved to be both enjoyable and fruitful with many MDC staff now accessing literacy and numeracy support.

The MDC experience is now available on this site. To download the Case Study please click this link.

Many thanks to Lorraine Powney of MDC for providing this information.

The East Midlands Ambulance Service (EMAS) have developed a comprehensive set of documentation to help them to deliver their Skills Pledge committment. Their Action Plan is wide-ranging, robust and regularly monitored. They also have (as a reult of their Skills Pledge committment) developed a Communications Strategy to keep employees informed and an Apprenticeships policy.

At the recent meeting of the Workforce Development Theme Group Peter Burnett of EMAS gave a presnetation explaining how they deploy this set of documents to support their Skills Pledeh committment.

The documents are now available for download from the Workforce Development section of the Notts page. Many thanks to Peter for this contribution.

The Council for Indutsry and Higher Education has produced a report entitled "Graduate Employability - What Employers Think".

This report can be downloaded from this site by clicking on this link.

Many thanks to L&R Compact stalwart Janette Goodchild for supplying details of this new research. 

Many colleagues have asked for a 'definitive update' on what constitutes an Apprenticeship, how much should an Apprentice be paid, who provides the training etc etc ..

Clare Reynolds of the LSC has kindly provided an up to date Briefing Note. The document can be downloaded by clicking here.

Many thanks to Clare for this contribution.

The 'Excellence in Learning' group are organising a series of events around the country entitled "Apprentice Recruitment and Assessment - Getting it Right !". To find out more and to apply for a delegate place at one of these events please click this link.

Many thanks to Sally Mulldowney of Aim Higher for sending this information to the web site.

Public Sector and Third sector organisations are encouraged to sign up to the government’s new graduate internship scheme.

Graduate Talent Pool is a new internship scheme aiming to help employers boost the skills of their workplace and help graduates kickstart their careers.

NCVO and BITC, on behalf of the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS), are inviting third sector organisations to attend a regional dialogue session - the half-day sessions are running across England during June, allowing attendees to find out how to get involved with the scheme.

Information on Graduate Talent Pool is available at www.direct.gov.uk/graduatetalentpool, and dates and details of the regional events can be found on our website:

www.ukworkforcehub.org.uk/news

The Nottingham City Council are bidding for 600 new jobs to the 'Future Jobs Fund' (FJF). They are actively seeking partner organisations in the sector to work with them. With this in mind they are hosting an Information Event on the 23rd June so that potential partners can find out more.

If you would like to attend this event then download a flyer by clicking this link. To find out more about the FJF please visit the 'Other Resources' page of the Resources section on this web site.

Derbyshire Compact stalwart Lucie Andrews of EMB has been kind enough to provide us with an excellent SfL 'Case Study'. In order to develop the basic skills of their employees the Fire and Rescue Service have developed a Skills for Life Strategy featuring a 'whole organisation approach' to the issue.

The Fire Service state: "In a Fire and Rescue Service context improved SfL are an essential element in delivering all aspects of the services objectives and for enhancing personal development. Learning opportunities should be made available to all staff and the organisational aspiration should be the attainment of numeracy, literacy and ICT skills at level 2 for all staff. From recruitment to retirement SfL improvement should be encouraged, supported and developed."

To download the entire strategy document click this link

At the recent Recruitment and Retention Theme Group meeting, Lynn Finn of Northampton University advised us of the 'Graduate Talent Pool' initiative launched and funded by DUIS.

The web site to promote the scheme is available by clicking and bookmarking http://graduatetalentpool.dius.gov.uk .. well worth a look and if you need to recruit graduates then you can contact the DUIS project workers via the site. Many thanks to Lynn for this information.

The June 09 edition of the Skills Active Newsletter is now out with news of Apprenticeship activity and promotion in the Sector Skills Council area Leisure and Learning.

To download a copy please click on this link.

The EM Learning and Skills Partnership is keen to promote Apprenticeship opportunities in the region. They have developed a project to raise awrenesss of the benefits of engaging with the Apprenticeship initiative.

 The project is led by the East Midlands Learning and Skills Partnership which is a made up of the Sub-Regional Voluntary and Community Sector Learning and Skills Consortia operating in he East Midlands. These are: Derbyshire Learning & Development Consortium; VOCOLLS,
Leicestershire; enable, Nottinghamshire; Lincolnshire and Rutland Learning and SkillsConsortium, Lincolnshire and Northamptonshire Skills and Learning Consortium.

Each organisation is responsible for driving forward a Voluntary and Community Sector (VCS) Workforce Development Strategy in their county and has a track record of managing and delivering workforce development activities to meet VCS organisational needs.

To download more information about this project please click here.

Many thanks to Alexis Rich of Enable for providing these details.

Clare Reynolds of the LSC has kindly updated the 'Briefing note on Apprenticeships' and this web site has made this up-to-date information available for download.

To grab a copy of this document simply click here.

Many thanks to Clare for providing this information.

The Compact have been advised of some Apprenticeship Events for the Public Sector organised by the AoC. Emily Betts of the AOC writes:

Please find below information regarding the forthcoming complimentary Apprenticeships for the Public Sector Seminars, hosted by the National Apprenticeships Service (NAS).  We thought that these events may be of interest to yourself and your colleagues and I would be very grateful if you pass these details on to anyone within your network that you think may be interested in attending . 

The events are in collaboration with the Association of Colleges and the Association for Learning Providers and will take place in June in London and Manchester, for all those public sector organisations considering taking on an apprentice.

The events will explain how Apprenticeships work in the public sector, share good practice, and more importantly, give key decision makers in the public sector face to face time with Colleges and providers to see what might work in their organisation. Speakers will include representation from NAS, AoC and ALP and both events will have a Ministerial presence from the Department of Innovation Universities and Skills.

The seminars provide a unique opportunity to meet with key NAS, AoC and ALP personnel as well as to meet potential Colleges and learning providers who will be able to assist you in your apprenticeships scheme.

For further detail and an agenda or to register for one of the events, please go to:www.aocmsevents.co.uk/apprenticeships2009

Both events are free to attend courtesy of NAS and will include lunch and refreshments. There is no limit to the number of delegates from one organisation that can attend.

Please do not hesitate to contact us with any questions. If there is someone you would prefer us to contact directly please do let me know and I will update our records. 

Emily Betts
Events Department
AoC Management Services Ltd              
Tel:    020 7299 6980   

During the ‘Skills Pledge in Action’ briefing held on the 1st May a workshop slot gave delegates the opportunity to flag areas where they would appreciate and benefit from further support and from whom. These areas have been documented and feedback has been given to the appropriate support agencies.

To download the delegate comments click this link

LINCOLNSHIRE COUNTY COUNCIL IS SUPPORTING THE CMS / DMS QUALIFICATIONS AS PART OF ITS 2009/2010 MANAGEMENT DEVELOPMENT PROGRAMME.  

LCC WOULD LIKE TO EXTEND AN INVITATION TO ITS PUBLIC SECTOR PARTNERS TO PARTICPAPATE IN THIS OPPORTUNITY TO ACCESS THESE QUALIFICATIONS AT A HIGHLY FAVOURABLE RATE

EACH QUALIFICATION IS A PART-TIME PROGRAMME SPECIFICALLY DESIGNED TO MEET THE NEEDS OF PRACTISING MANAGERS AND LEAD TO A NATIONALLY RECOGNISED AWARD.

A NUMBER OF BRIEFINGS HAVE BEEN ARRANGED TO ALLOW MANAGERS AND STAFF INTERESTED IN THESE PROGRAMMES TO ATTEND A SHORT PRESENTATION AND DISCUSS THE PROGRAMME WITH STAFF FROM THE UNIVERITY, LCC AND MOUCHEL LEARNING PARTNERSHIP.

For more details and a downloadable course leaflet please click this link

Compact supporter and contributor Raj Patel of Nottingham City Homes (NCH) has provided us with a NCH Information Pack for managers and employees to help roll out their 'Pilot Mentoring Scheme for BME and Disabled Employees'.

This scheme provides opportunities for work shadowing and is designed to assist with career development in general.

To download the pack simply click this link

Raj also prepared a powerpoint presentation to describe the scheme this too is available for download by revisiting the 'other resouces' section of the Resources page.

Many thanks to Raj for making this material available to all.

The Future Jobs Fund is a fund of around £1 billion to support the creation of jobs for long term unemployed young people and others who face significant disadvantage in the labour market. The Fund was announced in Budget 2009 and is to be spent over the next two years. It is a challenge fund which invites organisations to submit bids for funding.

The fund is run by the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) in partnership with the Department for Communities and Local Government (CLG). The Fund aims to create 150,000 jobs. These will be aimed primarily at 18-24 year olds who have been out of work for a year. This will support the guarantee that from 2010 everyone in this age group who has been looking for work for a year will get an offer of a job or training lasting at least 6 months, and so we are keen to encourage bids from all areas across Great Britain (England, Scotland and Wales).

The fund will also specifically target 50,000 jobs in unemployment hotspots and anticipate that around 10,000 of the 150,000 jobs created will be green jobs. We want to encourage innovative bids to create jobs and the Government is keen to work with local authorities, social enterprises and charities to turn this important priority into a reality.

Who can bid?

Bids can come from anyone, but we have a strong preference for partnership bids. We expect the majority of bids to the Fund to be led by local authorities, sub-regional, city region and local partnerships, or by national or local public sector and third sector bodies. We expect that bids to the Fund will be mainly from larger organisations - as a guide, bids should aim to create at least 30 jobs over a six month period. However, we are also keen for small and micro organisations, including social enterprises, to be involved, and so we strongly encourage such organisations to work in partnership with local authorities and/ or other third sector organisations to develop joint bids. We will continue to refine the bidding processes to ensure that we meet our aims and organisations of all sizes are involved.

Thanks to Thomasin Nicholds of Childerns Links in Horncastle Lincs for providing this information.

To download the Guide to the Future Jobs Fund please simply click this link

Lincolnshire and Rutland now has a Third Sector Learning and Skills Consortium organisation - Learning Lincs. The organisation based in Sleaford has been formed to support workforce development in the Third Sector. The formal launch of the Consortium is scheduled for 24th June - the Compact has been sent details of this event and we are informed that Compact members are invited to attend this FREE Event. We are advised:

"Come along and meet the members of our Steering Group and the
lead members for the 3 Strand Working Groups – Quality Issues, Learning Communities and Workforce Development.The Launch Event is open to all potential members so come along, find out
what your Consortium is doing for you and sign up for membership! This is your Consortium - join us and help Learning Lincs to enable all Third Sector organisations to play a full role within the learning and skills arena in Lincolnshire and Rutland."

A downloadable flyer for this event can be obtained by clicking this link

A national conference to be held in London on the 16th September will give delegates the opportunity to hear of the latest plans being put in place to develop skills in the public sector and how the government intends to deliver a workforce fit for the 21st century.

To download a flyer for this event - click this link

Ann Comerford of Aim Higer has sent details of this event: She writes

Would you like to come and join us on Monday 8th June at 12.00noon?Please find information linked below about an event we are hosting on Monday 8th June 2009 from 12.00noon to 4.30pm with the aim of offering an opportunity to learn and network with colleague as well as finding out what is on offer to support studnets who are 19+

 Do come along and find out more about the new developments which are available to students who are 19+  This is an information advice and guidance event and we will have representatives who will be able to update you on :

Foundation Degrees

Access to Higher Education

Apprenticeships

There will also be an exhibition area

Please complete the downloadable application form for registrationn to this event and then ciruclate this information to any interested colleagues

Many thanks - Ann

To download an application form - please click this link

The Cabinet Office have just launched a new Guide to Social Return on Investment through the SROI Network 

The SROI Network is a network dedicated to the consistent and effective use of SROI. It is a membership organisation with members who are practitioners, academics, funders and investors with an interest in the use and development of  social return on investment. The growing membership is led by accredited practitioners who have pioneered SROI in England, Ireland and Scotland. 

This site is for anyone interested in SROI or anyone wanting to contribute to the growing bank of knowledge and experience of measuring social value.

To download the guide please click here

The Federation of Small Businesses is hoting an event in Nottingham on the 10th July where the agenda features an illustration of how local authorities and other public sector bodies can help small businesses.

To download a flyer for this event please click this link

At the last full meeting of the Workforce Development Group held on the 31st March it was decided that a 'one-off' working party was to meet in late April to frame the first draft of the Action Plan.

That has now been done and the plan is available for perusal from the 'Workforce Development' section of the Nottinghamshire web page.

Many thanks to Sue Hepworth, Anne Cotterell and Lorraine Powney for their work on this. The plan is still draft and will be considered by the Steering Group on the 18th May.

If you are managing a learning disability service as part of your support for employees with learning disabilities then you may want to attend an LDQ (Learning Disability Qualification) update event. Free information and training sessions are being held throughout the East Midlands in the next two months. The sessions in Lincolnshire are in Louth on the 10th June and in Grantham on the 15th June.

A downloadable flyer citing all the dates and venues can be accesses by clicking this link.

Many thanks to Compact contributor Christina Begley for providing this information.

Boston College are promoting a range of activities as part of their committment to Adult Learners Week. Opportunities include 'Interview Techniques and Self Promotion', 'Digital Photography' and 'Researching Your Family Tree'.

Public Sector employees are very welcome and the College would like them to participate. Further details can be found in the lastest version of the College's Adult Learning Newsletter - avaialable by clicking this link.

Cathie Clarke of EMCBE has advised the Compact of a very useful resource. The Local Government Task Force (Constructing Excellence) have produced a very useful booklet on '10 Success Factors That Make a Procurement Champion'.

This brochure can be viewed or downloaded by clicking this link.

Many thanks to Cathie for the referral.

Bev Dalzell of Job Centre Plus has emailed the Compact web site to inform colleagues of the current support initiatives available from JC+. Here are three key updates that may be of interest:

How JC+ can help your organisation with a LEP

JC+ Services to Employers

JC+ Advertising a Vacancy

Click the links above to find out more ! ... many thanks to Bev for providing this update. 

Jeanne Booth has emailed the Compact to let colleagues know of a very interesting event that is to be staged in Worksop next week. She writes:

Hi Chris ... I thought you and your colleagues involved in supporting workforce development in the public sector might be interested in this. It is an opportunity to hear about a number of sources of guidance for people wanting to combine learning and earning and to network with others.  Please pass it on. You can book by emailing the form to leapahead@ntu.ac.uk - they are taking late bookings but probably best to do as soon as you can.

You can download a flyer for this event by clicking on this link.

Thanks again to Jeanne for this information.

The Derbyshire Public Sector Compact are hosting a 'Skills Pledge in Action' event on the 1st May at Derby College Mackworth.

The delegates will be provided with breakfast and this FREE event will cover all aspects of delivering your Skills Pledge committment - including addressing SfL issues and increasing the intake of Apprentices. To download an agenda please click this link.

To book a delegate place - simply email Chris Donkin via chris@donkinitex.co.uk

The first meeting of the newly established Procurement Theme Group will meet on the 1st May. The Group will be Chaired by Pete Smith of Nottingham City Homes.

The Agenda for the first meeting and the draft Terms of Reference for the Group are available for download from the 'Procurement' section on the Nottinghamshire page.

To get involved contact the Compact facilitator Chris Donkin via chris@donkinitex.co.uk

Lincoln College and the Compact have joined forces to present an Event to look at various ways to address literacy, language and numeracy issues in the workplace.

The event is FREE for Compact members and will take place on the afternoon of Thursday 30th April. The main feature of the event is a theatrical production from Gilfillan associates to illustrate the issue by role play. Other contributions will describe what support is available and how the 'Test The Organisation' scheme can be delpoyed to help identify need for training.

To download an agenda please go to the Special Events' section of the L&R page. To book a place at the event simply email Chris Donkin via chris@donkinitex.co.uk

Business Link are advising SMEs how to 'sell' their services to the Public Sector.

Selling to the Public Sector is a series of seminars to help local businesses understand the rules and regulations about procurement. These events provide information to help local businesses of all sizes tender for work with the public sector, not just in Lincolnshirebut further afield. This half day event will give you the opportunity to understand how to complete and review standard public sector Pre Qualification Questionnaire and Invitation To Tender documentation for your business with help from procurement professionals.

To find out more and/or to book a place please visit:

http://apps.rebsis.com/evocos/ClientApps/Silverbear.Web.EDMS/public/default.aspx?tabid=36&id=1239&p=&orgId=1&guid=11d02837-5897-4b4b-8e10-d9d2a05438ec

The Workforce Development Group is now established and meking progress. The group is Chaired by Sue Hepworth of the Nottinghamshire Health and Social Care Community Workforce Team.

The Group met on  the 31st March and have now set performance targets for the priorities that were established by the Steering Group.

See the 'Workforce Development' section on the Notts page for more details.

On March 30th a number of Northants based public sector organisations attended the Skills Pledge workshop. Compact facilitator Chris Donkin described what was involved in meeting the committment to stages 2 and 3 of the Pledge. EMB Skills Broker Marilyn Saddington then gave a presentation explaing what support is available to those who have 'signed up'.

Attendees then considered some exemplar Action Plans and discussed how they could work collaboratively to make the Skills Pledge work for them. The seminar was well recived and this web site will publish the key messages from the gathering soon .. keep visiting !

Northamptonshire Police are currently looking for Safer Community Team Volunteers. Details of this exciting opportunity have been supplied by Laura Pettit of the Northamptonshire Police and are given below:

======================================

Safer Community Team Support Volunteer

An exciting opportunity has arisen for community-orientated residents of Northampton.

The South West Sector which covers Spencer, St James, Duston, Delapre, Briar Hill,   Hunsbury and Nene Valley are looking to recruit volunteers to support the Safer Community Teams.

The team have a number of satellite bases and as part of the Policing Pledge to keep staff visible and known to the local community we intend to open these bases to the public for set periods each week to listen to their local concerns and promote the work of the local team.

The volunteers would support these sessions to ensure that we can provide a reliable and visible service.

Your role will include meeting local residents to discuss their concerns, collecting community information to help inform the setting of Locally Identified Priorities and signposting residents to key local partners.

We are looking for motivated and community-orientated residents who want to support the Safer Community Teams and the local communities.

If you would like to discuss this opportunity or other volunteering opportunities across the Force, please contact Inspector Steve Lingley, Sector Commander on 08453 700700 or submit your CV along with evidence against /knowledge of the essential and desirable criteria detailed within the Safer Community Team Volunteers Job Description to Laura Pettitt, Senior HR Officer, either via email at laura.pettitt@northants.police.uk or via post at The Human Resources Department, Northamptonshire Police, Force Headquarters, Wootton Hall Park, Northampton, NN4 0JQ, clearly indicating whether you are interested in volunteering on the South West Sector or another Sector within the Force.

Regular Compact contibutor Rachael Hosking of Lincolnshire County Council has sent this information (below) about the exciting new vacancies site for local governmment - thanks Rachael.

=============================================

 LGjobs.com - free job listings for councils

LGjobs.com The official local government jobs website owned by the IDeA on behalf of the sector, is now offering free job listings for all councils in England and Wales. The service is designed for councils by councils and is a one-stop shop where any prospective candidate can easily find local government jobs and careers information.

What does your council get for free?

• Self-service job listing - post your jobs when you need to free job listing for 30 days on a Disability Discrimination Act (DDA)-compliant website
  listings include branded job descriptions.
• Candidates can request an application pack through a form on the site
• Reporting on vacancy performance and application statistics 
• A diverse range of candidates driven to your listings via targeted marketing and the IDeA’s network of sites
• Increased traffic to your job listings when candidates sign up to receive jobs by email
• Online map showing vacancy location

Why do it?

To save money - the estimated annual spend by all councils on printed media recruitment advertising is in excess of £600 million. Placing job adverts on LGjobs.com for free could realise 80 per cent savings on recruitment advertising costs.

To attract the right talent - more and more candidates are searching and applying for jobs online. Figures show 76 per cent of job seekers say they have applied for a job via the web and 80 per cent of graduates apply for jobs exclusively online. Internet advertising reaches a wider range of potential candidates with the right skills and experience for your council’s jobs.

To raise your council’s proile a web search fr local government jobs reveals a massive seven million links. LGjobs.com appears first on that list  thats just two clicks away from your council’s jobs.

To raise standards – transferring processes online has the potential to make council recruitment quicker, safer and more secure – plus it meets equality and diversity standards. By advertising jobs on our accessible and compliant website, your council can avoid duplication of resources and promote jobs to a more diverse audience.

The Train to Gain Web site now features a really useful 'Employers Guide to Training'. To access this information, please visit:

http://www10.employersguide.org.uk/egtnat/

Last week the Steering Group met for the first time in over a year. With a new membership drawn from key postholders in the sector and building on the enthusiasm for collaborative working demonstrated at the 'Working Together' event the Group (led by Marje Toward of Nottinghamshire County Council) got to work ! 

The Terms of Reference have been established and the Group have also nominted the priorities for the 09-10 session. See the 'Steering Group' section on the Northamptonshire page for full details

The Government recognise that these are difficult times for employers. In response, the LSC are focusing on providing real help to ensure that businesses and individuals get the support they need to help them survive the recession and make the most of the new opportunities the upturn will bring. The LSC are working to create opportunities and flexibilities to help support businesses re-skill and up-skill their staff.

In these challenging times, businesses need to keep a tight rein on costs. Yet it is vital that employerscontinue to invest in skills. Past research shows that businesses that do not train their workforce are 2.5 times more likely to fail than those that do.

A new factsheet is available describing training opportunites available to employer organisations (e.g. T2G, Support with the Skills Pledge and Apprenticeships). To download a copy of the factsheet click here.

As a progressive police force, Northamptonshire Police are focused on making a difference to the people of Northamptonshire and our approach is based on policing in partnership to identify and respond to the needs of our communities.  We aim to attract individuals with integrity and creativity who can help us shape a force that is fit for the 21st century.

Senior HR Business Partner
Based at Kettering Police Station (although the post holder will be expected to travel around the county)
£45,081-£53,886 pro rata
Permanent or Temporary Contract with a view to permanency

A highly accomplished and ambitious HR professional, you will actively contribute to the delivery of a professional strategic and cost-effective frontline HR service which enables Area Commanders and Management Teams to achieve our organisational goals.

You will be responsible for the successful embedding of the HR Business Partner model, focusing on developing specialist skills and improving capability within the Business Partner team.  As a key member of the HR Management Team, you will also help to build an excellent team through strong leadership, performance improvement initiatives and championing a citizen-focused culture.

CIPD qualified, you will have extensive experience in a HR generalist role with the ability to develop corporate HR.  A self-starter, you will have excellent leadership qualities with the ability to drive performance, provide expert advice and guidance, and effectively manage change.  You will also have a good knowledge of current UK and EU employment legislation, together with proven influencing, coaching and facilitation skills.

Please submit your CV with covering letter by Monday 6 April 2009 (noon) to Laura Pettitt, either via email at laura.pettitt@northants.police.uk or via post at Northamptonshire Police, Force Headquarters, Wootton Hall, Northampton NN4 0JQ.

The key messages from the Working Together Event held on the 6th March are now published on this site.

Please visit the Newsletter section of the Nottinghamshire page to donload a full report - including pictures from the event.

To get involved with the work of the Compact by joining one of the three working groups (i.e. the Steering Group, the Workforce Development Group or the Procurement Group) simply drop an email to the Compact Facilitator Chris Donkin via chris@donkinitex.co.uk

Job Centre Plus have recently published two helpful guides to assist sector organisations who are managing a programme of planned redundancies. These leaflets are under the 'Find Your Way' banner and the generic leaflet is subtitled Help for your business with training, recruitment and redundancies. The other descibes 'rapid response' from JC+ and is specifically to offer help for business with redundancies.

These brochures can be downloaded by clicking the links above.

Following on from last years success the Derbyshire Skills Festival 2009 will be held for three evenings.

Two Evenings at Pride Park Stadium, Derby on Tuesday 29 & Wednesday 30 September.

There will be also be one evening at the Queens Park Sports Centre, Chesterfield on 24 September

Keep visiting this site and further details will be posted nearer to the date of the event.

The East Midlands has taken great strides during the past couple of years to begin the process of developing a strong enterprise culture. “East Midlands – The Enterprising Region” will:

Update on progress with the development of the Enterprise Culture Strategy

Launch the regional Unleashing Enterprise campaign

Demonstrate exemplar work being delivered in the region at universities, colleges, schools,in businesses and in disadvantaged communities.

To download a flyer for their conference on the 26th March click here.

The Notts Compact Steering Group have a new Chair. Marje Toward Acting Service Head of HR at the County Council has agreed to take on this challenging role.

The next meeting of the Steering Group is at 10.00 am on the 17th March at County Hall. Why not join Marje and let's frame the priorities and activities for 09-10. To register your interest contact the Compact facilitator Chris Donkin via chris@donkinitex.co.uk - to download an agenda go to the Steering Group section of the Notts Page

The Greater Nottingham Partnership are hosting a one day workshop / conference on procurement on the 25th March. The event will give professionals in the sector grappling with this issue the chance to work through some of the practical problems that can arise.

To download an invite and agenda for this event go to the procurement section on the Notts page.

Uniquely among the EM Compacts, the Notts Compact has placed a big emphasis on using the benefits of collaborative working to address the procuement agenda.

A theme group will be established to look at this issue. To kick things off, Nigel Jackson of the Notts LSC has written a paper on procurement. This can be downloaded from the Procurement page on this web site.

South Derbyshire District Council currently have a vacancy for a Training and Development Officer. 
 
Please find attached a copy of the advert and a link to  their website for more details - Job Desciption and Person Specification

http://jobs.derbyshire.gov.uk/southderbyshire/index.asp

Job Centre Plus held an event for the public sector to explore how we can collaboratively address the issue of worklessness.

The aim of the event was to support public sector employers who are recruiting and/or making people redundant.

Notes from this event are available and can be downloaded by clicking this link.

Leicestershire Public Service Compact News

The Compact admin staff have recently received the updated Apprenticeships availability grid for Derbyshire.

There are so many different opportunities in so many different vocational areas. Now is the time to invest in a young workforce. See  and download the full list from the top of the 'Workforce Development' column on the Derbyshire page.

The East Midlands Development Agency (emda) is committed to raising the skills profile of the region, and in 2006 launched HotProspects, the East Midlands Graduate Recruitment Service. HotProspects is designed to help regional employers attract some of the most capable graduates, and to encourage our graduates to embrace the many opportunities in the region’s six counties.

Through hard work and significant support from the region’s public sector and ten universities, the service has placed over 800 graduates in full time employment and become commercially sustainable - no longer dependent on the public purse.

Now, three years later, the service is even better equipped to respond to market demands.  Three core strands of activity are being rolled out across the region to address the varying needs of the economy. To see full  details of the activity being pursued by HotProspects in each strand please click the link here

On the 28th January 2009, Chris Donkin gave a presentation to colleagues at the Derbyshire LSC's "Learning Day". The presentation outlined the story so far and recognised the achievements of the Compact in it's first two years. He also gave a flavour of 'what next' with a preview of the draft annual priorities for 09-10.

The presentation can be viewed or downloaded by clicking here.

A good practice seminar was held on Thursday 26th February 2009, with workshops focusing on working with adults with learning difficulties and disabilities, adults with mental health issues, offenders and people moving from incapacity benefits. 

A briefing on the Highcross (retail) model was also shared, explaining how the PSC Operations Group is working to apply the same approaches.

Skills and knowledge exchange database

A Skills Exchange website is now available, to provide public service employees with the opportunity to share their experience and gain knowledge and a better understanding of each others ways of working.

Register your skills and expertise online, and see what others are offering.  www.publicservice-skills-exchange.com

This opportunity is open to employees across the East Midlands.

If you have already participated in a skills exchange experience, we would really like to hear from you.  Please send your comments to rbridges@llclp.org.uk or call 0116 279 5036

A recruitment section has been introduced to the PSC website, which links to a range of Public Service organisations websites www.llclp.org.uk/PSC-Recruitment 

Contact rbridges@llclp.org.uk if you would like your organisation adding to this page.

Tresham Institute are offering public sector workers faced with unemployment the chance to re-train and develop their skills.

Taster courses are available in Corby and  Wellingborough in February.

For more information click this link

The LSC have provided the Compact with the Press Release that was distributed to the media following the sucessful 'Skills Challenge' Event held at the Walkers Stadium on Sept 30th.

To download a copy of this document please click here

The LSC commissioned a project to develop promotional materials providing a regional framework with a local and specific focus for use with Public Sector employers at senior levels, recruiters within organisations and elected members and to develop an added value local consortium model which will make it easier for more Public Sector employers to venture into offering apprenticeships.

The lead organisation to deliver this project was Leicestershire and Leicester City Learning Partnership. To view the report please click here.

Many Compact members will have attended the Regional Skills Challenge Event on the 30th September. At this event Phil Hope MP, the Minister for the East Midlands, set out his Skills Challenge to the Public Sector.

In brief it is that over the next three years we should (i) Up skill 60,000 sector employees to level 2 standard; (ii) recruit 5,000 local people not in work and (iii) increase the proportion of young adults in the public sector by 25%.

To read the full text of Phil's "Challenge" please go to either the 'Skills Pledge' section of the Derbyshire page, the 'Learning & Development' section of the Northants page or the 'Skills Pledge' section of the L&R page.

At the planning meeting of the Compact held at the end of 2008, it was suggested that we have a single sheet document about the Skills Pledge that organisations can download and use as they need to.

That document has now been compiled and is flagged as 'The Skills Pledge Made Easy !'.  It can be accessed via the Learning and Development section on the Northants page.

The FREE Breakfast Event being staged at the Admiral Rodney Hotel Horncastle on the 30th January still has a few delegate places left available.

If you wish to book a place please email chris@donkinitex.co.uk

The December issue of the Derbyshire Compact Newsletter is now available from this web site. Look out for a summary of activity from our Chair and updates from our two working groups.

Be sure to SCROLL DOWN to locate the Newsletter section so that you can access this issue. 

The December issue of the Northamptonshire Compact Newsletter is now available from this web site. Look out for a summary of activity from our Chair and updates from our two working groups.

Be sure to SCROLL DOWN to locate the Newsletter section so that you can access this issue.

The December issue of the Lincolnshire and Rutland Compact Newsletter is now available from this web site. Look out for a summary of activity from our Chair and updates from our two working groups.

To locate the Newsletter section please go via the 'News' tab.

The L&R Public Sector Compact is staging yet another FREE event in January. This time we will be looking at the issue of Graduate Recruitment and retention. (Many thanks to Lincolnshire Enterprise for funding this event)

It is often said that there are not enough graduates working in the public sector. It is also often said that public sector organisations need to employ more young people. In Lincolnshire and Rutland we have the additional issue that many of our local under-graduates go off to find work elsewhere in the country once they have completed their degree. Employing graduates is not just a good idea - it is not as scary as you may think !
 
The Compact has identified many current initiatives that are available now and will support public sector organisations who are thinking of fishing in this talent pool. We have decided that it would be a good idea to inform professionals working in the sector of such initiatives and schemes with a view to playing a role in increasing the number of graduates employed in the sector in our two counties. Hence on the 30th January at the Admiral Rodney Hotel in Horncastle we will be hosting the "What Graduates Can Do For You" Breakfast Briefing. You can download an agenda from the 'Special Events' section of this web site.
 
Why not come along and hear more at this FREE event. There will also be an opportunity for you to ask specific questions relating to support available for organisations considering moving in this direction. To reserve a delegate place simply send an email to Chris Donkin at chris@donkinitex.co.uk and he will send you confirmation of your booking and directions to the venue.

To whet your appetite we have made available on this site a very interesting article lifted from the JC+ web site entitled 'Young workers teach old dogs new ticks'. See also the 'Special Events' section of this web site. Many thanks to Derrick Brown of JC+ for providing this link.

In the December 2008 Newsletter published by the National Council for Work Experience (NCWE) there is a very interesting article on ' The increasing importance of work experience for students'. The Newsletter is available for download from the Graduate Recruitment section within the Recruitment and Retention tab.

Many thanks to Janette Goodchild for sending this in

As we move into the third year of Compact activity in L&R it is very likely that we will seek to get the Vol Com (or third) sector more involved with our work.

Children England (formerly the National Council of Voluntary Child Care Organisations) have recently produced a report/handbook that has been designed as a resource for people with different levels of experience of consultation and of working with the third sector. The document is available for viewing and/or download by visiting the newly created Vol/Com section that is accessible via the 'Other Info' tab on the L&R page.

Many thanks to Thomasin Alsop for sending this in

Kettering General Hospital NHS Trust is the first public sector organisation in Northamptonshire (first organisation in total actually) to put an Apprenticeship vacancy on the new Apprenticeship Vacancy Matching System.

This is the LSC’s new National Apprenticeship Vacancy Matching System that goes live to interested Apprenticeship candidates on 5 January 2009.

Once again Northamptonshire leads the way ! .. congratulations to KGH for their pro-active approach.

The Sector Skills Council 'Skills for Care' have updated their Leadership and Management Strategy. With our Compact considering developing tailored L&M training it is interesting to note that this SSC has got L&M high on their agenda.

The document is available for viewing and/or downloading from the new L&M option that can be found under the Learning & Development tab on the Lincs and Rutland page.

Many thanks to Christina Begley for supplying this information.  

The UK Commission for Employment of Skills have recently produced a report to give 'Expert advice to government on simplification of the English post-compulsory skills system for employers'

The document is available for viewing and/or downloading from the 'other activity' section on the Northants page.

 Many thanks to Aidan Jackson of LLUK for making this known to the Compact 

The Job Centre Plus Local Employment Partnership Dec 08 Newsletter is now available. Please see the newsletter link on the Derbyshire page to read it and download it.

An interesting article in this publication noting the success of our recent Skills Pledge / Jobs Pldege Breakfast Briefing - also included in the edition a cracking good picture from the event.

Grantham College are hosting an evening to showcase their PCDL (Personal and Community Development Learning) programme by offering FREE tasters on Monday 12th Jan from 6pm to 9pm. Public sector employees will be welcome and it may be that this 'non qualification' learning environment is ideal for getting public sector employees back into learning - and then progressing to formal training.

To find out more phone 0800 9524004. Below is a list of the tasters available:

Intro to Health & Fitness – Learn about the differences between health and fitness, improving, nutrition & training. 

Intro to using your Video Camera – Quickly learn those tricks that will set your family videos apart from the rest, basic techniques, tips and tricks. 

Intro to Warm Glass – Would you like to be able to create your own beautiful jewellery and ornaments?  You will learn glass cutting and kiln forming. 

Intro to Felt Making – Would you like to create your own accessories to wear or give as gifts?  This will introduce you to the basic techniques in order to create 3 dimensional objects such as scarves, hats, handbags and accessories. 

Intro to Digital Camera – Create a calendar using your favourite photographs.  Download your photographs from your digital camera, image editing, memory stick to save and USB cable to connect. 

Intro to Sign Language – A basic introductory course, learning the basics of sign. 

Intro to Massage – An Introduction back and shoulder massage.  Swedish and aromatherapy techniques. 

Intro to Nails – Introduction to manicure, filing and cuticle work. Hand and arm massage. 

Secrets of the Chefs! Contemporary Fish Cookery – Introduction to preparation, cooking and presentation of modern fish cookery. 

Secrets of the Chefs! Contemporary Pastry Work – Introduction to modern techniques, dishes and presentation of pastry. 

Wine Appreciation – Introduction to the types and origins.  A guide to purchasing and storage.  Introduction to matching wine with menu items. 

Intro to Brickwork – Cutting and rolling mortar, spreading bed joints and bricklayer’s toolkit. 

Intro to Carpentry – Correct use of tools, construction of joints, saw stool and benchwork. 

Intro to Plumbing – Cutting and bending copper pipe.  Understanding the water supply, Draining plumbing systems and waste water systems. 

Intro to eBay - If you’ve always wondered how eBay works, now’s your chance to find out. 

ESOL in the Workplace Taster –Essential workplace matters such as health & safety and customer service are covered in this course which helps to improve accuracy, efficiency and effectiveness, communication and productivity. 

ESOL Taster – Is English your second language? If English isn't your first language and you'd like to improve your skills, this is the place to start.

The NHS  have very kindly provided the Compact with an exemplar Skills Pledge Action Plan. Although it has been designed for use with the NHS organisations it does cove all the big training issues (e.g. SfL, access to NVQs, specialised vocational training etc) and hence can be used as a template by most public sector organisations.

To see the exemplar and to download it please see the L&D section on the Northants page. (Please note this exemplar has been used in a NHS organisation somewhere in the East Midlands - not necessarily Northants)

Phil Hope, Minister for the East Midlands, has been visiting events and companies in the region to support driving up skills levels. He launched the Public Sector Skills Challenge at the Walkers Stadium in Leicester to urge public sector organisations to ensure their staff have the skills they need to be more effective and efficient in serving the community.

To read full details of his visit to our region (and to download a report with pictures) go to either the 'Skills Pledge' section on the Derbyshire Page, the 'Learning & Development' section on the Northants page or the 'Skills Pledge' section of the L&R page

The Derbyshire Public Sector Compact (PSC) held a breakfast briefing on Friday 14th November 2008 at Derby College Conference Centre to urge employers to get to grips with the Skills Pledge. 

At the briefing Mick Brown welcomed guests and kicked off the session by introducing the Skills Pledge, explaining what it is all about and how to make it work for your business.

Other organisations including Job Centre Plus, Derby Homes, Bolsover District Council, East Midlands Business and Derbyshire County Primary Care Trust each had a slot in the limelight encouraging employers to discover the benefits of Skills Pledge and Jobs Pledge for themselves.

Andy Pidluznyj of Job Centre Plus discussed ‘What the Jobs Pledge is all about and making it work for you’. ‘Signing the Jobs Pledge – Accessing Support for Recruitment’ was raised by Annabelle Barwick of Derby Homes with Angela Stansfield of Job Centre Plus.

Stuart Tomlinson of Bolsover District Council and Linda Pearson of East Midlands Business covered ‘Committing to the Skills Pledge – why we felt it was right to commit’ and Amanda Rawlings, HR Director of Derbyshire County Primary Care Trust talked passionately about ‘Committing to the Skills Pledge – the benefits we anticipate in accruing from making the Commitment’.

A plenary session explored the next steps for interested sector organisations and support available. Nigel Jackson of the LSC chaired the session with Angela Stansfield, Andy Pidluznyj, Linda Pearson and Chris Donkin (Facilitation Support for the Compact) all answering questions from the floor.

Over 40 delegates attended the session with 18 different sector organisations giving a clear indication that they want to pursue their interest. The PSC is now working with East Midlands Business to ensure that those organisations who have demonstrated their enthusiasm will now ‘sign up’ to the Skills Pledge.

The key messages from this event are available for download from the Skills Pledge section of the Derbyshire web page

On Thursday the 20th November, the Compact Facilitator gave a presentation to the NTDP membersship at their AGM.

The presentation (and the subsequent Q and As) gave a clear indication that the NTDP membership are enthuisatic about supporting the Compact to achieve it's goals - particularly around the issue of increasing the number of Apprentices in the sector.

The presentation is available for download from the 'other activity' section on the Northants web page.

The University of Northampton have kindly agreed to share their 'Partner and Volunteer Placement Profile' with Compact members.

This approach involves asking Vol-Com organisations to provide deatils of what sort of volunteer support they can provide and also records any issues relating to potential constraints (e.g. CRB checks, working accommodation etc) that need to be considered.

The University's approach may be of interest to other sector organisations. To download the 'Partner and Volunteer Placement Profile' document please see the 'other activity' section on the Northants page.

The LSC have recently produced two short reports that will help us to promote Apprentices in the Public Sector.

The Executive Summary of the 'Expanding Apprenticeships in the Public Sector' describes how we can overcome the barriers to increasing apprenticeships and how what the LSC can do to promote the increased take up.

The other report is a short guide for public sector employers.

Both of these documents are available for download from the 'Promoting Apprenticships' link on the R&R section of the Northamptonshire page of this web site.

On the 26th November the Department for Work and Pensions are offering free 'How to Employ Ability' workshops at the Petwood Hotel in Woodhall Spa - from 9 am to 12.45

At the event you will have the opportunity to:

Improve your confidence in recruiting and retaining disabled staff

Meet businesses who already employ disabled people

Find out what support is available and meet the Jobcentre Plus team in your area

Improve your understanding of the legal context and theDisability Discrimination Act (DDA)

All delegates will receive copies of practical, easy to digest guidance,including material from the Employers’ Forum on Disability and SHiFT.

So don’t miss out on the talent disabled people have to offer your business.

To register, please e-mail your details to Sue Bale at lincoln.employerengagement@jobcentreplus.gsi.gov.uk

The LSC have recently produced two short reports that will help us to promote Apprentices in the Public Sector.

The Executive Summary of the 'Expanding Apprenticeships in the Public Sector' describes how we can overcome the barriers to increasing apprenticeships and how what the LSC can do to promote the increased take up.

The other report is a short guide for public sector employers.

Both of these documents are available for download from the 'Promoting Apprenticships' section on the Lincs and Rutland page of this web site.

One of the most visited pages on this web site is the 'vacancies' page. We now have a distinct URL for this page. It can be accessed directly by visiting www.publicservicejobs.org.uk

 To advise people of the variety of jobs available from this platform the Compact has created a flyer that can be downloaded, printed and used at Recruitment Events.

Visit the Career Opportunities section of the Lincs and Rutland site to view it.

At the Skills Pledge Breakfast Briefing delegates were asked to identify any potential barriers to committing to the Pledge ... and ... provide solutions as to how to overcome these perceived barriers.

 This feedback has now been processed and is available for download from the 'Other Documents' section of this web site ..

 Some very ineteresting comments !

The Skills Pledge Breakast Briefing held at the Sunley Management Centre has been adjudged to have been a great success. The evaluations reveal that the delegates considered all aspects of the event as either 'outsanding' or 'good' and that their expectations were fully met.

 The Compact will be working with the LSC and East Midlands Business to follow up the enthusiasm that was generated.

Pictures from the event are available in the 'other activity' section of the Northants web page - scroll down to see if necessary.

On Monday 27 October, DIUS and DCSF are hosting a summit for public sector leaders to launch the drive to increase apprentices working in the public sector.

Secretaries of State: Rt Hon Ed Balls MP and Rt Hon John Denham MP will be setting out their vision for Apprenticeships in the public sector to key decision makers and opinion formers, from the NHS, Local Government, Education and the Criminal Justice Sector.

Their vision will include the setting of a level of ambition for the number of Apprenticeship starts in the public sector to a level comparable to the private sector; and will provide a call to action to the delegates, many of whom are public sector employers nominated by regional LSC colleagues to work with us to champion Apprenticeships and galvanise activity across the public sector.

The summit will also be the formal launch of the Civil Service Pathfinder, which will provide over 500 Apprenticeship places in the Civil Service and provide an opportunity to showcase best practice across the public sector, to hear about barriers which may be preventing take-up, and ways to overcome them. LSC Regional Director for the West Midlands, David Cragg, will be on a panel chaired by Ian Watmore, talking about activity within the West Midlands.

Finally, the LSC has produced some leaflets for employers on the benefits of Apprenticeships in the public sector, including case studies, and also an Executive Summary of LSC commissioned research into increasing Apprenticeships within the public sector, both of which will be distributed to delegates at the event.

The University of Northampton is holding a Graduate Recruitment Fair' on the 12th November open to all final year students and graduates from all Universities.

To download a Graduate Recruitment Brochure please go to the Other Documents section on the Northants web page.

 Many thanks to Lynn Finnof the University for this information.

Derbyshire currently have 454 employers who have agreed to participate under a Local Employment Partnership (LEP) agreement. In the first 2 week of October 33 employers have agreed to an LEP.

This is an aspect of job Centre Plus' work that the Compact seeks to support. Please see the first LEP Newsletter (from the newsletters link) and also see the agenda for the Skills Pledge / Jobs Pledge Breakfast Briefing in the 'Skills Pledge' section.

On the 14th November at Derby College Conference Centre the Compact will host the 'Derbyshire Public Sector Skills Pledge / Jobs Pledge Breakfast Briefing'. Please see the agenda for this FREE event in the Skills Pledge Group section of the web site.

To book a delegate place - please simply email Chris Donkin at chris@donkinitex.co.uk

An Event for strategic and operational staff from regeneration, commissioning and planning backgrounds - at Clumber Park Hotel Nottinghamshire on 12th November 2008.

 For full details of this event please visit: www.esballiance.co.uk/newsletter/invitation.html 

The Public Sector Compact aims to provide opportunities for professionals in the sector to shadow fellow professionals working in the sector for a day or a half day.

We set up a data base of volunteers who have agreed to be shadowed about a month ago. Recently Karen Sanders (the HR Senior Manager at Moulton College) has added her name to our list.

To see the full list see the 'shadowing opportunities' page in the Northants section of the site. Many thanks to Karen for this contribution.

What’s Happening with Employer Engagement in Northamptonshire?

Members of Northamptonshire’s 14-19 group have recently hosted two very successful joint employer engagement breakfasts. The first event held at Kettering Park Hotel was attended by over 60 people from the field of education and local business, including: Grant Thornton, Sonifex Ltd, Dawson Books, Cummins UK and Derrick Smith & Co. Delegates gave excellent feedback about this event including: “Helpful information given about the new Diplomas”, “Useful tips about how I can work with schools” and “Great to see how new qualifications are equivalent to traditional qualifications.”
One of the Keynote speakers Chris Ripper, who is a specialist in aspects of human resources and has held a variety of high profile positions with companies such as Ladbroke, Thistle Hotels and Scottish and Newcastle, gave a National overview of the new diplomas and employer engagement.

The second event was held at the Northampton ‘Saints’ Rugby club. This event was attended by over 50 professionals including companies such as Wyevale, Blue Arrow Catering, British Gas and Impressions. Paul Pritchard from JCB, one of the Keynote speakers has been with JCB since 1988 where he has until recently been Group Head of Learning and Development, heading their Corporate University. Paul is now Project Managing the JCB 14 – 19 Academy and presented an employer’s perspective of working with the school and college sector. Delegates feedback said “Good answers to myths surrounding education”, “Great opportunity to network” and “To gain a deeper understanding of how the diplomas will integrate with employers’ ‘Hearing about the new Diplomas in more detail’ ‘Understanding what steps need to be taken to make sure students have a more tailored set of skills and knowledge’.  

Philip Burch, Manager of Aimhigher Northamptonshire said that he was extremely happy with the events and the very positive feedback received from all parties.

Dates for your diary:

Follow up events for Employers who attended
one of the events at Kettering, Northampton or
Towcester will be held at Highgate House on:

Wednesday 5th November 2008
 Wednesday 28th January 2009

Aim Higher have pleasure in inviting you to their 3rd breakfast conference that will outline the way employers have shaped the new 14/19 educational reforms. As employers YOU can engage with and helpshape these exciting developments that will provide the next generation of employees. There will be opportunities to explore good practice and exchange ideas.

The Conference will take plave on Wed 1st October at Towcester Racecourse and a downloadable invite is available under the 'other documents generated by Compact activity on the Northants page.

The most recent IiP Newsletter has an interesting article on the first year of the Skills Pledge. A survey of 800 organisations has reported some very positive feedback - including the fact that over 80% of the organisations are likely to reccomend the Pledge to other organisations.

The full article is available for download from the Lincs and Rutland page by going to Other Documents housed within the 'Skills Pledge' drop down menu.

Thanks to Eryl Prentice of the LSC for supplying the newsletter.

At the last meeting of the Northants Learning and Development Theme Group meeting there was an action point established to find out if those employees who are well qualified are eligible to access free SfL training.

On behalf of the group Clare Reynolds of the LSC has provided the answer. In short, if the employee has a properly identified literacy, numeracy or ESOL need then they can access free training.

The full eligibility statement is available for download from the Learning and Development section on the Northants page. Many thanks to Clare for supplying this.

The University and the FE Colleges have worked together to produce a single list of all courses available in the county ... and there are well over 1000 different courses available many of which the sector may wish to access to support their staff development programmes.

 The full list is available for download by visiting the 'Other Documents Generated by Compact Activity' section on the Northants page. Many thanks to Alison Hope of Tresham Institute for supplying this list.

Aim Higher have pleasure in inviting you to their 3rd breakfast conference that will outline the way employers have shaped the new 14/19 educational reforms. As employers YOU can engage with and helpshape these exciting developments that will provide the next generation of employees. There will be opportunities to explore good practice and exchange ideas.

The Conference will take plave on Wed 1st October at Towcester Racecourse and a downloadable invite is available under the 'other documents generated by Compact activity on the Northants page.

The Recruitment and Retention Theme Group have been instrumental in setting up chance to experience other ways of working.

The Public Sector Compact aims to provide opportunities for professionals in the sector to shadow fellow professionals working in the sector for a day or a half day. The purpose is to allow sector employees the chance to experience other ways of working and to explore the possibility of sharing good practice

The Group called for volunteers to be 'shadowed' and thus far have received responses from:

The people who have volunteered are :

Mary McGorry the Head of Care Management and Self Directed Support at Northamptonshire County Council

Dawn Whittaker the Brigade Manager from the Northants Fire and Rescue Service

Lee Jones the Assistant Director of Educational Partnerships at the University of Northampton

Rosemary Daniel the Personell Manager from Daventry District Council

To pick up the contact details and to find out what you might observe during the 'shadowing' experience please access the shadowing Excel file from the 'Other Documents relating to Compact activity' section on the Northants page of this site

The recent meeting of the Skills Pledge Group noted an action point to: 'Examine the organisations whom have made the commitment or completed the process to gather examples of best practice'.

With reference to this a member of the group has sourced an exemplar from a large organisation giving an inication of the form of words that may be used in making the Skills Pledge committment. This document has been made available on the web site in the Skills Pledge section and can be downloaded.

Many thanks to Linda Pearson of East Midlands Business for this contribution.

The first meeting of the Skills Pledge Task Group took place in Matlock recently.

A first action plan has now been established. This can be downloaded from the Skills Pledge section on the Derbyshire page.

Also available for dowload are the minutes of their first meeting.

The main focus of the early work of the group is going to be to organise and deliver a 'Special Event' scheduled for November the 6th to give sector organisations the chance to find out more about the Leitch Skillls Pledge and to showcase some of the sector organisations based in Derbyshire who have made the commitmment 

Lancashire County Council have embedded an ambitious apprenticeship scheme that is offering long term unemployed the chance to gain valuable work experience.

Please click the link for more details of this interesting initiative:

http://www.idea.gov.uk/idk/core/page.do?pageId=8559085

The first meeting of the Workforce Development Task Group took place in Ripley last week.

A first action plan has now been established. This can be downloaded from the Workforce Development section on the Derbyshire page.

Also available for dowload are the minutes of their first meeting.

Following the Apprenticeships Event on Wednesday, the organiser (Tracey Lucas Apea) has penned this article for the local WBL providers magazine 'NTDP Spotlight'

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Lord Digby Jones Minister of State for Trade & Investment took it away with his riveting speech to Public Sector organisations within the County.  We had originally asked local MP Sally Keeble if she could find us a quote from a minister on how important public sector Apprenticeships are. We were delighted that she came up with so much more than that!

The event was aimed at HR professionals who can make a difference to the number of Apprentices in each public sector organization was held at The Guildhall in Northampton.

Over 60 people attended the event which was sponsored by
Northampton Training & Development Partnership, Learning & Skills Council, and the Northamptonshire Public Sector Compact.

Dale Willis, Director of NTDP hosted the event on behalf of NTDP and spoke passionately about Apprenticeships and explained key information that all public sector organizations should know.  Namely, ‘How does the funding work & Who is eligible?’  Full details of the presentation can be found at:
http://www.empscompacts.org.uk/northamptonshire.asp

Delegates also heard from guest speaker Allyson Castle, Scheme Manager from the Foreign & Commonwealth Offices.  Allyson spoke of the collaboration between the organisation and training provider, Milton Keynes College who assist in managing their successful apprenticeship programme. 

Former apprentice Ed Mattacola spoke eloquently of his own experience as an apprentice and the benefits of the programme.  He now acts as a mentor for new apprentices sharing his own knowledge and experiences

In keeping with the collaborative nature of the event, it was also attended by 14 NTDP members who each spoke of the support they could offer public sector organisations and demonstrated the width and breadth of apprenticeship provision in the county.

Dale Willis, Director of NTDP closed the event by calling on all those present at the event to help bring more apprenticeships into the public sector.  This call was heeded by a number of people who pledged an interest in apprenticeships for their organisations.

A Post Apprenticeship Event Feedback meeting is scheduled in the coming weeks to plan for NTDP members to working collaboratively in taking apprenticeship uptake forward for Public Sector organisations in the County.

We would like to take this opportunity to thank everyone involved in making this happen.

Tracey Lucas Apea
Starting Off
01604 622855

Yesterday the Compact sponsored "Apprenticeships for the Public Sector" Event took place at The Guildhall in Northampton. Over 60 people attended and a rousing 'call to arms' was made by the Minister of State for Trade and Investment Lord Digby Jones.

This was followed by informative and inspirational presentations from the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (a public sector organisation with an established Apprenticeships Programme) and Dale Willis a Director of NTDP.

Early feedback suggests that as many as 10 sector organisations may increase their apprenticeships intake as a result of attending this successful mini-conference. Many thanks go to Tracey Lucas Apea of Starting Off for her sterling work in organising this event.

The powerpoint presentations used at the event can be downloaded from the "other documents generated by Compact activity" section on the Northants page.

The Improvement and Development Agency for local government (IDeA) has created a new online Community of Practice to cover Apprenticeships in local government.  The network will form a single information site for those involved in the delivery of Apprenticeships within the local government footprint.

 Join for free now at http://www.communities.idea.gov.uk/welcome.do

There are still a few delegate places left for this event which will be allocated on a 'first come first served' basis.

The agenda for the event has recently been confirmed and the Key Note Speaker is Lord Digby Jones (The UK Skills Envoy and former Chairman of the CBI) and there will also be contributions from Sally Keeble MP, the Foreign Commonwealth Office (a sector employer with a successful Apprenticeship scheme) and Dale Willis a Director of NTDP. The agenda is action packed but concise - the event will finish at 11.00 am.

To book a place - please email Tracey Lucas-Apea (publicsector@startingoff.co.uk) .

I (Chris Donkin) am very much looking forward to attending the event personally and hope to see many of you there

At a Work Based Learning Providers briefing held last week, the LSC gave deatils of the current situation re WBL provision and their role in supporting it.

Of particular interest to Compact members may be the description of the National Apprenticeships Vacancy Matching Scheme (NAVMS). The entire presentation, including the in depth coverage of NAVMS can be downloaded by accessing the 'Other documents generated by Compact Activity' section on the Northants page.

Many thanks to Louise Flowers-Coburn, the Learning & Development Advisor from the Social Care department of Northamptonshire County Council, for this contribution.

As many of you will know there is a set of tailored brochures now available in the East Midlands to support Apprenticeships in the Public Sector.

These brochures have been produced separately for each county and have been distributed widely. In L&R and Northants a review of the effectiveness of the approach has been undertaken.

The HR professionals in these areas were asked four questions and eight responses were received. The results were as follows:

In answer to the question "Did you like the appearance and content of the leaflet – the general message ?" - all 8 respondents answered yes !

In answer to the question "Do you feel that the use of local Case Studies is an effective way of promoting Apprenticeship programmes in the sector ?" ... again all 8 answered yes.

In answer to the question "Do you feel that there is a benefit from producing a ‘sector specific’ brochure or do you feel that generic material promoting Apprenticeships is likely to be as effective ?" there was a mixed reaction - 4 said yes and gave reasons why and 4 said that generic material may be as effective.

In answer to the question "Do you feel that using this material internally will increase the uptake of Apprentices within your organisation ? What support would you need to encourage you to pursue the idea?" four of eight gave a positive response.

Overall the brochures have been well received and may well prove to be instrumental in increasing the number of apprentices in the sector.To receive copies - simply email chris@donkinitex.co.uk

To see the full results of the survey - please visit the 'other documents' section on this web site.

As many of you will know there is a set of tailored brochures now available in the East Midlands to support Apprenticeships in the Public Sector.

These brochures have been produced separately for each county and have been distributed widely. In L&R and Northants a review of the effectiveness of the approach has been undertaken.The HR professionals in these areas were asked four questions and eight responses were received. The results were as follows:
In answer to the question "Did you like the appearance and content of the leaflet – the general message ?" - all 8 respondents answered yes !
In answer to the question "Do you feel that the use of local Case Studies is an effective way of promoting Apprenticeship programmes in the sector ?" ... again all 8 answered yes.
In answer to the question "Do you feel that there is a benefit from producing a ‘sector specific’ brochure or do you feel that generic material promoting Apprenticeships is likely to be as effective ?" there was a mixed reaction - 4 said yes and gave reasons why and 4 said that generic material may be as effective.
In answer to the question "Do you feel that using this material internally will increase the uptake of Apprentices within your organisation ? What support would you need to encourage you to pursue the idea?" four of eight gave a positive response.
Overall the brochures have been well received and may well prove to be instrumental in increasing the number of apprentices in the sector.To receive copies - simply email chris@donkinitex.co.uk. To see the full results of the survey - please visit the 'other documents' section on this web site.

At the last R&R meeting in Northants a query came up: " Can volunteers access T2G ?"

This is of interest to many public sector employers (especially sector organisations in the Health arena) as there are lots of volunteers making a contribution within public service.

The issue has been clarified and the answer is YES ! ... so if this applies in your organisation please consider making T2G provision available to your volunteers.

As part of a review of year one working a review of the Terms of Reference was carried out by a small working party of the Steering Group.

At the Steering Group meeting in June the revised version was adopted. The main change is an indication that the Compact will be a 'member organisation' forum.

The new Terms of Reference can be downloaded from the Steering Group page on this site

Lynne Alexander of the local LSC has reported that the National LSC has looked into the potential for an E&D Practitioner’s Association.  The outcome was positive, however the LSC itself has no current plans to progress a project of this nature. 

As yet there is no professional qualification in the pipeline.

The 'Apprenticeships In the Public Sector' event hosted by the L&R Public Sector Compact earlier this month has been commended by the delegates.

The feedback has now been processed and the summary indicates that those attending found the content to be "excellent" and that their 'needs had been met'. One delegate commented that " .. it was great to hear about apprentices from employers themseleves and how their committment had made their programme effective"

The key messages from the event are available on the L&R page. Then access 'Special Events' then 'Apprenticeship Event'

At the last Steering Group meeting, it was suggested that it would be useful if JC+ could provide Compact members with a draft LEP Agreement.

Jo Stewart of JC+ has supplied such a document. She does sound a word of caution in using this document. She writes: "I would stress that we do not need "formal" sign-up from employers on specific measures.  We are simply looking for a commitment from them to work with Jobcentre Plus to support the recruitment of our customers."

The draft Agreement is available for download on the "Other documents" section on this web page.

It is often overlooked that existing employees are also eligible for the support available from an apprenticeship programme.

Clare Reynolds of the LSC has produced a briefing note to inform sector organisations how they can benefit from supporting current employees by placing them on apprenticeship programme.

Download the briefing note - see 'Other documents generated by Compact activity' on the Northants page

The Compact's Recruitment and Retention Theme Group have decided to produce a downloadble sheet of links to Jobs and Careers in the Public Sector.

This sheet will be updated regularly, but the first version containing refernces to jobs/careers in the NHS, local government and FE is available for download from the 'Newsletter' section on this page.

The Sunley Management Centre hosted our 'Progression and Inclusion' event in late April. This event was effectively the re-launch of the Compact. The keynote presentations from the LSC and from the West Midlands Public Sector Compact are now available for download and/or reference.

See the 'other documents generated by Compact activity' section on the home page. 

Chris Donkin has carried out a review of year one of Compact activity. The full report is available for download in the 'Other documents geneerated by Compact activity' on this site. The recoomendations (to be discussed at the next Steering Group meeting in June) are as follows:

It is recommended that for session 08-09 the Compact engages the services of a facilitating agency that are equipped to make a professional input into the work of the Compact in addition to providing administrative and secretarial support.

It is recommended that the Terms of Reference are reviewed with a view to aligning the action plans to the Compact’s stated aims.

It is recommended that the Compact organises and delivers a series of ‘Good Practice’ events and/or seminars. These could be themed around; (i) Approaches to Equality and Diversity Training in the Public Sector; (ii) A Skills Pledge information event and (iii) Increasing apprenticeships in the Public Sector

It is recommended that the Compact explore the possibility of deploying a ‘Members Charter’ to encourage buy-in and commitment from a wider representation of public sector organisations

Later today the Steering Group will consider the report on year one working prepared by Chris Donkin. The review also makes recommendations on how to move forward to ensure that in year two we derive the maximum benefits from collaborative working.

The complete report is available for download on this site - please see the 'Other documents generated by Compact activity' section.

Janette Goodchild, the Proect Leader for PAYP will be attending the next R&R Theme Group meeting. She is hoping to engage with the Compact to tell us more about the initiative.

Positive About Young People (PAYP) is an initiative which is being developed by a group of
employers in Lincolnshire and Rutland to recognise their commitment to young people in the
workplace. It consists of a series of agreed standards indicating what is expected of an
employer if they wish to be recognised as having a positive attitude towards young people at
work.

See also the PAYP reference document in the 'Recruitment and Retention' section on this web site

Mike Crosby of the LSC has flagged this article (below) as of interest to Compact members

While employment rates remain high in the UK, many businesses still testify to there being a lack of adequately skilled workers to recruit from.

Launching LocalGovTV’s Skills and Apprenticeships series today, Skills Minister David Lammy addresses this concern and discusses the immense challenge posed by rising competition from India and China.

To view this content visit: http://www.localgov.tv/cgi-bin/details.pl?action=pre&id=409

Mr Lammy discusses the pivotal role Local Authorities will play in addressing the national skills deficit and encourages them to act as brokers between employers and their immediate community.

He also defends the Government’s decision to allow private sector companies - such as McDonalds - the right to offer accredited training programmes, insisting the qualifications will have direct portability.

If your organisation would be interested in participating our Skills and Apprenticeships series, do please email me with a short paragraph outlining your story and any commercial partners you may be working with.

Best regards,

Gerry Price
LocalGov.TV
A GBTV Channel

If you wish to reply then mail to geraldine.price@localgov.tv

As we move into year two, the Chair of the Steering Group has this message for all Compact members (also to be found in the April Newsletter)

Colleagues
 
As we move into the second year of the Compact it is useful to reflect on the experience of the first twelve months. We have now embedded a working arrangement where two established Theme Groups (Recruitment & Retention and Learning & Development) are implementing actions to address issues of common interest. You will read of the the progress that these groups are making elsewhere in this newsletter. During the first year we have also delivered a series of good practice seminars that have promoted collaborative working within the sector and have been very well received.
 
At the recent Steering Group meeting we had a debate as to where we should focus our efforts in the future. We had a discussion structured around answering the following questions: (i) Should the Compact require a formal commitment from the participating organisations ? (ii) Is the Steering Group the right size and shape ? (iii) Where and how can we most effectively link with other complementary groups ? (iv) Should we set ourselves "hard" targets ? (v) Is there scope for a regional approach ? (vi) Are our action plans effectively meeting the stated aims of the Compact ? The initial feedback from the Steering Group was that we should consider introducing a 'Members Charter' for organisations to signal their commitment to partnership working and we should consider setting performance targets for the Compact around commitment to the Skills Pledge and increasing apprenticeships in the sector. We also felt that we could do some work to ensure that the Steering Group was more representative of the sector as a whole. I will be working with members of the Steering Group to frame a proposal for 'year 2 working' for consideration at the next Steering Group meeting in June. We would be interested to hear your views and how you may be able to contribute. The continued success of the Compact relies on the input from professionals working in the sector. If you wish to contribute to the debate please email the Compact facilitator Chris Donkin (chris@donkinitex.co.uk)
 
Many thanks for your support for the Compact
 
Nigel Howells
(Chief Executive of East Lindsey District Council and Chair of the Lincolnshire and Rutland Public Sector Compact Steering Group)

The Derbyshire Compact is now taking root and has become established as a forum for professionals in the sector to share good practice and work collaboratively to address issues of common interest.

Going forward into year two the Compact has carried out a review of progress made in year one. The interim findings from this review were recently presented to the Steering Group and the key messages can be dowloaded by accessing 'other documents generated by Compact activity' on the Derbyshire page.

At the recent Steering Group meeting it was agreed that the Compact has made excellent progress during the first year of existence.

To build on this and to plot the way forward the SG will be carrying out a 'mini review' of activity including a new look at the 'Terms of Reference' ... if you have any comments on how the first year has been for you then contact Chris Donkin by email - chris@donkinitex.co.uk  

A CONFERENCE FOR PUBLIC SECTOR EMPLOYERS IN NORTHAMPTONSHIRE, AND LAUNCH OF THE NORTHAMPTON PUBLIC SECTOR COMPACT

• LEARNING AND SKILLS MARKET PLACE
• 4 WORKSHOPS COVERING; EQUALITY & DIVERSITY,  APPRENTICESHIPS, RECRUITING, QUALIFICATIONS & SKILLS 
• INTRODUCTION TO THE SKILL PLEDGE

PLEASE CONTACT LINDA CRUTCHLEY OR SOPHIE PETERS FOR FURTHER INFORMATION ON 01604 671472

The key messages from the Skills Pledge Breakfast Briefing can be accessed from the Special Events tab on this web site.

Also contianed in this document is some feedback from the Q and A Plenary

At the recent Skills Pledge Breakfast Briefing Emma Strafford (The Learning and Development Manager at HMP Morton Hall)  told delegates how literacy was taught by being embedded in a 'Beginners Spanish' class !

The contact details for the provider delivering this course have been provided by Emma and they are : Tel. 0115 9146175 email rob.jeremy@snc.ac.uk . This looks like a 'South Notts College' service. If any of the Lincs FE Colleges could also provide this service - please get in touch and I will make your contact details available also

The Skills Pledge Breakast briefing took place on the 19th March and was heralded as a great success. Feedback from the event is very positive with all delegates complimenting the 'content' of the event and the overwhelming consensus was that the attendees felt that their 'needs had been met'.

We are now looking forward to many more sector organisations in Lincs and Rutland signing the pledge. A full e-version of the delegate pack is available for download in the 'Special Events' section of this web site. 

The LSC have indicated that they can support two more organisations to help them establish the 'qualifications profile' of the organisation.

In the first phase of this 'mini-project' Chris Donkin worked with East Midlands Ambulance Service (EMAS) and East Lindsey District Council (ELDC) to help them find out if they were 'Skills Plege Ready'. In both cases the organisations discovered that the number of employees in their organisation qualified at below level 2 standard was less than 20% of the workforce. This has encouraged EMAS and ELDC to consider committing to the Skills Pledge.

If you wish to be one of the 'extra two' organisations, please contact Chris Donkin (chris@donkinitex.co.uk) ASAP.

Clear Wins the event to promote access to LSC funded Work Based Learning Opportunities for the Public Sector took place on Friday the 29th of February at the Sunley Management Centre.

The feedback was very positive and many sector organisations are now ready to explore ways of increasing apprenticeships and also considering signing the Leitch Skills Pledge.

Please go to 'other documents generated by Compact activity' on the Northants page to download the feedback.

After a period of design and development and a big contribution from Ark ICT Solutions of Spalding, the new look web site has arrived.

If you are reading this on the old version of the site .. just click on the Lincolnshire and Rutland tab on the left of the screen to be re-directed.

The next major Compact Event is the Skills Pledge Breakfast Briefing on the 19th March 2008.

Contact Chris Donkin chris@donkinitex.co.uk to book a place

Click http://www.empscompacts.org.uk/landr/oichildren.asp to dowload the event flyer / invite and also more information about the PAYP initiative.

The Compact is hosting "Clear Wins" : Work Based Learning for the Public Sector - A special event.

The event will be accommodated at the Sunley Management Centre on Friday 29th February. The event will feature presentations relating to Apprenticeship Opportunities, T2G and Skills for Life. The agenda can be downloaded by visiting 'other documents genearted by Compact activity' on this page.

To book a place simply email chris@donkinitex.co.uk

An East Midlands Project funded by the the LSC's Regional Skills Fund is examining why the sector attracts a disproportionately low number of apprentices. Work is underway in each county to look at barriers to participation - both real and perceived.

In Lincs and Rutland the investigative phase of the work has been concluded and Chris Donkin has compiled a report. The main findings are as follows:

 To download a complete copy of the report go to the Lincs and Rutland page and to the 'other activity' section.

Writing in the December Newsletter published by the Lincolnshire and Rutland Public Sector Compact, Nigel Howells (Chair of the Steering Group and Chief Executive of East Lindsey District Council) sent out the following New Year message encouraging colleagues to participate in Compact activity. Please download the newsletter for updates on current activity.

Hope you have a successful and prosperous 2008.

The E&D Event staged by the Compact last week was well received by the delegates. A 'diverse' set of presentations described the various approaches to E&D training at (i) Lincs County Council; (ii) EMAS, (iii) HMP Morton Hall and (iv) The Lincolnshire Partnership Trust. Feedback was very positive with the content of the presentations being acknowledged as 'excellent'.

The presentations are downloadable from this site - visit the Lincolnshire and Rutland page and go to 'Other documents generated by Compact activity'. The "Key Messages" from the event are available on the same page in the L&D Theme Group section.

Brian Skinner the Chair of the Work Based Academy sends this message to Compact members :

I was delighted to be able to make a presentation to you on the benefits of Apprenticeships  at the Public Sector Compact meeting on 26^th September.  If you do employ young people aged between 16 and 24 who are not engaged in learning, then I recommend you look at Apprenticeships as a way of developing these young people.   If you would like more information, or a face-to-face meeting about the scope of apprenticeships and the way they can work for you, please do not hesitate to contact me. (07966247647 - email bryski@btconnect.com)

A welcome spin-off from yesterdays Clear Wins Event is that it is clear that the Trade Unions are becoming more involved with the work of the Compact. It is now apparent that the Union Learning Reps can play a major role in supporting our work. For more information on the Union Learning Rep initiative click the link below:

http://www.unionlearn.org.uk/

Please check out the Lincolnshire and Rutland home page.

 We have established a page to advertise vacancies in the sector. Please click on the link on the L&R page for more details.

It is our intention to encourage as many public sector organisations as possible to provide us with the link to their vacancies

On June 13th over 30 representatives from 22 different Public Sector Organisations attended a consulation event at Lumb Farm to explore and progress the Action Plan for the Derbyshire Compact, outlined by the Steering Group.

An Open Space forum was followed by two focused discussion groups who considered issues on the themes of Learning and Development and Recruitment and Retention. 

Notes and a questionnaire from this event can be found in the Learning and Development section of the Derbyshire web page.

The Lincolnshire and Rutland Public Sector Compact Steering Group met for an informal meeting earlier today to take feedback from Nicola Marshall on the main issues facing the sector in the two counties. A very informative report was presented. Please access the document and download. It's a rattling good read !

The Alliance received a report on progress so far and have endorsed the work of the project.

Considerable progress was achieved in a very productive meeting. Liz Searle (The Area Director of the LSC in Northants) was elected as Chair. The Northamptonshire Training and Development Partnership (NTDP) were nominated and accepted the role of 'faciltating agency'

The draft minutes from this meeting have been posted on the Northants page of this site.

The minutes of this meeting will be posted on the Derbyshire page of this site soon.

Roisin Murray of the Business School of the University of Derby was elected as Chair. Best wishes to Roisin and the group.

The minutes of these meetings will be posted on this site soon.

Keep visiting the county pages for updates.