Issue - meetings

To receive a discussion paper on Apprentices.

RESOLVED: That the Committee noted the Strategic Discussion Paper on Apprenticeships at North Hertfordshire Council.

Audio recording – 19 minutes 46 seconds

The following Members and representatives took part in the discussion

·         Councillor Claire Strong

·         Councillor Raj Bhakar

·         Helen Bylett

Points raised in the discussion included:

·         The Apprentice Levy was introduced to North Hertfordshire Council in 2017 and has helped the Council to offer more apprenticeships over the past 5 years. The Levy is taken through our payroll provider and then transferred directly into the Council’s apprenticeship funds.

·         For each new apprenticeship, HR choose an apprenticeship provider from a list of training providers approved by the Government. These training providers must follow a set of agreed apprenticeship standards, which ensures the education and support offered to the apprentice is of a high standard.

·         One of the requirements to become an apprentice at North Hertfordshire Council is that you must live or go to school within the North Hertfordshire district or surrounding areas. This is so that if the training provider offers in-person classes or workshops, the apprentice is not required to travel out of the North Hertfordshire district to attend.

·         Prior to this Levy, apprentices at North Hertfordshire Council used to attend North Hertfordshire College for their classes. The Levy has given an improved range of training providers and since Covid, most apprentices now do not have to travel to their classes in-person and instead do their learning remotely.

·         Some training providers will travel to the Council offices to deliver training to the apprentices.

·         The current requirement in an apprenticeship is that 80% of the learning completed by the apprentice is ‘on the job’ learning, and the remaining 20% is ‘off the job’ learning.

·         North Hertfordshire Council offer additional learning support to apprentices, training them to take minutes, giving them the opportunity to work with other council apprentices, and teaching presentation skills.

·         The Levy has allowed the Council to offer a wider range of apprenticeships across different service areas within the Council. The service areas which currently have an apprentice include I.T, Business Administration, Digital Marketing, Finance, Grants Administration, Health & Wellbeing, Community Protection, Museum & Cultural Services Support, HR Support, and Revenue Systems.

·         A Communications Apprenticeship vacancy has also just started advertising.

·         Council apprenticeships have an excellent success rate, with an additional 54% of apprentices being retained after completing their contracts.

In response to questions, Helen Bylett advised:

·         The Council’s 18 month fixed-term apprenticeship contracts are usually Level 3 Apprenticeships, but there are a couple of apprenticeships including the Communications Apprenticeship currently advertised which are Level 4 Apprenticeships.

·         The Levy that the Council pays into also allows existing members of staff to undertake apprenticeships. However, it can be difficult for internal members of staff to adhere to the requirements of current apprenticeships, which state 20% of your working time must be ‘off the job’ learning, due to a lack of capacity in some teams.

It was:

RESOLVED: That the Committee noted the Strategic Discussion Paper on Apprenticeships at North Hertfordshire Council.