Agenda item

Agenda item

The LTE Group Update: Strategy and Performance

Report of the LTE Group.

 

The LTE Group supports education, skills and professional development through five key organisations. This paper provides an update from two organisations within the Group: The Manchester College and Novus.

 

The updates are focused on the Committees area of interest as follows:

 

1)    An update on The Manchester College’s (TMC) progress, performance and contribution to Manchester’s work and skills outcomes since the last update in 2022.

2)    Specific case studies on the College’s work within the digital sector as requested.

3)    An update from Novus, at the Committee’s request, on the work undertaken by Novus providing learning, skills and opportunity for offenders within prisons in the region and on release.

Minutes:

The committee considered a report of the LTE Group which provided an update on The Manchester College’s progress, performance and contribution to Manchester’s work and skills outcomes since the last update in 2022 and an update from Novus on the work undertaken providing learning, skills and opportunity for offenders within prisons in the region and on release.

 

Key themes and points within the report included:

 

·         Providing an introduction and background to the LTE Group, The Manchester College and Novus; 

·         The recent reclassification of Further Education and Skills providers;

·         The College’s T-Level Strategy, College Vision 2027 Strategy and transformational estates strategy;

·         Specific case studies on the College’s work within the digital sector as requested;

·         Learner outcomes and performance; 

·         The Novus Works service, which provided qualifying organisations with a free pre-selection, upskilling, placement and integration service and learners with an opportunity to build a better future through employment on release from custody; and

·         Case studies of Novus’ work in resettlement, developing education and working with employers. 

 

In opening the item, the Chair stated that Councillors Noor, I Robinson, Shilton Godwin and himself had visited The Manchester College’s City campus earlier in the week and wished to place on record their thanks to those who facilitated their visit. 

 

Key points and themes that arose from the committee’s discussions included:

 

·         The contradiction between the devolution trailblazer scheme for Greater Manchester and the reclassification of FE providers;

·         The impact of reclassification on the Group’s ability to finance capital projects;

·         Suggesting that the committee recommends that the Executive Member for Skills, Employment and Leisure write to the Secretary of State for Education to support the Group’s lobbying efforts; 

·         Highlighting the importance of work experience; 

·         What, if anything, The Manchester College would change about T-Levels;

·         How The Manchester College was preparing for future changes in ways of working, such as increased need for green and digital skills and biodiversity work; 

·         If FE policy instability and unpredictability had impacted the College’s ability to build relationships with partners and employers;

·         What prevented more educational and employment help being available to those in custody; 

·         The diversity of employers engaged with Novus;

·         How Novus highlighted the positive contributions of their work;

·         Clarifying whether the 17% of learners who secured employment after leaving custody had received a qualification whilst in custody or if this was a general figure; and

·         Reoffence rates amongst those who secured qualifications and employment upon leaving custody.

 

The Chief Executive, LTE Group explained that the Group was operating in a significantly different context than at its last update to the committee in 2022 following the reclassification of Further Education (FE) providers into the public sector. He explained that there were challenges in the implementation of this, such as being unable to use normal banking arrangements and loans which had been key to the operation of the LTE Group. He stated that work was ongoing between the Group, the Council, Members of Parliament (MPs) and senior officials in the Department for Education (DfE) to identify how the previous practice could be replaced with a government loan arrangement. He explained that these changes could mean that work within the FE sector would be delayed and there could be a need in the future for help from the Council in lobbying the government and the Treasury to ensure that services continue to be available to young people and vulnerable adults.  

 

In response to a member’s query, the Chief Executive, LTE Group explained that the reclassification of FE providers had been pitched as a government change to control and effectively commission public expenditure. He stated that ongoing work with the DfE aimed to highlight the day-to-day impact on delivery and that there were some implications on devolution and levelling up for Greater Manchester as the DfE was responsible for FE providers’ budgets. It was unclear what impact this would have on accountability and how projects could be delivered, and the LTE Group hoped to be used as a case study to work with the DfE and the Treasury. 

 

The Chief Executive, LTE Group noted that the Chair’s suggestion of the committee recommending the Executive Member for Skills, Employment and Leisure to write to the Secretary of State for Education to support the Group’s lobbying efforts could be helpful in the future. He stated, however, that officers and the relevant Executive Members were aware of emerging discussions with stakeholders and were supporting the Group with these in the interim. 

 

The Principal of The Manchester College and Group Deputy CEO informed the committee of the College’s continuing ambitions in T-Levels and commitment to the new T-Level curriculum offer, of which, she stated, the College was considered to be a flagship provider across the country. She explained that there were now over 300 students undertaking either a T-Level course or a transition course which would lead to undertaking a T-Level and these students benefitted from direct contact and exposure to employers, who co-designed the curriculum offer. She also highlighted the performance of the College and its students and expressed hope that the College would be shown to be performing well against national benchmarks once these were released. She also stated that there would be challenges in responding to increases in cohorts over the next several years and that the College had worked closely with the Council on three bids for post-16 capacity funding, which would enable the College to create additional space for post-16 students. These bids were currently with the Secretary of State for Education and a decision was anticipated in spring 2023. 

 

The Chair noted comments around increased numbers of students in future and queried when this peak was expected. In response, the Principal of The Manchester College explained that a gradual increase was forecasted with the peak number of students expected in the 8th year. She explained that future modelling had been undertaken, which estimated an additional 800 students in the next 8 years. The College was examining how to address this increase in student numbers and hoped to create additional space at their Wythenshawe, Openshaw and City campuses. 

 

In response to a query regarding what, if anything, the Principal of The Manchester College would change about T-Levels, members were informed that the College was a positive advocate for T-Levels and attendance on these courses was high with positive student and employer feedback. The Principal of The Manchester College noted that T-Levels were challenging and technical, and transition courses were available to prepare students. She explained that the College had taken part in the Ofsted Thematic Survey and provided feedback on what could work better and differently. 

 

The Principal of The Manchester College noted, however, that she had been notified that day that the DfE had deferred some T-Level routes starting in September, which would be unsettling for those students intending to undertake these courses, and she stated that better preparation and stability on the part of the DfE would be beneficial. 

 

The committee was advised that work placement opportunities provided students with an understanding of what employers needed and to contribute towards their placement. The Principal of The Manchester College explained that digital skills were embedded into the curriculum and provided an example of a student on a work placement who used their skills to digitalise their company’s employee induction programme, which was now being rolled out in the company’s offices nationwide. She explained that the green agenda was being addressed within the construction T-Level course and there were certain elements within the curriculum which referred to this. 

 

Members were also advised that the DfE had recently amended the T-Level guidance to allow remote placements, which demonstrated how the T-Level offer was adapting to changing ways of work. 

 

In response to a query from the Chair, the Principal of The Manchester College stated that the College was fortunate to have employers embedded within the organisation and who were committed to co-designing and co-delivering the T-Level offer, which meant that the instability in FE policy did not significantly impact partnerships with employers. She commented that this instability would not prevent the College from delivering equivalent offers, such as BTECs, for those students affected by the postponement of some courses. 

 

The Managing Director of Novus provided an overview of the provider and explained that the curriculum mirrored that offered in mainstream colleges to work with offenders and support their rehabilitation and transition from custody to the community. The committee was informed that there were 2,500 learners from across Greater Manchester with a 93% qualification rate. He also stated that Novus worked with learners to support a transition into work at the end of their sentence and offered members of the committee the opportunity to visit a Novus department, which was welcomed. 

 

In response to a member’s queries, the Managing Director of Novus explained that there were four main providers of prison education across England and Milton Keynes College delivered education at HMP Manchester as part of a high-security estate procurement lot by the Ministry of Justice. 

 

He also explained that prisons were complex delivery environments with complex cohorts of learners and there were challenges around prison operations, officer recruitment and the impact of this on the running of a prison, the stability of learners, and changes in stay and the impact that movement between prisons can have on opportunities to learn. He commented that Novus tried to link the curriculum between sites so that learners could continue their studies seamlessly. 

 

He explained that Novus worked with several employers across the construction, hospitality and other industries and provided a unique and supportive offer to employers. He acknowledged that there could be concerns over the reliability and public perception of offenders and explained that Novus worked with employers to mitigate these concerns. 

 

The Chief Executive of the LTE Group commented that the Group continuously lobbied for change and had been successful in changing legislation on apprenticeships to enable offenders who could be released on temporary licence to undertake these programmes whilst completing their custodial sentence. 

 

The Managing Director of Novus acknowledged the need to publicise positive stories around their work and achievements of learners. He highlighted changes to legislation, work with combined authorities across the country to better link the transition from custody to the community and highlighting positive case studies in the media, although he noted that this required permission from the Ministry of Justice. 

 

In response to queries around employment and reoffending rates, members were informed that the 17% figure listed within the report reflected the whole population released from custody, rather than just those who had achieved a qualification during their custodial sentence, and was a statistic provided by the Ministry of Justice. It was stated that this figure rose to 30% for some Novus initiatives. Members were also informed that Novus had undertaken a study with Manchester Metropolitan University on the reduction in reoffending rates which demonstrated that those who undertook education courses and progressed into employment upon release from custody were 24% less likely to reoffend than those who did not transition into the workforce. 

 

The Director of Inclusive Economy also took the opportunity to highlight that Jobcentre Plus were co-hosting an employer roundtable event with Timpson and Kier on recruiting ex-offenders in March 2023, which demonstrated the ongoing work to utilise the talent of those leaving custody. 

 

Decision:

 

That the committee

 

1.    notes the report, and 

2.    recommends that a report on training and skills provisions for offenders and ex-offenders be considered in the next municipal year, to support the reintegration of offenders into the economy and to promote further joint working between the LTE Group and Manchester City Council.

Supporting documents: