Minutes:
Rory Garforth, Dearne Electronic Village Ltd, was welcomed to the meeting.
Members were updated on the Assisted Employment Project. 25 learners had received support since April, 2022 with all session taking place at the Lifelong Learning Centre, Thurnscoe Library. All learners who joined received an initial assessment on IT, Maths and English and following that an individual learning plan was put in place.
Members heard how 6 learners had passed their courses since joining in April, 2022 and how that number was expected to increase. Work to aid learners in searching for jobs had also been undertaken in order to meet the requirements of the Job Centre. It was reported that the awarding body would be changing from OCR to Pearson due to them removing their digital skills qualifications.
Around 7 learners had gone on to find employment varying from customer service advisor, care worker, gardener and teaching assistant, amongst others. It was reported that 2 volunteers had started post lockdown.
It was reported that the project had been funded for 3 days per week, but that an additional grant from a different pot of money had been successful resulting in a further 2 days being funded bringing the capacity to the full 5 days per week. Member enquired as to how many people were seen within the working week and it was reported that around 25 people were seen a week on either a one to one basis or in small groups of up to 3 people and that most people seen were referrals from the Job Centre or via advertisements on social media.
Members were informed that the most needed courses of English and maths had previously been delivered through Dearne Valley College but that had ceased and conversations were ongoing with Adult Learning in order to provide these courses going forward.
RESOLVED that thanks be given for the presentation and update and that Rory be thanked for all his hard work.