(Report of Chief Executive)
The report provided additional background to support the presentation given by Mike Rayner, Participation and Progression Manager for West Kent at Kent County Council, regarding the provision of careers advice, the key challenges faced and current initiatives to improve the work readiness of school leavers and job seekers. A draft Skills Action Plan, set out at Annex 1 to the report, provided details of a number of initiatives to support efforts to improve work readiness.
Following consideration by the Economic Regeneration Advisory Board, the Cabinet Member for Economic Regeneration resolved that:
A Working Group of Members of the Council be established to assess the size and scope of the work readiness and skills issues, explore opportunities for working in partnership to improve communication between business and schools to create sustainable employment streams and to report its findings to a future meeting of the Economic Regeneration Advisory Board.