The purpose of this report is to provide Audit Committee with a progress update on the organisation’s improvement actions following the Ofsted inspection of Career Track in November 2021, the last Audit Committee report of 31 March 2022 and the update on 30 June 2022.

Further to Minute 6 (30.6.22), the Assistant Director (Partnerships) provided the Audit Committee with a written progress update on the Council’s improvement actions following the Ofsted inspection of Career Track in November 2021, which had resulted in a grading of ‘Requiring Improvement’. Following that grading, the Council had implemented a comprehensive Development Plan to address the improvement areas identified by Ofsted.

Members were reminded that an internal Development Group had been established to monitor the progress against the actions identified within the Development Plan. The Development Group was chaired by Councillor Carlo Guglielmi in his role as Portfolio Holder with responsibility for Career Track. Membership of the group also included the Chief Executive, the Assistant Director (Partnerships), the Internal Audit Manager and the Executive Projects Manager (Governance). The Work Based Learning Manager and Organisational Development Manager reported to this group.  The Internal Audit Manager and Executive Projects Manager were part of the Development Group as representatives of, respectively, the Section 151 Officer and the Monitoring Officer in their overarching governance roles due to the findings of the Ofsted Report.

It was reported that, to date, the Development Group had met five times and following significant progress it had been able to sign off the Development Plan at its last meeting in June 2022. With the recovery phase / improvement changes now complete, Career Track were returning to Business as Usual and the Development Group had recommended that the membership be revised to align with a governance required by Ofsted for the ongoing provision of all apprenticeships.

The Development Plan (which was attached to the Assistant Director’s report) had taken each of the five inspection categories and stated what was being planned to address each area. The document identified the key milestones and progress by using a RAG (Red, Amber, Green) system.

It was reported that initial activity had focussed on setting the foundations and getting them in place. This had involved ‘freeing up’ the Training Assessment Team Leader to dedicate their time to policy and curriculum development with the introduction of the OneFile system. To enable this to happen, a temporary Training Assessment Officer role had been created (30 hours per week) until the end of July 2022, and then subsequently extended to the end of December 2022 (24 hours per week). That Officer had taken over the apprenticeship caseload from the Training Assessment Team leader. In addition, the services of a specialist company, SDN (Strategic Development Network), had been utilised for their professional help and advice for policy and curriculum development.

That support had enabled Career Track to develop a new curriculum, which fully met the requirements and expectations of Ofsted.  The curriculum covered the knowledge, skills and behaviours required by the standards, including personal development, which covered safeguarding, British values, career development and health and wellbeing. Employers were involved in creating the right curriculum for their apprentice(s).

Members were made aware that Career Track would follow the AELP (Association of Employment and Learning Providers) Governance Code, which was based on the following expectations of good governance:

·      Putting the learner, apprentice, and employer first;

·      promoting high expectations and ambitions for learners, apprentices, and staff;

·      listening to learners, employers, and staff;

·      promoting inspirational training, teaching, and learning and assessment;

·      creating a safe environment for learners and apprentices to train, learn and develop;

·      providing strong strategic leadership and challenge to the senior team;

·      demonstrating accountability to all stakeholders, including publishing accurate and timely information on performance;

·      ensuring the achievement of equality of opportunity, diversity, and inclusion throughout the organisation.

The Committee was advised that, under the Ofsted Education Inspection Framework, it was a requirement that an apprenticeship training provider followed the further education and skills handbook criteria for governance, as identified in the AELP Governance Code.

Therefore, the aim of the new Tendring District Council (TDC)(Career Track) Apprenticeship Governance Board was to achieve effective governance, that:

·      sets the tone from the top and ensures that delivery matches up with an organisation’s values and ethos;

·      provides strategic direction and control to Career Track by creating robust accountability, oversight and assurance for educational outcomes and financial performance; and

·      requires confidence and ability to challenge conventional wisdom, ask tough questions and nurture strong relationships.

Members were informed that Cabinet would continue to hold overall responsibility for the function of Career Track with the relevant Portfolio Holder chairing the Apprenticeship Board thereby creating robust accountability, oversight and assurance for educational outcomes and financial performance.

As previously reported, the service had formally launched OneFile, a training software package for the administration and management of apprenticeships. OneFile was used by at least 50% of all apprenticeship providers as it supported the learners more effectively and enabled the provider to better monitor and ensure effective delivery of the curriculum.  Career Track was now able to fully personalise learning, improve quality and increase engagement with their apprentices and employers, using the OneFile eportfolio software.

It was reiterated that the agreement for TDC (under the name of Career Track) to provide apprenticeship training rests with the ESFA. That organisation had an allocated account manager for TDC and the Work Based Learning Manager had had regular monthly meetings with them to discuss actions and progress towards meeting the improvements required by Ofsted. The ESFA account manager had approved the development plan and the meetings had moved from monthly to quarterly as a result of the progress that had been made.

The Development Plan was almost complete, with a small number of activities left to complete and identified by the RAG rating.

As a consequence, a Career Track self-assessment report and its accompanying quality improvement plan had been drafted and would soon replace the development plan as the monitoring tool for quality, progress, development  and achievement,  This was an expectation of Ofsted and when complete it would be shared with them and the ESFA.

The Chairman asked if the removal of the temporary Training Assessment Officer post at the end of December 2022 would cause a problem to which the Work Based Learning Manager (Debianne Messenger) replied that this would be covered by the return of the Training Assessment Team Leader to their normal duties.

A member of the Committee asked whether the membership of the Apprenticeship Governance Board had been reviewed in order to ensure a good mix of personal qualities, expertise et cetera. The Assistant Director (Partnerships) confirmed that this had been done.

After detailed discussion it was RESOLVED that –

(a)    the contents of the report be noted; and

(b)    the Committee continues to approve the Development Plan and endorse the actions being taken.