North Yorkshire County Council

Business and Environmental Services

Report to Executive Member

14 February 2022

Addendum Update - Funding Application to Department for Education

Skills Boot Camps

(York & North Yorkshire Local Enterprise Partnership)

1.0 Purpose of Report

1.1 To update the NYCC Executive Member on the submission of an application for Department for Education (DfE) funding to support delivery of a 1-year (April 2022 to March 2023) Skills Bootcamp programme in York and North Yorkshire.

2.0 Background

2.1 The indicative bid amount of £1m-2m included in the Report to Executive Member was based on the expected funding available from DfE for local delivery (on a pro-rata spread between MCAs/LEPs). However, following receipt of the costing information included in the Request for Information (RFI) received from potential suppliers, which was undertaken to understand the evidence as required by DfE and gather information to inform the application to DfE, the total cost of training identified by the suppliers is £5,784,515.

2.2 The rationale for proceeding with the full amount identified by the suppliers and included in the submission to DfE is:

· Advice from DfE that the application amount should reflect the identified need for skills Bootcamp training in our area. DfE have not allocated specific sums to areas. The indicative bid amount of £1-2m included in the original report to Executive Member was based on the expected funding available from DfE for local delivery (on a pro-rata spread between MCAs/LEPs);

· We do NOT currently have details of the national Bootcamp training offer which is being arranged by, and will be delivered directly by DfE;

· We expect that some of the areas identified by local training providers will duplicate what will be offered by national Bootcamp training – therefore we expect it will be removed from our proposal during DfE assessment of bids. We are seeking clarification from DfE on this point;

· The proposals submitted by local training providers reflect evidence of local need, and based on their work with local employers, so submitting the full amount demonstrates to DfE the scale of demand locally, irrespective of the amount of funding DfE can make available;

· This is a similar approach to that taken for other bidding for funds (ie LGF, GBF, CRF) - where the bid is based on local evidence of need/demand, and is then scaled back either by the funder before award, or by us locally once the amount of grant is confirmed.

2.3 Other options considered are:

· Scaling all Bootcamps down. There is no basis for assessment, and risk, rendering some smaller niche activity (e.g green skills) undeliverable if the same scaling formula is applied to all to bring the application total down to £2m.

· Not including the largest bid (circa £3.3m). Conversations with this provider has confirmed that the scale of activity proposed is deliverable and is supported by evidence of demand from local employers. However, confirmation has also been obtained that this proposal can be scaled down if required.

2.4 Skills Bootcamps - Funding Breakdown