Agenda item

Councillor  Kieron Williams attended the meeting for his interview as cabinet member for jobs, skills and innovation. He set the economic and employment context for his portfolio, describing the council’s previous achievements in apprenticeships, supporting people into work and ensuring young people get into education, employment or training after school.    

Committee members asked Cllr Williams about progress on local employers paying the  London living wage, provision of maths, English and digital skills training, digital futures month, the good work standard, support for local businesses in a  tough economic climate, Southwark college, progress on becoming an equal pay borough, gender issues in apprenticeship pay, how the council is working to improve awareness of apprenticeship opportunities to younger students, how the council can create opportunities for work experience, ethnicity disparity in pay, the commitment to offer education/employment/training opportunities to all school leavers, pathways for young people who spend time as carers, business rates, the strategy for improved connectivity in the borough, support for small businesses, equipping young people for roles in construction, how the council analyses future skills requirements, what information the council has about Southwark residents who are paid below the London living wage, any correlation between employers who pay the living wage and support apprenticeships, how the council works with trade unions to support  workers in precarious roles, support for people with long term mental health conditions,  whether the council can develop work experience or skills development for people who do not have a right to work – eg asylum seekers living in Southwark, the policy issues raised by growth of new businesses, eg unforeseen impact on residents such as at Druid Street, Thomas Calton Centre

Action points arising from the discussion

Cllr Williams agreed to the following

·  to provide an update in 6 months on English, maths and digital skills

·  to meet residents and businesses around Druid Street

·  to provide data on jobs and apprenticeships disaggregated by gender and ethnicity

·  to provide data on Southwark employers paying the London Living Wage

·  to update the committee on work experience and internship offers from employers

·  to feed back on whether Southwark is taking part in consultation on ethnicity pay gap

·  to circulate materials about Small Business Saturday to all councillors