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Priority Area A - Enterprise Education

Project 1: Devon Education Business Partnership (DEBP) - Enterprise Education ‘Make a Job, Don’t Take a Job

The project is developing the Big Bang SW competition as a hook from which to develop young people’s entrepreneurial skills. From Global Entrepreneurship Week (November 2011) through to the Big Bang SW Event (28th June 2012) students will receive business mentoring from individuals with experience in the commercialisation of products to help them develop a stronger project to enter into the competition.

For more information check out the DEBP website.

Priority Area B - Work Experience

Project 2: Devon Education Business Partnership - Work Experience

Engaging with students on work experience this project has 3 strands:

• To create a series of work experience templates designed to help develop high quality structured placements in Devon’s 8 priority sectors.
• To develop and disseminate a ‘recruitment process’ for employers to implement when undertaking a selection process for work experience students.
• To construct a ‘green audit’ for all students to undertake when on work experience to assess their employer’s energy efficiency.

For more information check out the DEBP website.

Priority Area C - Linking Education & Employers

Project 3: Careers SW & 14-19 Partnerships – Linking Education and Employers

This project aims to produce a booklet to provide information on Local Labour Market Information across Devon to support careers advisors, young people and parents to make more informed decisions on careers and jobs.

For more information have a look at the Careers SW website.

Priority Area D - Apprenticeships

Project 4: Bicton College – Apprenticeships - Support for Employers

This project has two main elements. Firstly to research into the perceived barriers behind employers not wanting to take on an apprentice. Secondly from this research a range of incentives will be developed and offered to employers to encourage greater apprentice take up rates. Potential measures may include:

• Subsidised wages for a work trial, prior to starting an apprenticeship.
• The development of appropriate training options to make the potential apprentice more work ready.
• Mentoring and training of the apprentice supervisor (leading to a vocational training course once completed using this as an incentive)
• Action plans developed for both the potential apprentice and employer.
• Enabling more apprenticeships to be shared amongst a number of employers, spreading the perceived risk.

For more information have a look at the Bicton College website

Project 5: Careers SW – Apprenticeship Start-up

The project is focused on supporting micro businesses within the North Devon and Torridge area by providing intensive mentoring support to apprentices and employers through an approved trainer, to encourage high retention rates. Coupling this will be a fund for young apprentices and employers to support their initial or continued engagement with an apprentice. Examples could include:

• purchase of essential clothing and equipment
• payment towards travel costs
• payment of employer liability insurance premium for the first year
• other essential expenditure not covered elsewhere

For more information have a look at the Careers SW website.

Project 6: Employment & Skills Boards - Enhancing Devon Employers relationships with Apprenticeships

The projects aims are to:

• Persuade more businesses of the economic benefits to be gained from employing an apprentice or putting an existing member of staff through an apprenticeship scheme.
• Develop a template which can make it possible for very small businesses to engage easier with the apprenticeship programme.
• Identify ways to reduce the impact of the ban on self employed individuals engaging with the funded apprenticeship programmes.

The project will engage with employers who have taken on apprentices to understand the issues they encountered and develop solutions. Whilst also working with employers who haven’t taken on an apprentice to identify the barriers and help solve them.

The results gained from this work will be disseminated across Devon and beyond.

Priority Area E - Developing the Skills of the Devon Workforce

Project 7: Developing the Skills of the Devon Workforce – Exeter College

The aims of the project are to improve the skills of the retail sector workforce in Devon by giving Exeter College students an opportunity to work collaboratively with retailers and customers to undertake a number of market research projects.

The project will be asking Exeter college students to undertake:

• Market research with shoppers in Exeter to obtain feedback on the levels of service they experience in Exeter and any likely improvements.
• Mystery shopping exercises with retailers, leading to the development of a training package. Those retailers involved will then be invited to a presentation of these results with free training to their staff being offered.
• On completion of these training sessions, more mystery shops and customer market research will be conducted, with further training being offered from these.

For more information have a look at the Exeter College website.

Project 8: Employment and Skills Boards - Growth Clubs

This project is aiming to set up 9 action learning sets called "Growth Clubs", each supported by a trained facilitator. Each club will be formed of a maximum of 7 business owner/managers from priority sectors and 1 enterprise lead from an education establishment. Members will:

• share and reflect on real issues affecting their businesses
• work together to explore new approaches
• put new learning into action for their business

For more information have a look at the Devon Growth Clubs website.

Project 9: Women’s Development Unlimited – Fast Track for Growth

The Fast-track4Growth programme proposes to deliver skills development opportunities to women-owned SMEs and micro-businesses, to increase local business productivity and encourage growth.

The programme will engage with a total of 36 businesses with 24 women engaging in the intensive programme as members of action learning sets.

Outcomes from the programme are expected to include:

• Improved business connectivity i.e. increased collaboration amongst women owned businesses.
• Improved business skills.
• Improved personal skills.
• A Legacy i.e. women who feel that they are better able to address their future learning and support needs

For more information have a look at the Women’s Development Unlimited website.