Agenda and minutes

The Chairperson welcomed the following officers to the meeting:

Rowenna O’Sullivan - Skills and Talent Lead

Geraldine O’Sullivan - Graduate Development Officer

Apologies

Cllr John Ridgewell – Caerphilly

Cllrs Ramesh Patel and Nigel Howells – Cardiff

Cllr Gareth Lewis – Merthyr

Cllr James Clarke – Newport City Council

Cllr Bronwen Brooks – Vale of Glamorgan

Christian Hanagan – Service Director Democratic Services and Communications

Nicola Somerville - Head of Business Development & Inclusive Growth

To receive disclosures of personal interest from Members in accordance with the Code of Conduct Note:

1. Members are requested to identify the item number and subject matter that their interest relates to and signify the nature of the personal interest: and

2. Where Members withdraw from a meeting as a consequence of the disclosure of a prejudicial interest they must notify the Chairman when they leave.

None.

To receive the minutes of the 13.01.2022 as an accurate record of the meeting

RESOLVED:    To approve the minutes of the Cardiff Capital Region City Deal Joint Overview and Scrutiny Committee held on the 13 January 2022.

The Skills and Talent Lead introduced herself, and the Graduate Development Officer, and noted that her remit was looking after the Venture Graduate Scheme and Venture Skills Hubs and any other skills interventions required, going forward.

The Graduate Development Officer then provided Members with a current update, explaining that the graduate scheme had been rebranded and relaunched in September 2021. There was a need to change the way things were done in terms of a bit more strategy around taking on graduates and were now known as Venture Graduates, and were now working in cohort models, 3 times a year 2. There were 41 roles currently being advertised with a closing date of the 3 April and that cohort would then be cohort 2. Cohorts work over a 12-week period, advertising the roles and then shortlisting and assessments with the top candidates sent to employers for final stage interview, with that process continuing after the 3 April.  The big advantage of working in the cohort model, enabled working with larger numbers of graduates, with the aim to target about 20- 40 graduates, in each cohort. There was a much better brand awareness with the new website and new ways of working which had seen development and improvement. The Graduate Development Officer acknowledged that she was doing some graduate attraction at the Celtic Manor currently, with the University of South Wales (USW) graduates from 2020 and 2021 and felt that the fact there were live roles at the moment, was a bonus.

A Member asked for more information on cohorts and what was done to follow through and support them e.g., courses to provide them with management skills.

The Graduate Development Officer explained that businesses were asked to employ graduates for a minimum of 6 months, with the majority offering full time contracts. Alongside the internship of 6 months, graduates are paid and supported to do the Institute of Leadership and Management Programme (ILM) at Level 3, which is delivered by the USW. What use to happen was 4-day sessions in USW where graduates would meet up as a group, which was one of the attractive things for us, as even though they were working for individual companies, it was important for them to meet as a cohort, to get to know one another. Currently it is online, and they do 8 half day sessions of 2 hours. The ILM is exactly what you referred too, about giving them the confidence and the development, project management, resilience, change management skills, etc.  Graduates grow as an employee with the companies, because that’s what they need to develop, work experience but they also develop as a individual, so their awareness of life in the real world improves and develops, their confidence goes up, their personalities raise and businesses see them developing as a person as well.

The Graduate Development Officer noted that they were exploring a piece of work on evaluating the first graduates, who were employed as part of the  ...  view the full minutes text for item 45.

None.