Medway Developer Contributions and Obligations Guide

11.1 Background

11.1.1 Medway Council is ambitious for people of all ages to have the skills and experience to take up job opportunities created by growth and regeneration. The Skills & Employment Team work on a huge variety of projects, ranging from furthering apprenticeships, to promoting Supported Internships, supporting the delivery of the Connect to Work programme and delivering the Kent & Medway Careers Hub. The team also deliver bespoke projects to support specific crucial interventions where they are most needed, for instance the 50+ employment programme, commissioned by the Job Centre, or the Construction Skills programme commissioned by the CITB. Comment

11.2 Policy/Evidence Base

11.2.1 Economic inactivity is still a challenge in Medway, and S106 funds can be crucial in helping to unlock opportunities for people to gain the right skills and experience to thrive in the workplace. Comment

11.2.2 Young people aged 16-18 who are Not in Employment, Education or Training (NEET) are also on the rise in Medway. Currently 6.6% of the 16–18-year-old cohort are NEET or not known. S106 could provide vital opportunity to support our NEET population to gain vital skills in the right provision. Comment

11.2.3 The Skills & Employment team hold a variety of examples of relatively small amounts of funding can make a big difference in supporting people to successful outcomes. Contributions will be sought to deliver bespoke programmes in areas of need in priority and skills shortage sectors. Comment

Figure 1: Comment