Say what you seeusing the PSA CoP

Last But Not East

EELGA Apprenticeships Event

11th February 2011 www.communities.idea.gov.uk

Cliché No. 1

CoP

Communities of Practice (CoP) are free, online, peer-to-peer knowledge-sharing networks

• Public Sector Apprenticeships (728 members)• Worklessness Learning Forum (349 members)

Others:• Workforce Matters• Local Enterprise Partnerships• Building Employee Engagement

Cliché No. 2

Structure and content

• Discussion Forum containing topic threads• Library• Events list• Member details: (LAs, Govt. Depts., NHS, national

organisations, training providers, international etc.)• Polls e.g. effect of CSR on your Apprenticeships

activity• Blogs• Wikis• Tags and themes

Cliché No. 3

Recent activity

• Apprenticeship Week activity• A-List Apprentices• Employer engagement• LA success: South Tyneside, Kirklees, Suffolk,

Essex and Hertfordshire• Specification of Apprenticeship Standards for

England • New Apprenticeships framework for Sustainable

Resource Management L2 and L3• Adult Apprenticeships

Cliché No. 4

A problem shared…

• “Dear PSA CoP, I wondered if anyone had any experience/advice concerning absence rates and apprentices? Several of ours have already triggered Level 1 of our Absence Policy with their sickness rates and are in excess of our average annual absence rates, despite having only started three months ago.”

…is a solution found

• “In terms of absence through sickness we have 'stumbled upon' an effective way of keeping sickness down.  When we set up the scheme the training agreement stated that apprentices would be paid statutory sick pay, however, a mis-communication meant that apprentices were paid under X Council’s sickness policy.  We experienced high rates of sickness.  Eventually, we realised the error and apprentices were put onto statutory sick pay and amazingly the rates of sickness reduced with immediate effect.”

How to join in

Go to:

• http://www.communities.idea.gov.uk/c/803301/home.do

• Email martin.stein@local.gov.uk

• Call 020 7296 6676

Cliché No. 5