Decision details

Oldham Council’s Lifelong Learning Service offers a range of courses to upskill the residents of Oldham and move them closer to employment. The impact of Covid 19 restrictions has required the service to move learning onto an online platform. Current feedback in respect of remote/virtual learning measures that have been put in place due to COVID-19 show that a high volume of learners do not have the digital resources and or internet access to engage with their learning.
The Service applied to Greater Manchester Combined Authority Skills Capital fund and was successfully a £50k grant. The bid set out the desire to create a digital resource loan scheme that would be put in place for these learners to enable them to carry out their remote learning and this will, where required, include packages for internet access.
Learners needs are currently being assessed in respect of their access to digital resources and data. It is proposed that those who do not have digital resources, causing a barrier to them enrolling/carrying out their course of learning, are loaned a digital resource.
It is anticipated that as this scheme is rolled out an ongoing need for remote learning and development of further online courses will continue. The digital devices will enable the most disadvantaged learners to access provision.
The system will be robust and will monitor and check equipment to ensure that it can continue to be reused with the next cohort of learners
We will collect initial and ongoing feedback from learners that shows how this scheme has helped them in terms of quality and learning experience. We will use this feedback to review the system and make any changes that may be required in respect of these findings.
The report requests to use £50k of GMCA grant(100% externally funded) to purchase between 300-340 android tablets. A request for service and quotes have been carried out. It has been decided to purchase a small number of sim-enabled devices to allow the service to over data-packages to those that do not have access to broadband. The cost of the data packages will be funded by the “Dedicated Learner Support” fund – part of the Adult Education Budget allocation.

RESOLVED - That:
The report seeks to spend £50,000 Capital IT grant following a successful bid to GMCA to buy Android Tablets to loan to learners to enable learners to access online training provision delivered by Lifelong Learning Service.

Option 1 - Approve the recommendations outlined in the report
Option 2 - Not to approve the recommendations outlined in the report

Option 2.

N/A