Earlier this year - before the Covid-19 lockdown - ten local government officers from across the UK travelled to Pembrokeshire to demonstrate their skill and ability in a real-life context.

Split into two groups and hosted by the County Council, they were taking part in the LG (Local Government) Challenge 2020.

The question they were posed was:

How can the Council support post-16 learners to ensure that they are on the right course, in the right place and help achieve the council’s vision of “every learner achieves more that they thought possible?

After two days - which saw them visiting local schools - they presented a business case and proposals to a judging panel which included Steven Richard-Downes, the Council’s Acting Director for Children and Schools.

A video of the challenge has now been released and it can be found at: https://www.local.gov.uk/challenge-2-pembrokeshire

Steven said afterwards: “We are delighted to share this short film as the outcome of the first Local Government Association (LGA) challenge in education in Wales. The LGA has thanked us for our work as hosts and are only sorry they were not able to spend more time in the county.

“The question tabled presented a real life challenge to some of the future leaders of the public sector services in the UK.

“It also provided us, as a Council, with an opportunity to review practice in some of the real issues that local authorities face. We would like to thank particularly our secondary schools and all partners who participated in the challenge.”

Guy Woodham, the Cabinet Member for Education and Lifelong Learning, said: “The challenge gave us the chance to pause, reflect on the issues raised and ensure that everything we are doing is the best interests of our post-16 learners.

Clr. Woodham added: “I am very grateful to my Cabinet colleague Neil Prior for setting this up and for joining me along with Council Leader, David Simpson, as a judge.”