London Employment and Skills Policy Network

Steve Kerr, Policy Officer

About LESPN

Funded by Trust for London, run by LVSC

Currently 200+ groups, 500+ people on mailing list

Est. Jan 2010, funding secure to Dec 2013

Quarterly meetings, monthly ebulletin

Representation on LEP Skills and Employment Working Group (and before that, London Skills and Employment Board)

LESPN Objectives

To influence employment and skills policy and provision to serve disadvantaged communities in London

To provide a forum for VCS to share information and good practice on employment and skills issues

To raise profile of the work of the London VCS in employment and skills

LESPN key areas of work

LESPN:LVSC + members

Influenceemployment

provision

Supportrepresentative

on LEP

Influenceskills

provision

SupportfrontlineVCS orgs

Evidenceimpact of

VCS delivery

Influencing employment policy and provision

Gather evidence on how major programmes are working: Work Programme, Jobcentre Plus, DWP ESF, GLA and London Councils programmes, etc

• How are London’s disadvantaged groups served?

• What is role of VCS?

•How could programmes work better?

Report findings, make recommendations to: DWP, Mayor/LEP, primes, funders, VCS orgs

Influencing skills policy and provision

Survey London VCS providers to gather evidence on VCS delivery of skills, working with FE Colleges, and develop issues paper

Some key issues: impact of policy changes on disadvantaged learners, management fees and subcontracting issues, linking up skills and employment funding (Apprenticeships etc)

Report findings to stakeholders: SFA, colleges, training providers, Mayor/LEP, funders, VCS orgs

Evidencing impact of VCS in London

Going back to first principles to make the case to policymakers, commissioners and funders, LEP for the unique value of VCS delivery

Collect and produce case studies demonstrating:

• performance of VCS projects against contract

• added social value of VCS delivery

• how VCS projects address gaps/weaknesses in mainstream provision

Support for frontline VCS orgs

Currently, LVSC has very little resource available for direct capacity building work.

LVSC is leading a bid to deliver ESF ‘Technical Assistance’ - free capacity building support for VCS employment and skills orgs (one-to-one surgeries, workshops, partnership support, mentoring etc)

LVSC and partners are developing London VCS delivery consortium as part of ‘Transforming Local Infrastructure’

PEACE: VCS-specific employment law andHR advice

Supporting representative on LEP

Emma Stewart (Women Like Us) sits on Skills and Employment Working group of London Enterprise Panel

Disseminate information on LEP’s work out to network

LESPN is a conduit to inform Emma’s position with evidence of VCS delivery, making the case for the LEP to focus on addressing disadvantage, provide intelligence on what’s working well (and not)

Challenges for VCS

New commissioning: few VCS groups have the scale and cash to bid directly for mainstream programmes (large CPAs, outcome-based contracts). Big SFA, DWP, ESF contracts hard to access; LDA, WNF, etc gone

Subcontracting: VCS groups negotiating roles in supply chains, requiring new kinds of skills. New problems – ‘bid candy’, management fees, TUPE, etc

Delivery challenges: employer engagement, sustained employment outcomes, tight labour market, risk/cashflow

Political: little appetite for specialist interventions targeting disadvantaged groups, inequalities

What other challenges are you facing?

Opportunities

Some new local employment initiatives appearing, e.g. Haringey Jobs Fund

BIG Lottery ‘Talent Match’ announcement

Chance to shape London’s ESF programme for 2014-2020

Big political drive to tackle youth unemployment (Youth Contract, GLA NEET programme), and increase Apprenticeships

Partnership working including cross-sector

Localism, Social Value Act, Big Society Capital/social investment social enterprise

steve@lvsc.org.uk