Skills and employability the new challenge

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• Skills and employability - the new challenge
• 23 April 2009
• Anne-Marie Mountifield

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• Current Economic
• Conditions

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Update on the downturn

• A further weakening of economic conditions in
  January.
• Marginally higher volume of export orders
• Lower employment levels and an increase in
  unemployment.
• Lower input and consumer prices.
• Profit margins and cashflow positions have
  worsened.
• Investment remains mostly lower.
• Source SEEDA 2009, Regional Intelligence
  Snapshot for the South East January

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Unemployment in the SE
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Economic climate

• 142,000 JSA claimants in SE
• 20 increase in the past month, 104 over the
  year
• 25,000 JSA claimants have been unemployed for 6
  months plus
• Increase of 25 in claimants aged 16-24 in a
  month
• Over 20,000 have managerial and professional
  skills
• 26,000 plus notified redundancies from Oct - Feb
• 37,000 vacancies down over 30 in the year
• And 855,000 in the SE do not have a Level 2
  qualification

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Economic climate

• but consider the new world order and the G20
  pledges
• A fiscal package for jobs and growth
• Financial regulation and financial repair
• An inclusive, green and sustainable recovery
  package
• Impact ???

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• Case studies
• The Skills for Business initiative
• and
• The Eco Advantage Project
• Tim Smith
• Therese Lawlor and Irene Heller

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• Summary

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A prospectus for prosperity Skills Priorities

• Support for businesses Skills for business
• Focus on key and emerging sectors The Eco
  Advantage project
• Align priorities and funding Bidding as a
  Diamond partnership
• Partnership working and structures spreading
  expertise and good practise
• Labour market intelligence the role of new
  research

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Skills for Business
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Recommendation (2) Train to Gain should be
offered more flexibly to Reading businesses to
address skills gaps in key areas like customer
service, communication, sales/ marketing and IT,
and subsidies used as an incentive to get more
employers engaged Our response Skills for
Business campaign skills co-ordination
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What is Skills for Business? Response to skills
gaps identified
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Skills for Business targets 50 companies signing
Skills Pledge, and Academic yr 08/09 starts 150
training places (Skills for Life, Level 2, Level
3 and Apprenticeships) Academic year 09/10
starts 60 training places (Skills for Life, Level
2 and Level 3)
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• What will we achieve?
• Better strategic alignment of training to
  business need now and into the future
• Influence and shape provision
• Challenge outcomes to improve quality
• Lobby government for additional investment
• Improved skills, better business, impacting on
  the bottom line

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www.livingreading.co.uk
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Eco-advantage

• Skills for climate change

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Innovation

• For Climate Change and Sustainable Development
• Helping individuals, organisations and communities

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Background

• Need for new skills and innovative new routes out
  of the recession and to tackle the challenges of
  climate change.
• Need for a bottom up approach benefiting
  individuals, organisations and communities
• Builds on innovative good practice developed
  under the Equal funded projects
• i-WORK
• Prime Advantage
• CEMENT
• Transnational partnership
• Finland, Germany, Estonia

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For individuals -1

• Development, piloting and mainstreaming of
  innovative Eco-advantage short training
  programmes aimed at lower skilled frontline staff
  and unemployed.
• Generic introduction training to ECO-Advantage
  issues
• Sector specific skills
• Construction Sector
• Hospitality Sector
• Retail Sector
• Gives individuals an ECO advantage on the
  labour market

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For individuals -1

• Use of the Wheel of Life tool
• Identifying individual needs and distance
  travelled in programme
• Individuals given social incubation support
• Holistic support breaking barriers to learning,
  employment and active citizenship
• Access to the Work Ability tools
• Supporting workers adaption in the workplace
• Engagement of volunteers
• Access to new skills and the labour market

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For Organisations

• Access to a Job Ready database
• Identification for employers of a work ready pool
  of staff with ECO-Advantage skills
• Training programmes will foster a more flexible,
  motivated workforce
• Supporting business competitiveness in recession
• Matching local employer needs to local people
• Maximising local recruitment to new employment
  opportunities
• Competitive advantage through Green Awareness
• Cost savings, Customer relationships, Green
  procurement

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For Communities

• Building Eco awareness in communities
• Supporting Sustainable Community Strategies
• Developing local pools of volunteers
• Supporting local community initiatives
• Supporting the development of local environmental
  businesses
• Start-ups, social and voluntary enterprises
• Keeping local people engaged
• Developing skills and employability in times of
  recession

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Delivery areas

• Diamond Areas
• Medway
• Reading
• Basingstoke
• High Wycombe
• Milton Keynes
• Mainstreaming potential across the SEEDA region.

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Contacts

• Lead Organisation
• Medway Council
• Irene Heller - Project Manager
• irene.heller_at_medway.gov.uk
• Partners
• Reading Borough Council
• Anne Pearce
• Anne.Pearce_at_reading.gov.uk
• Basingstoke Council
• Therese Lawlor
• therese.lawlor_at_basingstoke.gov.uk
• Cementaprise
• Robert Morrall
• robert.morrall_at_cementaprise.org