Agenda item

The Board considered a report of the Strategic Director – Environment that provided an update on the Liverpool City Region Employment Strategy.

 

The Board was advised that the concept of the City Employment Strategies (CES) was that local consortia were formed of public, private and voluntary sectors which would work together to target those wards with the highest levels of worklessness i.e. worklessness above 25% of working age population.  In Halton, the Department of Work and Pensions had identified Windmill Hill, Castlefields, Riverside, Halton Lea, Grange and Kingsway. 

 

The Board was further advised that a draft Business Plan had been submitted to the Department of Work and Pensions and a formal response was awaited.  The Department of Work and Pensions had clarified the Deprived Areas Fund (DAF) budget that was available.  Until the end of March 2007, £1.4m had been identified to start the CES programme.  Due to the late release of the funding, it was not possible for Job Centre Plus to commission any main programmes or spend the allocation.  As a result, it was being used as a flexible fund to assist people into work.  Anyone living in the DAF wards could access up to £250 if it could be proved that it would help them secure employment. 

 

It was highlighted that there was still a lack of clarity with regard to the requested enabling measures that the partnership had submitted.  Enabling measures were requests to change rules and procedures in order to improve services and outcomes.  The Government was looking at all such requests nationally through a series of working groups.  However, progress had been slow. 

 

Arising from the discussion, the following points were noted:-

 

·        The Government funding, in the first year incorporated staffing costs but in the second year these costs would have to be identified from alternative funds. 

 

·        The issues relating to the lack of enabling measures was noted;

 

·        That the funding comprised of two allocations of £4.2m for each of the two years 2007 and 2008/09 for the six authorities which represents approximately £67,000 per identified ward.  The consortium, once set up, would control the spending of Deprived Areas Funding.  It was anticipated that the consortium would comprise of representatives from the six local authorities, Job Centre Plus and the Learning Skills Council;

 

·        It was agreed that regular update reports on the progress of the CES be presented to the Board;

 

·        It was acknowledged that employers would value the re-focus and expansion of measures such as worked based mentors, Skills Passports and Skills Escalators;

 

·        The barriers to people not gaining employment and the survey that had been commissioned to gain further information on this matter was noted;

 

·        The national programme for work based skills development ‘Train to Gain’ was discussed and noted;

 

·        The apprenticeships framework and the issues relating to funding and the limitations in respect of age etc were noted. It was also acknowledged that flexible apprenticeships were required for the 25 + age group in order to give more mature people the opportunity to train in another career such as plumbing etc.  The process for obtaining funding for such apprenticeships was also discussed and noted;

 

·        The issues and implications relating to the lack of consistency in funding mechanisms and frequent changes to the rules for such funding was noted;

 

·        It was suggested that the new funding allocation could be publicised at the Area Forum meetings and they could also be used to allocate the available funding to the appropriate wards, although this would need to be considered further as not all wards are covered by the available funding; and

 

·        The issues and problems arising from obtaining a pension on retirement was noted.  It was also suggested that issues relating to retirement pensions could be considered by the Board in the future; and

 

·        The work previously developed through topic groups was considered relevant and should be fed into the CES process.

 

RESOLVED: That

 

(1)                    the report and comments raised be noted;

 

(2)                    appropriate funding from the CES be allocated as follows:-

 

(i)                 to increase the emphasis on literacy and numeracy in the Borough;

 

(ii)               to deliver adult learning programmes within the locality for the more mature individual which will give flexibilities of choice for a new career;

 

(iii)             an analysis be undertaken to identify the number of unemployed mature people in the Borough that would benefit from a new career;

 

(iv)              to enable the development of funding mechanisms, flexibilities and consistency of programmes such as student grants;

 

(3)                    selective Area Forum meetings be used to promote the new funding and feedback from the meetings be reported back to the Board;

 

(4)                    action plans that had been developed by previous Working groups be considered to identify opportunities to utilise the new funding;

 

(5)                    regular updates on the progress of the CES be presented to the Board.