London Employment and Skills Policy Network Steve Kerr, Policy Officer

1. London Employment and Skills Policy Network Steve Kerr, Policy Officer

2. 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)

3. 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

4. LESPN key areas of work Influence skills provision Influence employment provision LESPN: LVSC + members Support frontline VCS orgs Evidence impact of VCS delivery Support representative on LEP

5. 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

6. 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

7. 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

8. 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

9. 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)

10. 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?

11. 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

12. steve@lvsc.org.uk