EUROPEAN SOCIAL FUND (ESF ) INFORMATION EVENT

1. EUROPEAN SOCIAL FUND (ESF) INFORMATION EVENT IP 1.1 - Access to employment for Jobseekers and Inactive People 22 August 2019 10 September 2019

2. Introduction STEPHANIE ROSE - POLICY ADVISOR – EDUCATION, EMPLOYMENT & SKILLS CLAIRE STALKER – PROJECT SUPPORT OFFICER TEES VALLEY COMBINED AUTHORITY

3. Programme

4. Tees Valley Combined Authority • Covers the Local Authority areas of Darlington, Hartlepool, Middlesbrough, Redcar & Cleveland and Stockton- on- Tees. • Remit to drive forward economic growth within the Tees Valley • Under the devolution deal with Government, we are taking on new responsibilities previously held by Westminster and Whitehall: • Transport & Infrastructure • Education Employment & Skills • Business Investment • Housing • Culture and Tourism • 300 square miles • Population 674,300 • £13bn per annum to the national economy On 4th May 2017, the people of the Tees Valley elected Ben Houchen as the Tees Valley Mayor

5. Tees Valley Strategic Economic Plan and Education, Employment & Skills Strategy ‘Inspiring Our Future’ • Strategic Economic Plan: Industrial Strategy for the Tees Valley • Two transformational ambitions: • Enhance productivity in those high growth firms which have the greatest potential to create jobs; and • To increase educational attainment, produce skilled workforce and increase lifetime opportunities Our 2018-21 plan to build the skills we need for a modern economy

6. Education, Employment & Skills Strategy – ‘Inspiring Our Future’ • Challenges • There are skills shortages across most of our key sectors, and employers cite a lack of access to skilled workers as their greatest barrier to growth • Fewer of our learners choose Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths subjects, and fewer achieve higher grades in STEM subjects compared to national averages • Only 51% of our secondary schools are rated as good or better, compared to 75% nationally • We have higher levels of unemployment compared to national averages, 3.8% of Tees Valley residents are claiming Universal Credit and searching for work, compared to 2.3% nationally • Youth unemployment (age 16-24) is almost double the national average, with 5.7% of Tees Valley residents aged 16-24 claiming Universal Credit and searching for work, compared to 2.9% nationally • There continues to be a problem with under-employment – highlighting a mismatch between the skills that residents have and those that businesses need

7. What will change? • We will ensure: • Business plays a leading role in setting priorities, identifying barriers, and delivering better outcomes • High quality evaluation and research drives future improvements and helps the Tees Valley learn from experience

8. What will we achieve? We will: Support education innovation and collaboration Develop a skills system for business growth Support people most distant from the labour market to secure and retain work Create a Tees Valley careers initiative – improve and extend high quality careers education for all Business challenge and workforce planning Enhance the higher education role in driving economic growth Research, analysis and evaluation

9. Education, Employment & Skills Strategy – ‘Inspiring Our Future’ What do we plan to do? We will ensure we are better informed by gaining robust evidence from businesses: Increase businesses that identify and plan for the future workforce demand and predict future skills gaps Increase our knowledge of priority high-demand sectors’ skills needs We will: Provide business support to carry out workforce planning, to identify current and future skills needs Support businesses to create more jobs, apprenticeships, work experience and volunteering Support employers to maximise the potential of their Apprenticeship Levy

10. Inclusive Labour Markets Investment Priority 1.1: Access to employment for jobseekers and inactive people Eligible activities which can be supported under Investment Priority 1.1include: Additional and innovative approaches to pre-employment training; Support for those who need pre-traineeship and pre Work Programme assistance; Training for those who need to upgrade their skills or learn new skills (including basic skills and English for non-speakers); Helping people access or benefit from apprenticeships, including support for women to enter non-traditional sectors which addresses barriers to entry (e.g. construction); Providing access to transport where this is a barrier to taking up a job; Providing advice, guidance and support by plugging gaps in national provision where appropriate; Specific careers advice for women, to help them make informed career choices; Using self-employment as a route out of worklessness, including providing advice and support for self-employment.

11. Managing Authority / ESF requirements Value - approximately £4.76m of funding is available; Maximum ESF grant intervention rate of 60%; Match funding of 40% required; The Managing Authority does not intend to allocate less than £1.18m of ESF to any single project; One stage application process IP 1.1 CLOSING DATE: 4 NOVEMBER 2019

12. Inclusive Labour Markets Investment Priority 1.1 - Access to employment for jobseekers and inactive people The link to the Calls page on Gov.uk is: https://www.gov.uk/european-structural-investment-funds/access-to-employment-project-call-in-tees-valley-lep-area-oc34s19p1334

13. Full Application Submission To apply for funding under this call you will need to complete and submit your Full Application via the ECLAIMS IT System. If you do not already have access to the ECLAIMS IT system, please request an ‘ECLAIMS External Access Form’ by emailing E.CLAIMSUPPORT@dwp.gov.uk You will need to request an External Access Form for each person in your organisation who requires access. It is your responsibility to ensure you request and activate your ECLAIMS access in sufficient time.

14. Technical Assistance SUE DONNELLY Telephone: 01642 524422 Email: sue.donnelly@teesvalley-ca.gov.uk