Report for: ACTION / INFORMATION

Contains Confidential or Exempt Information

No

Title REG342: Section 106 – Skills and Employment

Member Reporting Cllr Sue Sampson, Cabinet Member for Communities

Contact Details Samina Hussain, Skills and Employment Strategy and Delivery Manager, 020 8583 6082, samina.hussain@hounslow.gov.uk

For Consideration By Cabinet

Date to be Considered 17 November 2015

Implementation Date if Not Called In

30 November 2015

Affected Wards All

Keywords/Index Employment, skills, apprenticeships, business, strategy, action plan, s106 contribution

1. Details of Recommendations

Cabinet is asked to: 1.1 Note progress and development of the Skills and Employment Strategy and

Action Plan for year one 1.2 Agree the recommendation to extend and further develop the Skills and

Employment core team to support local residents and business 1.3 Agree the allocation of unallocated S106 contribution as listed in Table A to the

specified activities

If the recommendations are adopted, how will residents benefit?

Benefits to residents and reasons why they will benefit, link to Values

Dates by which they can expect to notice a difference

Residents will benefit in the following ways - increased access to employment and

local employment - diversifying LBH Apprenticeship Scheme

with more frameworks being offered - increased access to local

apprenticeships work experience and traineeships

- increase Information Advice and Guidance (IAG) sessions in the community via Careers Coach

- greater awareness of apprenticeships as a route to a high skilled career amongst parents and young people

- increased supply of work related opportunities

Dec 2016

2. Report Summary

• This report outlines progress against target of Skills and Employment

Strategy action plan • There is a need for ongoing supported pathways into work for a range of key

groups, including young people, care leavers, those with learning disabilities, lone parents, those on ESA and those affected by welfare reforms

• In order to drive forward improvements in skills and employment outcomes in the borough, the report recommends that core staff contracts are extended for a further 12 months to align to the life of the Skills and Employment Strategy utilising unallocated S106 money.

3. Reason for Decision and Options Considered 3.1 Introduction 3.2 Work has been on-going on the development of a Hounslow Skills and Employment strategy since December 2013. This work follows on from the publication of a range of economic evidence and strategy documents including the Local Economic Assessment in 2011, an update to this in 2013 and the council’s Economic Development strategy. 3.3 The Skills and Employment strategy was launched in April 2014 designed to support business growth and upskilling of residents to access local employment. The delivery team was recruited between September 2014 and February 2015, with the core team all appointed on 24 months fixed term contracts. The first 12 months has been primarily focussed on building partnerships, establishing and embedding the new team within the Council and within wider strategic partners and commencing delivery of services and projects. Yearly targets have been achieved by the team within a short time frame as recruitment to posts concluded Feb 2015. In order to retain staff confidence and continue to offer a coherent integrated skills offer for Hounslow residents, we wish to extend contracts of the core team by further 12 months from contract end date, thus aligning to the duration of Skills and Employment Strategy covering financial years 2016/17 and 2017/18 in order to realise skills and employment benefits to resident. 3.4 An independent report by Anderford Consulting May 2015 (background document) highlighted the risks to delivery of the strategy if posts were not extended beyond the initial 24 months as it is reasonable to assume that any staff member with less than 12 months left on their contract will be looking for new opportunities. We therefore risk losing team members over the next 6-12 months, thereby limiting our ability to deliver the Skills and Employment Strategy. The Anderford report made a number of recommendations which we are requesting Cabinet take into consideration:

At least two year cycle of approval, (an action plan with firm plans and outputs for the first year and outline plans for the a second year) accompanied by a parallel request for two years of S106 funding to be approved by Council and the extension of relevant staff posts. Funding from core budgets has been identified to cover redundancy cost

Contracts for staff rolled forward and extended for a further 12 months or moved from fixed term contract term to permanent depending on HR position

Role (core team ) Current contract end date

Employment and Skills Project Manager November 2016

Job Brokerage Manager September 2016

Apprenticeship Officer (external) September 2016

Construction Training Officer February 2017

(50% funded by Sky s106)

Apprenticeship Coordinator (internal) October 2016

Project and Research officer December 2016

Business Admin Apprentice October 2016

3.5 Key projects under the banner of Work Hounslow are LBH Apprenticeship Scheme, Work Experience, Apprenticeships (external) Skills Escalator (externally funded), Job Brokerage Service, Careers Coach (externally funded) Hounslow Housing Trade apprentices which transferred back to the Council earlier in the year and are part of the Skills and Employment Team in REDe directorate.

3.6 The Skills & Employment team have been successful in securing external funding 2015/16 for the delivery of skills and employment activity

Funders Project Amount

Sky Careers Coach £175,000

DCLG Transformation Challenge Award

Skills Escalator £260,000

ESF Estate based (Cranford) intensive employability support , Skills Escalator, Digital , creative and technology sector focussed and business support

£844,950

Total £1,279,950

Additionally during 2015/16 the following bid applications for funding are being considered.

Funders Amount

DWP JCP Flexible support fund (project for care leavers)

15,000

DWP JCP Community fund for estate based project

100,000

Total £115,000

This report provides an update on progress on the strategy and action plan (year 1) and an opportunity for Cabinet to continue to shape proposed objectives, actions and partnership arrangements 3.7 Key issues summary A summary of the key issues that led to the development of the Skills and Employment Strategy and the ongoing work of the team are as follows:

• There is a need to continue to improve engagement between employers and local skills and education partners (schools, colleges and universities) with a view to enabling employer leadership on skills and ensuring demand for skills drives supply.

• There is a need to continue the regular, systematic gathering and dissemination of information on skills requirements through HSTEP and Employment and Skills Bulletin to support business growth and retention and inform provision.

• There is a need to improve the management of local skills and vacancy information, simplify use for employers and continue to deliver a high quality robust IAG offer and to provide coordinated skills and employment support to help residents access these vacancies.

• There is a need to work with Heathrow to ensure continued access to jobs, and support progression in jobs particularly in light of potential changes in occupational structure in airport jobs in the future

• Hounslow has a higher than average number of residents with below level 2 (equivalent to GCSE level) qualifications. We need to take collective action on this – to prevent residents being locked out of the labour market

• There is a need for a more strategic approach to apprenticeships to align

with sectoral needs, to support a high quality, post 16 vocational offer and develop and promote non academic routes to employment including into high skilled and professional routes.

• There is a need to lead a local drive to create a range of ‘back to work’

supported pathways for key groups - young people (especially care leavers, young People with learning disabilities, young offenders), adults (lone parents, those on ESA, with disabilities and those facing sanctions and WP leavers) in response to welfare reforms, youth unemployment and to provide local solutions to address those in greatest need.

• The council lags its private sector partners both in terms of investment in

apprenticeships and in good practice in enabling and supporting access to employment for the most vulnerable. There are sound business, economic and social reasons for the Council taking a leading role in this and

supporting through partnerships, planning, and procurement, a general uplift in skills and employment across the borough.

3.8 Key recommendations

Recommendation 1: Note progress and development of the Skills and Employment Strategy and Action Plan for year one (Sep2014 to Aug 2015)

Since the Skills and Employment team have been in place (members started between Sept 14 and Feb 15) it has achieved the following results against targets. Aim 1 - To support local employment growth and enterprise through improving access to skills and reducing mismatch between demand and supply:

Job Brokerage Service target:

To ensure at least 50 employers are receiving support from the brokerage in the first year.

100 residents to be supported by Job Brokerage

Set up a borough wide job brokerage mechanism

Quarter 4

14-15

Quarter 1

15-16

Quarter 2

15-16 Total

No. of employers engaged with 10 50 45 105

No of employers part of JB

service 1 24 29 54

No. of new residents joining the JB

service 0 50 27 77

No. of residents employed

through JB 0 14 6 20

54 employers engaged exceeded target in year one, as new scheme in the borough.

Careers Coach target :

To deliver 100 Direct Job outcomes

To deliver 100 indirect Job

To deliver 750 IAG sessions

Careers Coach launched July 2015 externally funded by Sky, there has been an overwhelming response from the community and business

Careers Coach Quarter 2 15-16

No. of clients engaged and IAG session 300

No. of clients referred on to training 16

No of clients referred on to Adult Education 30

No. of clients referred on to NCS 12

No. of clients referred to the Work Club 40

Total apprenticeship outcomes 10

Total job outcomes 7

Procurement target:

To create 100 opportunities through Councils procurement and planning services

Increase apprentices, work

experience and training

opportunities through Hounslow

council's procurement and

planning services

Quarter 4

14-15

Quarter 1

15-16

Quarter 2

15-16 Totals

No. of employers engaged 12 30 8 50

IAG sessions delivered 30 80 20 130

Training sessions coordinated 0 10 6 16

No. of apprenticeship starts 28 38 57

123

No. of clients into direct

employment

1 12 5 18

Procurement and planning opportunities with Carillion, Hounslow Highways and St James construction employers. Aim 2 - To improve all young people’s achievement and progression into their chosen careers.

Borough wide Apprenticeship target:

To create an additional 100 apprenticeships per year over the next four years

Establishing a borough

wide apprenticeships

programme

Quarter 3

14-15

Quarter 4

14-15

Quarter 1

15-16

Quarter 2

15-16 Totals

No. of employers engaged 10 98 40 40 188

No. IAG sessions delivered

15 95 55 40 205

No. of apprenticeship starts per quarter

100 112 110 116 438

438 Hounslow young people have started an apprenticeship in year 1 with an additional 123 starts in Construction which are recorded in the table above. Target exceeded as total number of starts are 551 for the first year.

Internal Apprenticeship target :

To create 50 additional opportunities per year

To increase the number of apprentices employed to at least 30 at any one time

Internal

Apprenticeship

scheme

Quarter 3

14-15

Quarter 4

14-15

Quarter 1

15-16

Quarter 2

15-16 Totals

No. of internal managers contacted about apprenticeship placements

60 60 - 60 180

No. of internal apprenticeship placement opportunities created

46 7 - 30 [7] 83

No. of internal apprentices currently employed by Hounslow council

- 26 27 53

No. internal frameworks offered

9 10 14 n/a

Internal work experience

scheme

No. of internal managers contacted about work experience placements

60 60 60 60 240

No. of internal work experience placement opportunities created

9 0 0 14 23

No. of young people currently in work experience placements

9 0 0 14 23

No. of young people who joined Project Search

12

Number of frameworks have grown considerably since Sept 2014, new frameworks include trade skills, procurement, accountancy, ICT and planning

LAC and Care Leavers target :

Reduce the % of LAC and Care Leavers that are NEET towards the London Average for all young people aged 16 – 24 (11.4%)

Quarter 3

14-15

Quarter 4

14-15

Quarter 1

15-16

Intensive support via Prospects project - number engaged

8 21

Intensive support via Prospects project - positive outcomes

15

Working with Young People Service LAC and Care leavers’ team to continue to reduce the figure a project of intensive support was commissioned supporting 21 young people achieving 15 positive outcomes. Prospects were commissioned to offer intensive support to care leavers and other vulnerable young people Project Search has been introduced at Civic Centre as of September 2015 offering 12 opportunities.

Aim 3 - Improving pathways into work for the unemployed and progression in work for those in low skills.

Skills Escalator target:

Provide tailored and responsive support to those affected by welfare reform changes

*Targets noted in aim 1, 2 and 4 also contribute to aim 3.

Skills Escalator Project Total numbers

[End of Q2]

Number of responses to letters / marketing 161

Number of clients having at least 1 meeting 153

Number of clients taking up training 35

Number of clients that have increase income 15

Number of clients reducing reliance on HB 3 (Others pending info from Housing)

Aim 4 - Improving access to information, advice and guidance for residents and labour market information for businesses and providers.

Target :

Set up a Hounslow Skills and Employment signposting portal

*Targets recorded in aim 1 also contribute to aim 4

Find Your Career Tool – Usage Quarter 4 14-15 [six weeks]

Quarter 1 15-16

Quarter 2 15-16

Totals

Total Number of Visits 175 240 572 987

Bounce rate 18.9% 37.5% 27.4% Av. 27.9

Average time spent [mins] 18:57 10:49 6:53 Av. 12.00

CV Builder Tool Visits 28 48 66 142

No. of assessment tests completed 146 42 213 401

Top searched Careers Lawyer, Teacher [10]

Teacher [10] Holiday Inn [19] n/a

Top viewed Careers

Aircraft Pilot/Flight Engineer [51]

Air Traffic controller [18]

Aircraft Pilot/Flight Engineer [32]

n/a

A new online Labour Market Information tool called Find Your Career was launched in early 2015 to enable local residents to access up to date information about the labour market in West London. It has been trialled in a number of schools and is used by our Job Brokerage and Careers Coach service, and has also been shared with JobCentre Plus, the University of West London and other key partners.

Recommendation 2: Considering the evidence and positive outcomes achieved in the first year as listed above, agreement is sought from Cabinet to extend the core team by 12 months to continue to continue to deliver and develop skills and employment offer as outlined in the Skills and Employment Action Plan

This would allow the council to continue to lead the borough wide job /skills brokerage and strategic work on skills employment which is driving forward a range of improvements both at the strategic level and the operational level. Skills and Employment Team have been working on the following over the past 12 months

• Liaise with local employers to understand current and future skills and recruitment needs and (working with skills and employment partners) develop tailored solutions to meet these needs

• Provide improved distribution of vacancy information and better

coordinated and tailored skills and employment support to residents at enable access to these vacancies

• Work with key sectors and clusters, Sector Skills councils and local providers

(IT, Media, Creative Industries, Pharm) to understand sector skills needs and support access to government /ESF /LEP funding to support access to skills and business ownership of skills

• Develop a coordinated approach to construction training within Hounslow

– liaising with developers and employers, construction training providers, Hounslow Homes, the wider RSL sector, ensuring that young people can access construction training

• Develop information and intelligence on local skills and employment

support provision and communicate this widely to residents

• Gradually align core council, S106, Jobcentre Plus funding, the adult skills budget, adult learning funding and ESF and discretionary funding to strategic priorities and the achievement of shared goals and targets both in terms of sectors, priority groups, priority areas

• Recommendation 3: Cabinet to approve the release of S106 funds totalling £293,587.91 as detailed under section 5, to sustain the coordination of the Council’s apprenticeship scheme and borough-wide apprenticeships programme, Construction Training, and Jobs brokerage Scheme as part of the skills offer for local residents and businesses

Option Comments

To extend and further develop the Skills and Employment core team to support local residents and business

As detailed within the report the recommended options are based on robust research and analysis of the skills requirements within the borough and are supported by the Hounslow skills, training and Employment Partnership: a strategic borough-wide group of skills and employment providers, JCP, WTC, private sector training providers and

4. Key Implications 4.1

Defined Outcomes Date they should be deliver by

Increase of 100 apprenticeships in Hounslow businesses per year (100) 400 in 4 years 50 additional young people access opportunities i.e. work experience project search, care leavers programme Increase numbers of directly employed apprentices to 30 - 40 on rolling basis (40) Increase numbers opportunities i.e. Apprenticeship / work experience through procurement – 50 per annum Increase opportunities through planning agreements i.e. Construction apprenticeships and work experience – 50 per annum 50 new employers registering for brokerage service 100 residents access employment (job outcomes)

100 by Sept 2017 50 by Sept 2017 25 by April 2017 25 by April 2017 25 by April 2017 25 by April 2017 50 by Sept 2017

5. Financial Details

Cabinet is asked to approve the release of S106 funds totalling £293,587.91 to sustain the coordination of the Council’s apprenticeship scheme and borough-wide apprenticeships programme, Construction Training, and Jobs brokerage Scheme as part of the skills offer for local residents and businesses

Staff Salary scale

1 year extension with on cost x 1.27

Employment and Skills Manager PO5 42951 54502

Job Brokerage Manager PO5 42951 54502

Apprenticeship Coordinator (internal) PO2 34590 44386

Apprenticeship Officer (external) P04 40218 51076

Construction Training Officer (50% funded through Sky) P04 20109 25538

Project and Research Officer P02 34590 44386

Skills and Employment Apprentice

Learn & earn 9800 12500

Total 225,209 286,890

Table A: Unallocated S106 available to sustain the Skills and Employment Team

Scheme No. / agreement number

Details of clause Unallocated S106 balance for employment training

360 / L36 Training initiatives contribution to the training initiatives scheme and for no other purpose Planning ref 00707/E/P93, 00707/E/CA2, 00707/E/L21

£10,000

320 / H94 Employment & Training contribution towards employment and/or training of residents in the Council's area Planning ref 01032/E/P25

£95,197

209 / C65 Local Employment Initiatives Planning ref 00248/361-365/P29

£40,577

462 / B125 Job brokerage and Training Contribution towards the development of appropriate training and or job brokerage programmes Planning ref 00371/A(6)/P3

£13,555

431 / H133 Employment and training contribution for the development of appropriate training and/or job brokerage programmes Planning ref 00610/BB/P1

£10,676.91

464 / P32 Job brokerage contribution towards the development of appropriate training and job brokerage programmes Planning ref 00890/F/P18

£26,457

241 / H74 Employment contribution for the purposes of providing employment training in the Brentford Area Planning ref 00607/41/P24

£6,138

363 / C105 Training and job brokerage towards training and job brokerage in the London Borough of Hounslow Planning ref 01314/X/P1

£1,200

384 / A24 Employment and Training contribution to be applied by the Council in the event of receipt towards the provision of job-brokerage and training for local labour. Planning ref 01270/E/P3

£4,604

443 / S94 Employment training contribution towards the development of and provision of job brokerage and skills training apprenticeships and child care Planning ref 01094/22/P10

£227

277 / H83 Feltham Training and Environmental Improvements contribution to be used for training measures and/or environmental improvements within the Feltham area Planning ref 00609/BH/P3 & 4

£40,938

454 / C136 Employment training and opportunities contribution Planning ref 00315/G/P1

£10,000

335 / B93 Construction & Training Contribution on a programme of on-site construction training (industrial placements) for local labour Planning ref 00083/700/P6

£2,025

419 / H132 Construction training contribution for the construction training initiative purposes within the Council's area Planning ref 00607/41/P28

£25,353

352 / G87 Additional Hotel and Hospitality Training Contribution Planning ref 00505/P/P74

£3,140

TOTAL £293,587.91

a) Financial Impact On The Budget (Mandatory) The proposed funding will enable delivery of the Skills and Employment Strategy in 2016/17, as well as continue to deliver externally funded initiatives i.e. Careers Coach, Skills Escalator, Cranford estate based project and Media digital and creative sector business support As this paper is recommending the use of unallocated S106 funding it will not have an impact on core budgets except in as such as these staff will be managed by posts funded through core budget.

Sufficient funds from core budgets have been identified to cover statutory redundancy costs if contracts come to an end after 3 years of service. Calculations will be based on the current Councils Redundancy and Redeployment policy.

b) Comments of the Director Finance and Corporate Services S106 funds of £290k are available for allocation or re-allocation for the purposes stated in this report. The requested allocation would be for the 2016/17 financial year only. Funding for future years will have to be identified, requested and agreed in a similar process to this. In the event s106 monies needed to continue to fund fixed-term Skills & Employment employees is reduced or unavailable, and other sources of funding are also not available, the Council would have to bear associated staff redundancy costs. £30k has been identified to fund redundancy costs if contracts come to an end after 3 years of service.

6. Legal details /Comments of the Head of Governance 6.1 Section 106 agreements under the Town & Country Planning Act 1990 are

legal documents either entered into between the Council and developers or provided unilaterally by a developer.

6.2 Section 106 funding enables the Council to undertake projects that mitigate

the impact of development and enhance the borough. Agreements are negotiated as part of the planning process and form a condition of planning consent.

6.3 Money paid to the Council pursuant to a section 106 obligation can only be

applied for the purposes set out in the relevant agreement and it will therefore be necessary to ensure that the sources of funding can be utilised in the ways set out in this report.

6.4 In so far as the extension to the fixed term contracts of the employees

currently is concerned, it should be noted that employees with two or more years’ service will be entitled to a redundancy payment on termination. Termination can include employment ending as a result of the non-renewal of a fixed term contract.

7. Value For Money VFM considerations have been made in the development of these proposals The proposals seek to build on and strengthen existing publicly funded services and make them more effective through better coordination and improved links to employers. The ongoing work of the Skills and Employment Team seeks to continue the develop strong partnerships locally, sub-regionally and pan-London in order to maximise the impact of both the council’s s106 funding but also other public funds which are contributing to the activity of the team. 8. Sustainability Impact Appraisal Seeking external funding (ESF) and monitoring S106 to maximise funding to fund employment and skills activity

9. Risk Management

Risks Uncontrolled Risk Controls Controlled Risk

Funding not spent within agreed timescales, Claw back of funding by the developers,

Spend will be prioritised in relation to spend deadlines.

Programme failure

Regular monitoring of project performance via the Skills and Employment Strategy Manager and Head of Lifelong Learning

Failure to engage new employers

Case studies tweets and good news stories to be showcased with employers, sharing the cost benefit of working in partnership with LBH Skills and Employment Team

Failure to engage partners

There is a risk that partners will not engage - we have been very careful to develop this with our main employment and skills partners from the beginning. All of them have already committed and we see no reason at this point to have concerns about that, however we will continue to keep a small group of key partners very closely involved through HSTEP and in all key aspects including any projects that are invited in to deliver. The partnerships should not

expand further run terms of providers - only employers. Terms of reference for the partnerships (developed) will provide a clear management and governance framework for the partners and targets related to the agreement with CX will ensure that the partnership is clear what it needs to deliver.

10. Links to Council Priorities These recommendations support the following priorities in the Corporate Plan 2014-19. Brighter Futures for Our Children

Increase the number of young people aged 16-25 in training, apprenticeships or employment

Make sure young people leaving care are well supported to move on to have successful independent adult lives

Good Quality Homes and Jobs

Set up a new service to get local people into good quality jobs

11. Equalities, Human Rights and Community Cohesion The Hounslow Equalities network were consulted and provided active inputs into the ideas and actions for the development of the Skills and Employment Strategy. Residents who are unemployed, young people and those with complex barriers to labour market participation have been/will be actively engaged in the development of the ideas and actions. The strategy will work closely with the Welfare reform work to ensure that provision is targeted at those affected by changes The Council has had due regard to its Equalities Duties and in particular and that set out in section 149 of the Equality Act 2010 to eliminate discrimination, harassment, victimisation and eliminate any other conduct that is prohibited by or under the Act, advance equality of opportunity between persons who share a protected characteristic and persons who do not share it and to foster good relations between

persons who share a relevant protected characteristic and persons who do not share it. The decision in paragraph 1 will not have any adverse impact on anyone with one or more protected characteristics, namely age, disability, gender reassignment, pregnancy and maternity, race, religion or belief, sex and sexual orientation. In considering this report and making the decision Cabinet members will need to be satisfied that the equalities duties are met.

12. Staffing/Workforce and Accommodation implications: As set out within this report. For the employment being extended beyond 2 years the post holders will acquire employment and redundancy rights. Budget provision has been made to meet any redundancy cost. The Council will utilise the redeployment policy to seek suitable alternative work as an alternative to redundancy. The proposals would mean the extension of contracts for 6 staff plus an apprentice on fixed term contracts.

13. Property and Assets N/A

14. Any Other Implications N/A

15. Consultation N/A

16. Timetable for Implementation Delivery Dates Activity Details

January 2016

Review work plans Review work plans in line with 12 month extension

July 2016

Contract extensions

Liaise with HR to extend contracts

September 2016

End of year 2 report

Compile report on targets and measure impact

17. Appendices N/A

18. Background Information

Hounslow Skills and Employment Strategy Action Plan

Skills and Employment Team structure chart

Anderford Consulting Report

REPORT ENDS