SW Minister launches Regional Economic Task Group
South West Regional Minister, Ben Bradshaw, has launched a new taskforce to help government understand and respond to local and regional needs during the current economic uncertainty.
Link

Huge recession survey
The National Business Survey 2008, carried out by Ipsos MORI, provides an important barometer of confidence at the 'ground level' among a wide range of businesses.
Link

More timely support for South West businesses
South West businesses battling the economic downturn are being supported with a raft of financial and advisory measures. The RDA will develop or expand its existing programmes in the face of the global economic downturn.
Link

back to top

New flexible qualifications and credit framework will widen access to learning
Learners will be more able to study in 'bite-sized chunks', building up a portfolio of accredited training which suits their individual needs under a new system approved today by Further Education Minister, Sion Simon.
Link

Another sharp rise in unemployment
Unemployment has nudged even closer to the two million mark, reaching an 11-year high. The claimant count has increased for nine months in a row and is 154,800 higher than a year ago.
Link

New Skills Advert
Throughout November, peak-time television and radio adverts will say that it is now quicker and easier for companies to get the training they need to keep their businesses moving by accessing the Train to Gain service.
Link

Ofsted evaluation of Train to Gain
The Ofsted report, which used data collected from visits to 74 employers and 48 companies providing training, found that the programme has generally been successful in giving employees the chance to gain nationally recognised qualifications.
Link

Older workers set to bear brunt of redundancies - CIPD
Almost 1 in 5 employers to enforce retirement policy more vigorously:
- 26% of employers have plans to make new or further redundancies
- managers, professionals and skilled non-manual workers are most likely to suffer.
Link

back to top

Cornwall launches School for Social Entrepreneurs
The Cornwall School for Social Entrepreneurs was opened in St Ives on 10 October 2008. The school is supported by Convergence ESF investment and Jobcentre Plus. Over the next three years it will provide tailored support and learning to 120 potential social entrepreneurs in Cornwall and the Scilly Isles to help them achieve their goals through ‘action learning’ based programmes.
Link

Lifelong Learning Programme (LLP) – General Call for Proposals 2009
The 2009 Lifelong Learning Programme ‘Call for Proposals’ document has now been published by the European Commission. The LLP is a European funding programme which supports education and training across Europe. The LLP is made up of several different programmes offering a variety of opportunities, including:
- Leonardo – with a focus on VET
- Grundtvig – with a focus on Adult Education
- Transversal Study Visits – including the excellent Study Visits Programme
There are three new Partnership actions. These are:
- Senior Volunteering Projects;
- Assistantships and;
- Learner Workshops.
Link

Should I stay or should I go? Opportunities and challenges of cross-country mobility
The resource pack also contains a new report on the social and economic integration of migrants in cities, the second output from the European Network of Cities for Local Integration Policy for Migrants (CLIP) project. It looks at equality and diversity policies in city administrations in relation to employment as well as service provision for migrants. It documents numerous good practice examples showing how European cities are striving to ensure greater equality in their employment practices.
Link

ERM report 2008: more and better jobs - patterns of employment expansion in Europe
In this, its third annual report, the ERM looks at the large-scale trends in European employment since the mid-1990s.
Link

How do providers ensure they are on the Qualified Provider Framework?
The details of all existing LSC providers are on the Qualified Provider Framework. Providers only need to take action if they wish to receive invitations to tender from the LSC.

Any provider that wishes to be included in the LSC’s tendering round in January 2009 needs to ensure that they apply to pre-qualify by 10th December 2008. Providers who do not apply to pre-qualify by this date will not be eligible to receive invitations to tender in January 2009. This will not impact on a provider’s ability to continue to negotiate with the LSC.

More information on the QPF can be found at the website link below:
Link

back to top

Regional Funding Advice for Skills in the South West
This week saw a workshop in Exeter to support the region's response to the Government consultation.

RSPs have been invited by Government, led by The Treasury and including DIUS, to contribute to the Regional Funding Advice. A guidance note on Regional Funding Advice is attached and it includes the following:

“The Regional Funding Advice exercise offers the opportunity for regions to provide advice to the Government on their long-term investment priorities for elements of transport, housing and regeneration, and economic development to support sustainable economic growth… RSPs… to provide an agreed view on the skills and training priorities that will best support delivery of regional and local economic development within the overall framework of the national skills strategy and PSA targets.”

Specifically RSPs are to:
- Ensure that skills advice identifies the key strategic investments for promoting growth to support the regions’ economic development trajectory;
- Use existing processes for aligning skills funds around regional priorities and with the Regional Economic Strategy, and the new Regional Strategy;
- Ensure that advice is drawn up alongside plans for housing, transport and economic development more widely, and reflects the demand for skills at every level from both employers and individuals; and
- Consult with the Learning and Skills Council, Jobcentre Plus, Sector Skills Councils and sub-regional bodies in the region working on employment and skills. Where regional partners consider that value would be added by a new employer-led, sub-regional Employment and Skills Board, this could be included in the RFA advice.

A SW RDA Regional RFA Steering Group will oversee the work of developing the advice for transport, housing, economic development and skills and the whole exercise is to be concluded by February 2009. Given the need to integrate all of the elements, this means that the Skills advice needs to be completed by December.
Link

back to top

Programme managers meet to enhance the skills of women
Managers of a programme to develop the skills of women working in male-dominated industries met in October to improve the efficiency of the programme and continue to enhance the careers of working women.

The Women and Work Programme, managed by ten Sector Skills Councils on behalf of the UK Commission for Employment and Skills (UKCES), aims to raise recruitment levels in industries where women are under-represented, increase earning potential and aid career progression.

The review meeting, held at Lantra’s head office, was a chance for the programme managers to discuss how to move the Women and Work Programme forward. UKCES Women and Work Programme Manager, Jo Garrison, said: “The success of Phase One has meant we can continue to help women across England benefit from the Women and Work funding. Bringing all the programme managers together at this review meeting enabled us to look at the market research carried out after phase one and discuss how we can improve the service in the second phase.”

In the first phase of the Programme Lantra supported more than 600 women working in agriculture, environmental conservation, fencing, game and wildlife management, horticulture, land-based engineering, landscaping and trees and timber. Lantra’s Women and Work Programme Manager, Lyndsay Bird, added: “Women and Work has been a huge success in its initial year for the environmental and land-based industries.

The meeting was a great opportunity to meet the other managers and swap ideas and learn what went well and discuss how we can meet the challenges faced in phase two.”

Women and Work participant, Julie Jamieson, said: “Women and Work has been a catalyst. Now I’m starting a new phase of my career thanks to the funding I have had for my training through this programme.” To find out more information, visit the Lantra website. Alternatively call Lantra on 0845 707 8007.
Link

National Skills Academy for Social Care announced
The Department for Innovation, Universities and Skills has announced that it will be setting up an independent National Skills Academy for Social Care. Skills for Care, who welcome the creation of the new body, said it would be a ‘massive step forward’ in developing the skills of nearly 1.4 million social care workers. For more information visit the National Skills Academy website. www.nationalskillsacademy.co.uk.
Link

back to top

Employment and unemployment statistics
Labour Force Survey data for the South West indicate that the trend in the employment rate is decreasing, but the rate in the latest period is not significantly different from a year ago. The trend in the unemployment rate is increasing, but the latest rate is not significantly different from a year ago. Data for the three months to September 2008 show the seasonally adjusted employment rate at 78.7 per cent, up 0.1 percentage point on a year earlier. The seasonally adjusted unemployment rate was 4.2 per cent, up 0.2 percentage points on a year earlier. The seasonally adjusted claimant count was up in the year to October 2008.
Link

South West fares well in Regional Unemployment
The region with the narrowest spread of unemployment rates was the South West, with 3.3 percentage points between the lowest, Purbeck in Dorset at 2.5 per cent, and the highest, Plymouth at 5.8 per cent.
Link

LGA - London will be 'worst hit in recession'
The LGA's 'From Recession To Recovery: The Local Dimension' report projects how each area of the country could be affected differently by the economic downturn if no action is taken.
Link

back to top

Towards a NEET solution: tackling underachievement in young people
The fact that too many young people leave schools with few qualifications ought to be a matter of deep concern to everyone in Britain. As this report shows, a poor start to adult life can lead to long-term health problems, unemployment, poverty and even criminality, which must be a concern for all of us as citizens and taxpayers.
Link

Poor advice hinders university access
Report finds 'swathes' of state school pupils are missing out due to inadequate careers guidance. The Sutton Trust charity's report highlights the "inadequate and inappropriate" careers and education advice state school pupils receive, which means "swathes" of young people with the potential to go to university are missing out.
Link

Encouraging labour market activity among 60-64 year olds
This report presents the findings of a qualitative research study, commissioned by the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) in October 2006, to examine how best to encourage the 60-64 age group to take up or remain in work. In addition, the research investigated the opportunities presented by State Pension equalisation to create incentives and remove barriers to work for this group.
Link

The Impact of Care to Learn
Care to Learn enables teenage parents to continue or return to learning after the birth of a child by assisting with the costs of childcare and associated travel. The Centre for Economic and Social Inclusion and Ipsos MORI were commissioned by the LSC in 2008 to undertake a survey to evaluate the impact of Care to Learn on the destinations of young parents funded in 2006/07. Key findings include:
- 75% of the 2006/07 cohort could not have gone into learning without Care to Learn support;
- Before starting their course in 2006/07, 64% of the young parents were NEET (not in Employment, Education or Training);
- at the end of their Care to Learn-funded, course only 25% were NEET;
- 78% of the young parents gained a qualification. Of the 22% who had not, 34% of those were still working towards their qualification by the end of 2006/07.
The full report, 'Impact of Care to Learn: tracking the destinations of young parents funded in 2006/07' can be downloaded from the LSC website.
Link

Engaging Youth: Rates of Post-16 Non-Participation in England
This briefing paper examines how estimates of the number of young people who are ‘NEET’ are derived and what they reveal about the historical and geographical trends in the proportion of 16-18 year olds classified as NEET. In addition, the paper draws on evidence from the Connexions service to look beneath the headline ‘NEET’ statistics to explore the heterogeneity of the young people who are classified as NEET and generate some understanding of the reasons why they enter the NEET population.
Link

Your place or mine? The local economics of migration
The project aims to improve understanding of the economic impacts of migration in the UK, and how policy should respond to that migration in order to maximise its economic benefits, and minimise its costs.
Link

Stepping higher - workforce development through employer-higher education partnership
This report aims to help employers and universities in developing successful partnership working to foster workforce development. None of the employers or universities in the case studies pretend they offer a silver bullet for all others.
Link

back to top

UK Funding WorkShop - 25 November 2008, Jurys Inn, City Centre, Birmingham
- Working with and applying to Trusts and Foundations
Link

QCF - The Bigger Picture - Helping you become demand-led, 25 November , (London), 9 December (Birmingham) & 10 December (Leeds)
- These events are targeted at those who have begun to consider the implications of the reforms to vocational qualifications for their organisations and now require more detailed information on how the QCF can contribute to other organisational priorities.
Link

South West Forum Annual Conference - Independent and Indispensable: The future for South West social purpose organisations, 25 and 26 November, Bournemouth
- Speakers:
Debra Allcock Tyler, Chief Executive, Directory of Social Change
Ben Bradshaw MP, Minister for the South West
Faith Davey, South West Regional Manager, Age Concern England
Nick Hurd MP, Shadow Minister for Charities, Voluntary Bodies and Social Enterprise
Mark Sharman, Chief Executive, Help and Care, and
Peter Wanless, Chief Executive, Big Lottery Fund
Link

Researching the needs of disadvantaged learners and non-learners
- 3 December 2008, Sheffield, 10:00am - 3:30pm
10 December 2008, Birmingham, 10:00am - 3:30pm
11 December 2008, London, 10:00am - 3:30pm
Link

Practitioner research in the learning and skills sector Developing professional identity and practice, 4 December 2008, London
- The theme of this year's Learning and Skills Research Network conference, 'professional identity and practice', is of huge importance to colleagues working across the sector. The nature of professionalism and professional identity in its current contexts continues to be problematic, contested, and debated. This conference allows us to explore and debate the notion of professionalism, including questions around where, how and whether professionalism exists or is being eroded or developed (or not) for staff and students in the sector.
Link

Skills RSS Feeds