Agenda item

Resolved: that the work of officers be commended. It was also agreed that the Committee would put forward the new work and skills strategy as an item for scrutiny in the new administration.

The Committee also agreed to refer its views to Mayor and Cabinet as follows:

·      The Committee recommends that more resources be made available to enhance the scope and scale of the Council’s work and skills activities online. The Committee believes that a marketing budget should also be made available to support this work.

6.1      Fen Beckman (Head of Economy and Partnerships) introduced the report, the following key points were noted:

·         The report provided an annual update on the implementation of the work and skills strategy.

·         The employment programme that had been developed with the boroughs of Lambeth and Southwark was nearing completion. Through the programme more than 335 residents had been supported into work (114) from Lewisham.

·         The Lewisham Construction hub had been launched.

·         A great deal of work had taken place with Lewisham’s partners, including: Phoenix Housing, Lewisham Homes and Job Centre Plus.

·         New relationships were being developed with other partners, including South Bank University.

·         The apprenticeship programme continued to deliver a range of high quality placements for residents.

·         Two years ago the age limit for apprenticeships had been increased to include people over the age of 25. People from this age group now accounted for half of the applications to the programme.

·         Links were being developed with Central London Forward, to make the most of the opportunities from the work and health programme.

·         One area of key focus in the coming year would be developing the construction hub and integrating its work with partners.

·         Work needed to take place to re-establish links with Lewisham College.

·         A new work and skills strategy would be developed in the coming year. It was hoped that the Sustainable Development Select Committee (following the election) would consider the draft strategy.

6.2      Fen Beckman, Jake Nembhard (Research and Project Officer) and Denise Atkinson (Local Labour and Business Scheme Programme Manager) responded to questions from the Committee, the following key points were noted:

·         Work was taking place to develop a new ‘Lewisham skills providers forum’ – that would enable partners to share information and updates about initiatives taking place in the borough. The forum would also act as a catalogue of information about providers in the borough.

·         The Lewisham Construction hub sent out alerts for job opportunities and made use of social media, where this was appropriate.

·         Officers understood that there were a variety of ways for residents to be engaged in opportunities for work.

·         One example was a project managed by the team in Lewisham Shopping centre, which was a joint initiative between the Council, the shopping centre and job centre plus to help young people learn customer service skills, access advice and gain job opportunities.

·         Officers were working with university partners, including Goldsmiths, to ensure that there were opportunities for students and that the construction hub was being supported.

6.3      In Committee discussions, the following key points were also noted:          

·         The Committee commended the volume and high quality of work being carried out by Fen Beckman and her team.

·         There were differing opinions in the Committee about the value of using the Lewisham Council to target jobs and employment initiatives at people looking for work.

·         Some work was needed to ensure that people could access the right advice, training and skills opportunities to ensure that they could make the most of opportunities in the labour market.

·         The team should work with the Catford programme to determine whether there were opportunities for employment initiatives to be set up in the town centre.

6.4      Resolved: that the work of officers be commended. It was also agreed that the Committee would put forward the new work and skills strategy as an item for scrutiny in the new administration.

The Committee also agreed to refer its views to Mayor and Cabinet as follows:

·         The Committee recommends that more resources be made available to enhance the scope and scale of the Council’s work and skills activities online. The Committee believes that a marketing budget should also be made available to support this work.