DD2010 639 Outreach and Employability Support

1.1 In line with the Employment and Skills stage 2 paper approved by IPB in 2012, it was proposed to use up to £50,000 Employment and Skills funding, to support delivery of additional employability outcomes from 639 (identified as project 6 in the Employment and skills programme). The main aim being to strengthen the support offered to Tottenham’s young people and people at the entry levels of jobs/careers by connecting 12-24 year olds with the world-of-work and employment opportunities.

1.2 In November 2014 £50,000 of grant (revenue) funding was approved (under cover of DD 1263) as a contribution to the costs of outreach work associated with the pilot phase of the employability lab at 639 Tottenham High Road.

1.3 Following a competitive procurement process Livity were appointed to set up and run the pilot phase of the Employability Lab between August 2015 and April 2016. By connecting the Employability Lab with the Big Lottery Funded Somewhere to_ programme Livity leveraged a further £54,000 funding for the programme enabling them to deliver employability advice and guidance, provide work experience opportunities, and run a programme of events enabling young people to develop their own projects and enterprises. This activity has helped to animate the ground floor expand awareness of the Centre and the support available for young people in Tottenham.

1.4 In 2015/16 LBH received a £935,000 Transformation Challenge Award (TCA) grant from the Department for Communities and Local Government (DCLG). This funding supported the pathfinder approach of the Tottenham Regeneration ‘People’ programme, which aims to bring together partners, residents, the voluntary, community, public and private sectors to co-deliver better outcomes for residents, targeting education, employment and skills, health and wellbeing and community safety outcomes.

1.5 Reviews of the pilot Employability Lab and of individual TCA projects, to identify which will be recommended for future progression, are underway. As part of this process the potential synergies between the Employability Lab with the wider People Programme have been identified. A strategy for aligning ongoing outreach and a sustainable model for operating the space has been agreed. It is anticipated that this will happen in 2 phases:

(i) an initial three month programme of activities co-funded by LBH and GLA;
(ii) a further 9 month programme of outreach will be delivered through the Tottenham People Programme.

1.6 This period aligns with the procurement process for a long term operator of the 639 Enterprise Centre from 2017/18. It enables further testing of provision of people focussed services from the ground floor space at 639 which can in turn inform negotiations with the future operator of the space. It is anticipated that this function will continue in one form or another and in collaboration with the new operator under the proposed 7 year lease.

2.1 A strategy for aligning ongoing outreach is in development under the following headings:

Employability and Career readiness
Access to Jobs, Business and private sector engagement
Community offer
Promotion and Comms Somewhere to offer

3.1 The project will be developed and delivered in compliance with relevant Codes of Practice and in line with the public sector equality duty.

3.2 The project will positively further equality aims by setting specific equality targets for young people, and young people not in Education Employment or Training. The Strategic Regeneration framework for Tottenham and the emerging Socio-Economic framework identify both of these groups as experiencing exclusion from labour market, and as experiencing the deprivation associated with this exclusion. Emerging evaluation of the pilot programme indicates that the approach taken in the last 9 months has been effective in supporting these groups.

3.3 All documents produced will comply with Mayor of London branding guidelines, themselves based on guidance from the Royal National Institute of Blind People.

a) Key risks and issues

4.1 Key risks and issues and their control measures will be reported to the Regeneration Budget and Performance Review, which will oversee the project as part of their regular updates and performance management.

b) Links to Mayoral strategies and priorities

4.2 The proposed project is not mentioned in the strategic plan directly, as it is a response to the unforeseen exceptional incidents of August 2011. However, the programme overall, and the individual projects for Tottenham closely link to the Mayor’s priority themes of: improving Londoners’ quality of life; investing in young Londoners and supporting jobs and growth.

4.3 The project will support the Mayor’s priority to deliver growth and jobs, including meeting the Mayor’s 200,000 jobs target.

c) Impact assessments and consultations

4.4 Since the riots in 2011 Haringey Council has started a dialogue with local residents, businesses and stakeholders to inform and shape the key elements of the overall approach to regeneration in Tottenham. In October 2013, Haringey Council commissioned an independent organisation called Soundings to conduct a thorough five-month consultation exercise called Tottenham’s Future, to gather views from the community on their views and ambitions for the next 20 years. The responses fed into and shaped the council’s Strategic Regeneration Framework (SRF) for Tottenham, which sets out how the local community’s priorities can be achieved. More than 3,700 people contributed to the consultation.

4.5 The works outlined in this report play a direct and significant role in tackling the key concerns identified through consultation by helping to deliver the strategies for success outlined in the SRF. Individual projects will be developed and delivered in compliance with relevant Codes of Practice and in line with the public sector equality duty.

5.1 The proposed grant of £20,000 to Livity to facilitate the proposed interim delivery of the outreach and employment support from the 639 Community Enterprise Centre will be jointly funded by the GLA and the London Borough of Haringey (£10,000 each), for which the receipt of grant funding from the LB of Haringey is also being sought via this report.

5.2 The GLA’s £10,000 revenue contribution to the grant will be funded from the London Enterprise Fund (LEF) that has been part ring-fenced for Tottenham, specifically the budget provision allocated to support employment & skills activity as per DD1263.

5.3 It should be noted that along with this proposal and that previously approved by DD1263 (£50,000) the total GLA grant awarded to Livity in order to support outreach and employment will total £70,000.

5.4 Any changes to this proposal, including budgetary implications will be subject to further approval via the Authority’s decision-making process. All appropriate budget adjustments will be made.

6.1 The foregoing section of this report indicate that the decisions requested of the Director fall within the GLAs statutory powers under sections 30 and 34 of the Greater London Authority Act 1999 to do such things considered to further, or which are facilitative of or conducive to, or incidental to the promotion of economic development and wealth creation and, social development in Greater London; and in formulating the proposals in respect of which a decision is sought officers have complied with the GLAs related statutory duties to:

6.1.1 pay due regard to the principle that there should be equality of opportunity for all people;

6.1.2 consider how the proposals will promote the improvement of health of persons, health inequalities between persons and to contribute towards the achievement of sustainable development in the United Kingdom; and

6.1.3 consult with appropriate bodies.

6.2 Officers have indicated in sections 1 – 4 of this report that the contribution of funding to the proposed recipients will amount to the provision of funding and not a payment for services rendered. Officers must ensure that funding is distributed and managed fairly, transparently, and in accordance with the GLAs Contracts and Funding Code

6.3 Officers must ensure that an appropriate funding agreement is put in place and executed by the proposed recipient and the GLA before any commitment to fund the recipient.