MD2609 Expansion of London Enterprise Adviser Network

The Enterprise Adviser Network (EAN) is a national programme that supports social mobility through matching senior business volunteers (Enterprise Advisers) with a school or college careers leader to support them to increase business engagement with the school or college and develop a whole-school careers strategy and employer engagement plan that is representative of all pathways into employment and considers all sectors.

The volunteers and schools are supported by paid employees called Enterprise Coordinators (EC). Each EC has up to 25 schools and oversees a portfolio of up to 40 Enterprise Advisers (EAs). These roles are match funded by the Careers & Enterprise Company (CEC).

The Government requires all schools and colleges to be working towards the achievement of the Gatsby Benchmarks . The EAN is the mechanism to do this and the CEC has been given the remit from Government to implement the Gatsby Benchmarks, the Enterprise Adviser Network and support careers leaders.

The Greater London Authority (GLA) submitted a proposal to the CEC to deliver the London Enterprise Adviser Network (LEAN) in 2015. Team London was commissioned to deliver a small pilot on behalf of the GLA in 2016. In May 2017 the London Economic Action Partnership (LEAP) Investment Committee approved £100,000 of funding from the LEAP Core Funds to support the development of the programme.

The delivery of the LEAN from September 2018 to August 2020 was approved by the Mayor under cover of MD2262. Since then, the delivery of the LEAN has been outsourced to external delivery organisations (procured in accordance with the Public Contracts Regulations 2015, contracts being awarded to Reed in Partnership and LB Redbridge including the right for the GLA to extend the duration of the same) and managed by a core staff in Team London.

Funding for the current LEAN is due to end in August 2020. This decision is needed to: (i) continue the LEAN for a further year; and (ii) increase its reach to offer support for all mainstream secondary schools, pupil referral units and FE colleges in London, and for 50 special schools.

The proposed expansion of LEAN has been developed by Team London in partnership with the GLA’s Skills and Employment Team.

The GLA will contribute up to £985k to the proposed expansion. The CEC will contribute £1.08m. The above GLA spend on salaries for Enterprise Coordinators will be match-funded by the CEC.

The total expenditure will pay for a core staff of four posts in Team London to manage the project plus the extension of delivery contracts (which may or may not be with current service providers) to employ and manage the Enterprise Coordinators.

When each school or college joins the LEAN, they audit their careers provision against each of the eight Gatsby Benchmarks. The Department for Education released their Careers Strategy in December 2017 and associated Statutory Guidance for schools in January 2018 and colleges in March 2018. In these, it stated that all schools and colleges should be working towards achieving all eight Gatsby Benchmarks by August 2020. The statutory guidance also states that all schools and colleges should work with an Enterprise Adviser to support them in achieving the Benchmarks.

Since 2014:

• achievement of the Gatsby Benchmarks has almost tripled for schools and colleges in the Network nationally (from 1.3 to 3.8);
• over 3,800 schools and colleges are part of the national Network with over 3,500 EAs actively supporting them to develop their careers provision;
• every LEP and Mayoral Combined Authority across England has partnered with the CEC to deliver the Network, creating a truly national programme;
• 1,300 teachers have been offered fully funded accredited with a further 650 places confirmed for the next academic year to continue to build capacity in schools and colleges and the careers education sector as a whole; and
• £26.9m of investment injected into the careers sector by the CEC.

In London, the LEAN has:

• engaged 450 schools and colleges;
• recruited over 500 Enterprise Advisers from more than 320 different organisations;
• held five Speed Networking Events engaging over 1600 students and 1100 business volunteers;
• improved Gatsby Benchmark achievement in London’s schools and colleges from an average of 1.82 in August 2018 to 2.7 in December 2019;
• improved benchmark results so that 138 schools and colleges matched with an EA are fully achieving Benchmark 5 (compared to 41 in July 2018);
• improved benchmark results so that 117 schools and colleges matched with an EA are fully achieving Benchmark 6 (compared to 43 in July 2018); and
• supported 145 Careers Leaders to access bursaries to gain accredited and non-accredited qualifications.

An interim evaluation of the LEAN was produced in September 2019 with a final evaluation due to be published in September 2020. The interim evaluation highlighted that:

• expansion in London was rapid but started much later than the rest of the country resulting in less time to measure the impact of the LEAN at that stage;
• as a result, fewer schools and colleges had been able to be matched with an EA;
• despite this, 86% of schools matched with an EA reported that their EA was particularly helpful in promoting a strategic approach to careers and 86% also believed that their provision had improved.

Delivery of the LEAN in light of Covid-19

Schools and colleges are currently closed due to Covid-19. Core LEAN work is to connect business volunteers and careers leaders to set up and deliver a strategic, whole school careers plan. This can still continue as normal during lockdown conditions. This means the LEAN is a much lower risk than many student-facing programmes, which have stopped or reduced their service provision.

In April and May 2020 alone over 300 meetings took place between EAs, careers leaders and Enterprise Coordinators to ensure delivery of careers support did not stop and schools and colleges were supported in delivering support virtually. Over 200 EAs and careers leaders also attended virtual CPD events to support them in their role. This vital work would not have happened without the LEAN.

The LEAN team and CEC have been working with DfE to develop guidance and support materials for schools and colleges in-line with government advice. The LEAN and CEC has supported and disseminated guidance and best practice on how to deliver fully safeguarded virtual sessions with employers to ensure young people are still receiving careers support and guidance to access further employment and education.

Experience of the world of work is vital, especially for young people who don’t have their own networks. The CEC has partnered with Oak National Academy to deliver a week of virtual work experience and insight involving employer-led sessions. This has been promoted and supported by the LEAN to ensure that young people don’t miss out on this experience.

EAs and ECs have continued to work with careers leaders. This work includes:

• ensuring every school and college has a careers delivery plan that addresses the needs of all students;
• updating school and college websites with careers information, education and guidance directed at students, teachers and parents/carers;
• supporting the delivery of virtual employer encounters and live question and answer sessions with business volunteers;
• embedding careers and employability learning into the curriculum to be delivered by all teaching staff;
• delivering training and support sessions for careers leaders in schools and colleges;
• signposting offers of support from businesses and other careers education providers; and
• providing a vital link between schools, FE colleges and HE providers through a range of stakeholder relationships for students at important transitions points (16 and 18 years old).

Careers Leaders in the LEAN have raised concerns about young people at transition points (e.g. 16 and 18). Colleges are seeing fewer applicants and students who are most at risk of becoming NEET aren’t getting the support they need to make a successful transition into further education or employment. The LEAN is connecting college admissions teams with school careers leaders to make these transitions easier.

If the closure of schools and colleges were to continue after September 2020, the LEAN can continue to operate virtually and offer the support that careers leaders need. The national Enterprise Adviser Network and the CEC will play a key role in developing and disseminating best practice resources and opportunities. Schools and colleges in the LEAN will benefit from this.

Now, more than ever, schools and colleges need support to ensure every young person gets access to appropriate, personalised careers information. The Learning and Work Institute has stated 5 key challenges arising from Covid-19 , number one being: “Support young people. We must avoid a ‘pandemic generation’ of young people with poorer education and skills prospects.” The LEAN is the GLA’s main communication and engagement route with schools and colleges in London on the topic of careers. The transitions that young people were intending to make into further and higher education, employment or apprenticeships continue to be a priority. The LEAN will provide the infrastructure, resources and knowledge to provide and enable high-quality delivery of careers to London’s young people.

The funding and expenditure proposed will allow the GLA to continue its existing support with the LEAN of 492 schools and colleges (which is to be achieved by August 2020) and to begin working with 50 of London’s special schools. The national EAN offers support for special schools: however the LEAN currently does not, and this funding will allow us to expand into this area.

Through the continued funding, the LEAN will:

• continue to work with the 492 schools, colleges and pupil referral units on the existing LEAN programme;
• continue to work with 500 senior business volunteers (Enterprise Advisers);
• extend the LEAN to offer support to an additional 125 mainstream schools, FE colleges and pupil referral units (100% coverage); and
• extend the LEAN to offer support to 50 special schools.

The programme will enhance the capacity of participating schools and colleges to deliver quality careers education. The LEAN will provide regular training and development sessions for careers leaders in schools and colleges so that they are better equipped to carry out their roles. This will result in young Londoners having better access to the information they need to make informed decisions about their futures.

We expect to see an increase in Gatsby Benchmark 5 and 6 as well as an increase in the average Gatsby Benchmarks being achieved by schools and colleges.

Continuing the delivery of the LEAN across London will also give the GLA direct and ongoing relationships with careers leaders in the vast majority of London’s secondary school and colleges. These relationships provide a mechanism for staff to signpost schools and colleges to other elements of the Mayor’s developing careers offer for London’s schools and colleges. It will also allow us to promote and share best practice in careers education provision, ensuring that more schools and colleges benefit from good practice.

Existing contracts with current service providers, Reed in Partnership and LB Redbridge, will be extended for a further year. For the expansion into special schools a separate procurement exercise will take place to ensure that service providers with relevant skills and experience are procured, in line with the GLA Contracts and Funding Code. Due to the timescales related to the procurement process, in order to be ready to begin delivery in September, permission for expenditure is sought now.

Delivery of the LEAN in light of Covid-19

In designing the continued delivery of the LEAN we have planned for the potential need to adapt the KPIs. Currently, KPIs focus on Gatsby benchmarks 5 and 6, which focus on meeting employers. Instead, Gatsby Benchmarks 1, 3 and 4 would be key (1- Developing and embedding a stable careers plan, 3- ensuring careers provision is tailored to every student and 4 – embedding careers into the curriculum). The GLA is working closely with the CEC and DfE on business continuity planning to ensure that young people will still receive the careers provision they need to make informed decisions about their futures whether they are in school full time or are still unable to access the school or college premises. We will require potential delivery partners to evidence their ability to adapt to Covid-19 and school and college closures in their bids, including how they would operate the LEAN if some or all of lockdown measures were to continue.

The GLA has experienced a swell in altruism and increased appetite from businesses in recent weeks to engage with local schools and colleges. The LEAN will provide an off-the-shelf initiative to allow businesses to engage and support schools, colleges and young Londoners. This supports the GLA's ambition to increase employer supported volunteering numbers in London and provides a means of skills development for employees (in-line with the Skills for Londoners Strategy).

The GLA is currently developing its Covid-19 recovery plan. As priorities and programmes are identified, the LEAN will play an integral role in both disseminating information and resources to senior leadership teams in schools and colleges across London and providing the GLA with timely intelligence about the needs and issues schools and colleges are facing.

Research by the Education and Employers’ Taskforce has informed the planning of this programme. Young people who have four or more encounters with the world of work while at school are 86% less likely to become NEET (Not in Education, Employment or Training) and will earn up to 22% more. The LEAN aims to increase business engagement in schools and advance equality of opportunity so that every young person has the opportunity to meet employers and experience work places therefore reducing the risk of them becoming NEET, regardless of race, disability, gender, age, sexual orientation, religion or belief, pregnancy and maternity and gender reassignment.

The EAN has worked with careers leaders in each school to address the needs of every cohort of students. The lessons learned from this have been reviewed and incorporated into the new programme, ensuring equality of opportunity between persons who share a relevant protected characteristic (race, disability, gender, age, sexual orientation, religion or belief, pregnancy and maternity and gender reassignment) and persons who do not share it, and to ensure the programme will foster good relations between persons who share a relevant protected characteristic and persons who do not share it, thereby meeting the Public Sector Equality Duty that is placed on the GLA by the 2010 Equality Act.

The development of the expanded LEAN programme has been informed by a review of the government’s Industrial Strategy, which states that there is a STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths) skills gap in the UK and girls are less likely to choose STEM subjects at A Level than boys. For this reason, we have worked with STEM Learning and other STEM organisations to recruit volunteers with a STEM background which will advance equality of opportunity for young people, specifically girls, in London.

We have worked with cross sector organisations to ensure our pool of over 470 Enterprise Advisers are diverse (in terms of race, disability, gender, age, sexual orientation, religion or belief, pregnancy and maternity and gender reassignment), therefore fostering good relations between persons who share a relevant protected characteristic and persons who do not share it.

Information on current London EA applicants shows that the LEAN is reflective of London as a whole:

• 55% of EAs are women;
• 45% of EAs are from BAME (Black and minority Ethnic) backgrounds;
• 8% of EAs identify as LGBT+;
• 5% of EAs consider themselves to have a disability; and
• 17% of EAs have never volunteered before.

Due consideration has been given to any conflict of interest (both existing and that may arise) and none have been found to exist.

The proposal directly supports one of the core objectives of the Mayor’s Skills for Londoners Strategy to ‘reduce barriers to participation in lifelong learning and progression in work, through the creation of an all-age careers offer’. Within the strategy, the Mayor has committed to ‘…extend and further diversify LEAN in many more London boroughs’.

We have worked alongside colleagues in the GLA’s Education and Youth team to ensure the LEAN aligns with their careers education work and supports the core objectives of the Mayor’s Careers for Londoners Action Plan.

If the GLA did not continue with the delivery of the LEAN from September 2020, income from the CEC (£1.08m match-funding mentioned previously) would also be lost. In addition, the GLA would lose the network of 492 schools and colleges and 500 business volunteers that allow us to effectively engage business volunteers and provide an effective way of engaging with the majority of London's schools and colleges.

There is a high level of need for careers support in London. Careers education provision remains patchy. A recent analysis shows that London schools have achieved an average of 2.38 of the Gatsby Benchmarks with those matched with EAs in the LEAN achieving on average 2.7. This compares to 3.3 for all schools and colleges nationally. The positive increase seen in LEAN schools and colleges shows that there has been improvement despite the relatively short period the LEAN has been active at scale. There is a risk that if London was to opt out of the EAN that this gap would further increase in comparison to other LEPs.

The Enterprise Adviser Network is a national, DfE-funded programme. Every LEP or Mayoral Combined Authority across the country has partnered with the CEC to deliver the Network. There would be considerable reputational risk if the programme wasn’t delivered in London.

The DfE National Careers Strategy and Statutory Guidance states that access to the EAN will be available to all secondary schools and colleges to support careers education. If funding is not secured London’s schools and colleges would not receive this support. Government has committed to match-funding contributions from local areas to help achieve full coverage of the EAN in each LEP area.

The reach of the LEAN in London is smaller than in other LEP areas. In every other area of the country apart from London the EAN is presently available in special schools. If the project does not expand to offer support for special schools there will be considerable reputational risk.

This investment in the LEAN will give London a careers support co-ordination function, which could be used going forward to direct and co-ordinate other elements of the Mayor’s Careers Offer.

Risks to the programme include:

Approval is being sought for expenditure of up to £2,065,000 which will span over two financial years (£1,281,000 in 2020-21 and £784,000 in 2021-22) towards the expansion of the LEAN programme.

Of the £2,065,000 total expenditure amount, £985,000 will be funded by budget transfers from the Skills and Employment Unit (specifically the Mayor’s Construction Academy and LEAN Expansion budgets) to the Team London Unit (who will be responsible for managing this programme). The remaining £1,080,000 being funded via the receipt of income from the Careers & Enterprise Company (CEC).

Below is a table showing the phasing of; expenditure, income receipts and GLA funding sources.

The foregoing sections of this report indicate that:

- the decisions requested of the Mayor concern the exercise of the GLA’s general powers, falling within the statutory powers of the GLA to do such things as may be considered to be facilitative of or conducive or incidental to the promotion of economic and social development in Greater London; and

- in formulating the proposals in respect of which a decision is sought officers have complied with the GLA’s related statutory duties to:

(a) pay due regard to the principle that there should be equality of opportunity for all people;
(b) 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
(c) consult with appropriate bodies.

In taking the decisions requested, the Mayor must have due regard to the Public Sector Equality Duty, namely the need to eliminate discrimination, harassment, victimisation and any other conduct prohibited by the Equality Act 2010, and to advance equality of opportunity and foster good relations between persons who share a relevant protected characteristic (race, disability, gender, age, sexual orientation, religion or belief, pregnancy and maternity and gender reassignment) and persons who do not (section 149 of the Equality Act 2010). To this end, the Mayor should have particular regard to section 3 (above) of this report.

In the event that the Mayor is minded to make the decisions sought Officers must ensure that:

- no reliance is placed on the CEC funding until after a legally binding commitment is in place in this regard and they are content that the GLA can comply with the terms attached to such provision of funding;

- the GLA’s contracts with the Reed In Partnership and London Borough of Redbridge are extended in accordance with their terms; and

- the further services required are procured by Transport for London Commercial who will determine the detail of the procurement strategy to be adopted in accordance with the GLA’s Contracts and Funding Code. Officers must ensure that the relevant contract documentation is put in place and executed by the successful bidder(s) and the GLA before the commencement of the services.