MD2919 Mayor’s Academies Programme

1.1 The London Recovery Board has established the London Recovery Programme to restore confidence in the city, minimise the impact on communities, and build back better the city’s economy and society as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic. This will be achieved through the delivery of nine recovery missions, one of which is Good Work for All.

1.2 The Good Work for All mission aims to ‘support Londoners into good jobs with a focus on sectors key to London’s recovery’. There is a strong emphasis on Londoners who have been disproportionately impacted by the pandemic and face structural inequalities.

1.3 The establishment of ‘more sector specific skills academies in growth sectors, including the green economy, digital, tech, health and social care and creative industries […to] give young Londoners a competitive advantage in securing good jobs for them and London’s economy’ is also a key Mayoral priority as well as being sectors identified by the London Recovery Board which have significant vacancies and/or growth potential.

1.4 In terms of governance, the Skills for Londoners (SfL) Recovery Task and Finish Group sits as a subordinate body to the SfL Board and has overall oversight of the mission action plans and reports into the SfL Board and SfL Business Partnership. The project also reports to the London Recovery Board, ensuring that activities and objectives align with the outcomes and cross-cutting principles of the Recovery Programme.

1.5 As a result of the GLA’s ongoing engagement with London employers, hospitality was subsequently identified as an additional sector to be included in the programme remit, in light of its high vacancy rate as the sector reopens post pandemic.

1.6 The decisions set out in this MD were all considered and endorsed by the AEB Mayoral Board on 30 November 2021 (excluding decisions on the MAP’s capital element as this was taken by London Economic Action Partnership (LEAP) – please see paragraph 1.8 below).

1.7 The FECIF and SfLCP are Mayoral capital funding programmes to invest in estates and equipment of Further Education (FE) providers in London. The total funding programme is £214.1m and funds are Local Growth Deal Funds from HM Government and are given to Local Enterprise Partnerships (LEPs) to manage, in London this is the London Economic Action Partnership (LEAP). Though these programme funds are currently committed in full, up to £18.12m is due to be released as the original allocation or Covid-19 contingency is no longer required to deliver the project.

1.8 On 9 December 2021, LEAP approved the reallocation of all surplus funds from the FECIF and SfLCF programmes to the new capital element of the MAP, subject to the applicable deeds of variation being signed and executed for the release of funds committed to existing projects.

2.1 The objectives and programme delivery approach are established in MD2846. The objectives are:

• to help fill vacancies in priority sectors with skilled people
• to raise the profile of these sectors for potential applicants
• to get Londoners into good work (direct employment, apprenticeships, traineeships or self-employment/freelance work) in the sectors identified
• to support the FE sector to deliver industry relevant provision
• to gain insights into the priority sectors and to support specific groups of Londoners, including young black men, to overcome barriers to entry into the sectors identified
• to support employers and FE colleges to address structural barriers to engagement, recruitment, retention and progression for under-represented groups in their industry/workforce, as outlined in the Workforce Integration Network (WIN) toolkit.

2.2 The programme work strands include:

• hubs – revenue funding to support the development of partnerships between employers, training providers and others and AEB funding for job outcome incentive payments to training providers
• a Quality Mark awarded by the GLA to training providers who deliver high-quality provision which responds to the needs of the key sectors
• bespoke support for excluded groups, to help those facing structural barriers to accessing employment in the key sectors
• a communications campaign to champion adult education and careers in the key sectors to London learners
• capital funding – supporting the FE sector to deliver effective and relevant provision.

Outputs and outcomes targets

2.3 The hubs were requested to submit baseline data based on existing delivery where relevant, as part of their application process. In addition, there are a number of output targets directly linked to new activity which will result from hub partnerships activity. The outputs can be seen in Table 1 below.

Table 1 – MAP hubs target

2.4 Overall the hubs are forecast to deliver 11,880 ‘good work’ employment outcomes across the priority sectors over the lifetime of the programme. This forecast is based on officer assumptions around the overall proportion of employment outcomes which can be directly linked to coordination activity which will be interrogated further during the grant negotiation process. The GLA has also procured an independent evaluator to work with the hubs to fully capture the impact of delivery, including employment outcomes, that can be attributed to coordination activity.

Spending proposals

Academies programme budget

2.5 The MAP was approved by the Mayor under cover of MD2846 with a budget of £5m, of which £3.08m was allocated to the hubs, including £280k of underspend from the MCA.

2.6 Additional funding is expected to be available in future years (subject to full approval in the GLA budget) bringing the total budget to £13.278m including £2.5m of LEAP funds. If approved such funding in future years will enable more hubs to be funded and delivery of the hubs to be extended, potentially but subject always to further approvals, through to 2024-25, as well as the bespoke support for excluded groups and quality mark strands of the programme to be extended through to 2024-25.

2.7 Table 2 sets out the revised programme budget.

2.8 A further £50k underspend from the MCA programme (originally approved under MD2213 and subsequent funding approved under DD2285) is requested to be reallocated to the MAP in order that additional sectoral-focussed careers awareness raising activity can be funded. It has been included in the marketing and events budget of the table below, to be utilised in 2022-23.

Table 2

Hubs (£9.508m)

2.9 The approach to making available funding to deliver hub partnerships was approved under cover of MD2846. A hub is a partnership, formed of organisations such as employers/trade associations, training providers and other organisations operating in a priority sector that form a partnership to collaborate to improve the link between Londoners looking for employment and skills shortages that employers are looking to address.

2.10 Hubs will also facilitate employer engagement with appropriate WIN-led activity, with the aim of addressing underrepresentation. This includes signing employers up to toolkit actions and referring suitable employers to Design Labs. The hubs will also utilise WIN learning and methods to engage underrepresented groups in employment support activities.

2.11 Hub employer partners will engage with appropriate bespoke support to help them recruit and access excluded groups (known as WIN-led activity ) including signing employers up to toolkit actions, taking part in design labs where appropriate, and joining a community of practice to share learning across industries. The hubs will also utilise learning and tools developed under this strand to make their employment support activities more successful at engaging and supporting under-represented groups.

2.12 The hub opportunity launched on 2 August 2021 covered the creative, digital, green, health and hospitality sectors. Funding for social care hubs was not included at this time on agreement with social care stakeholders. In total 31 funding applications were received from a variety of FE and independent training providers, higher education institutions and private sector organisations.

2.13 It was agreed with Health Education England (HEE), that only funding for one pilot hub would be available through the MAP. Since this time and based on the strength of the health hub proposals, NHS England/Improvement (NHSE/I) and HEE have each agreed to provide to the GLA funding for one health hub (£250k each, £500k in total). Approval is sought for receipt and expenditure of these funds.

2.14 Following assessment, a total of 23 applications are recommended for funding award, subject to completion of due diligence. Appendix A contains the list of applications.

2.15 The total funding requirement of the applications recommended for award is £6.153m, which includes £500k funding being provided to the GLA by third parties as detailed in paragraph 2.13 and 2.14. Hubs awarded funding will deliver to March 2024. The total available funding including the NHSE/I and HEE contribution is £10.008m over the 2021-22 to 2024-25 financial years. An allowance of £2.588m is available in the budget to award further funding to the hubs to extend delivery through 2024-25, subject to their performance and the views and further approvals of the Mayor at the time.

2.16 Further to discussions with care sector stakeholders, approval is sought for expenditure and allocation of £1.250m for the delivery of a social care hub in each of the five Integrated Care System sub-regions. This would provide up to £250k per sub-region/hub for delivery over 2.5 years to March 2025. Each hub would need to build on existing infrastructure and involve relevant care organisations to collaborate and develop a local system of referrals and pathways into employment in the care sector. Hubs could either be standalone care hubs, or an expansion of an established health hub to respond to the needs of the social care sector. Applicants would need to provide a rationale for the structure of any care hub partnership and demonstrate support from partners for the approach taken.

2.17 The social care prospectus for funding will be launched in Spring 2022 with a view to awarding funding to social care hubs and delivery commencing no later than September 2022.

2.18 Funding for 2023-24 and 2024-25 will be subject to the budget approvals in March 2022 and is subject to change. To mitigate the risk that funds are not fully approved to allow for project continuation, termination for convenience rights, will be included in grant agreements. Agreement milestones, outputs and/or delivery profiles will also be structured in a manner to enable the recipients to sever their contractual obligations with third parties upon exercise of such rights by the GLA without incurring costs attributable to periods beyond the expiry of the termination notice periods and in any event in excess of the approved budget amounts at that point.

Hub – AEB job outcomes funding (£4.751m)

2.19 In order to support and maximise the delivery of Londoners with the right skills moving into employment, up to £6m AEB funding over three academic years (£2m in 2021-22, £2m in 2022 23 and £2m in 2023-24) was approved by the Mayor under cover of MD2846 to incentivise the focus of training providers on employability support to drive the progression of Londoners not in employment into employment in good work in the priority sectors.

2.20 This funding facility is available to AEB providers in receipt of AEB Grant, Procured or AEB Good Work for All funding, and confirmed as members of a hub partnership either at the point of award of hub funding or subsequently confirmed as a hub partner to the GLA and with the GLA’s approval.

2.21 Approval is sought for the award of the AEB allocations for each eligible AEB provider set out in Appendix B.

Quality Mark (£125k)

2.22 Building on best practice and learning from the MCA Quality Mark, the MAP Quality Mark will aim to incentivise accessible, industry-relevant provision that gets people into jobs. It will raise the profile of good provision to employers and Londoners looking for good work.

2.23 The MAP Quality Mark will cover all key sectors and the MCA Quality Mark which currently exists for construction skills provision will be rolled into this.

2.24 The revised budget of £125k will be utilised to procure an external supplier to manage the accreditation process over four financial years from 2021-22 to 2024-25 and deliver network activities to support best practice sharing.

Bespoke support for excluded groups (£1.630m)

2.25 To meet the programme objective ‘to support specific groups of Londoners overcome barriers to entry to the sectors identified’, an increased budget of £1.630m is set out for approval to enable delivery to continue across the extended delivery period.

2.26 Research is currently underway to gain a better understanding of the demographic make-up of the academies sectors. This will inform the development of sector-specific toolkits due to be published in April 2022 which will set out actions that employers can take to improve the diversity of their workforce with a specific focus on underrepresented groups. These toolkits will cover the green, creative, hospitality and health sectors – we have already published a toolkit for the digital technology sector. An alternative approach to supporting the care sector will be developed. We will work with the sector to understand key diversity-related workforce challenges and opportunities and identify the most relevant and effective resource for the sector.

2.27 In light of more hubs being funded through the programme than originally anticipated, changes will be made to the delivery of support for use of the WIN toolkits. This will take account of the increased number of employers by making available clear guidance on how hub co-ordinators can themselves support employers in their hubs to make effective use of the toolkits. The development of the Community of Practice will also aim to ensure that skills and experience built through the Design Lab process are shared more widely across employers engaged with the hubs.

2.28 Additional funding for this strand of activity will enable the delivery of more Design Labs (£900k) meaning that, over three years, 90 large employers engaged through the hubs will take part in the Design Labs programme. This will be an opportunity for large employers who have proactively engaged with the hubs and have significant future recruitment plans to address the specific diversity and inclusion challenges their organisations face. As sector leaders, these businesses will also co-design and lead a Community of Practice for the wider sector, setting industry standards and influencing sector-wide change.

Capital

2.29 Approval is sought for the receipt of all surplus FECIF and SfLCF funds into the MAP capital element. Approval has already been given by the LEAP on the 9 December 2021.

2.30 If approved, funds will be reallocated to support investment in skills estate and equipment in London to enable training providers to respond to existing and emerging skills needs, specifically those identified by the MAP including green, creative, digital, health and care and hospitality. A project prospectus will be issued, and a competitive grant application process undertaken to identify recipients of such funding. The programme will respond to the aims of MAP, the Skills Roadmap, new and emerging priorities, and building on the aims for capital investment established in the FECIF and SfLCF programmes. Priorities are subject to further review and consultation but might include delivering high quality, inclusive learning and training environments. It will support the Skills Roadmap by supporting the development of sector-specific training environments and encourage more co-location of learning with other activities and services.

2.31 The exact amount of funding available for reinvestment cannot yet be confirmed as current commitments under the FECIF and SfLCF are expected to release their surplus funds over the course of the next few months. Current estimations of available funds are up to £18.12m. The value of the proposed investment will be confirmed in a future Mayoral Decision once a thorough review of all currently FECIF and SfLCF projects has taken place.



Approved delegation

2.32 Future MAP programme level decisions within the scope of this decision will be delegated to the Executive Director for Communities and Skills via a Director Decision form. This may include approval to receive and spend additional funds secured for the programme such as those requested from NHSE/I and HEE and operational decisions such as reprofiling of funds or output delivery.

2.33 The above delegation seeks to allow programme-level and operational decisions to be made at officer level. It does not override the Mayoral decision-making in the GLA framework whereby any decisions deemed to be novel, contentious or repercussive must be decided by the Mayor.

2.34 Any decisions relating to AEB expenditure are subject to separate processes approved by the Mayor under cover of MD2736 – Changes to AEB Decision-Making.

3.1 Section 149(1) of the Equality Act 2010 provides that, in the exercise of their functions, public authorities must have due regard to the need to:

• eliminate discrimination, harassment, victimisation and any other conduct that is prohibited by or under the Equality Act 2010

• advance equality of opportunity between persons who share a relevant protected characteristic and persons who do not share it

• foster good relations between persons who share a relevant protected characteristic and persons who do not share it.

3.2 Relevant protected characteristics are age, disability, gender re-assignment, pregnancy and maternity, race, religion or belief, sex, and sexual orientation.

3.3 The interventions outlined in this MD are aimed at supporting those most at risk from the impact of the economic crisis brought on by Covid-19. Priority groups include learners from Black, Asian and minority ethnic communities; learners without basic skills; learners with special needs or disabilities; lone parents; and low-paid learners. However, the groups referenced in the Good Work for All mission are also considered to be priority groups and include those hit hardest by the pandemic including young people; newly unemployed people; people with caring responsibilities; people at risk of redundancy; and Londoners with the most complex needs, such as disabled Londoners and the long-term unemployed. The GLA has consulted on the equalities impact of these changes with key sector representatives, and will closely monitor, review, and evaluate their impact.

3.4 Equality, Diversity, and Inclusion is a cross-cutting principle across the London Recovery Programme.

3.5 A sectoral workforce analysis of priority sectors is currently under way to better understand the obstacles facing under-represented Londoners hardest hit by the Covid-19 pandemic; this will help to inform WIN and Academies delivery. The research will identify where under-representation exists; reasons for under-representation; and opportunities to address under-representation through the activities of the Good Work for All mission.

Links to Mayoral strategies

4.1 The programme outlined in this MD aligns with commitments made in the Mayor’s SfL Strategy. It will support the London Recovery Board’s Programme and the Helping Londoners into Good Work mission. In addition, the programme will support the Mayor’s 2021 manifesto commitment to establish more sector-specific academies.

Risks arising/mitigation

4.2 Key risks and mitigation measures are outlined below. This may be refined following further stakeholder engagement.

4.3 There are no conflicts of interest to note from those involved in the drafting or clearance of this decision form.

5.1 This report seeks approval for:

• expenditure of £14.108m, £13.608m to be spent as set out in Table 2 at paragraph 2.8 plus £500k on two further health hubs at £250k each as set out in paragraph 2.13

• expenditure of a further £4.751m on the successful AEB providers who are part of the hubs to pay for job outcomes outlined in Appendix B

• the planned approach to allocating £1.25m of funding (included in the £14.108m above) to social care hubs.

• the reallocation of £50k underspend from the Mayor’s Construction Academy (MCA) to the MAP in 2022-23 to support marketing activity

• the receipt of £500k (£250k from NHS England and Improvement and £250k from Health Education England) to fund the second and third highest scoring health hubs, also detailed in Appendix A

• The reallocation of £18.120m of returned funds from the Further Education Capital Investment Fund and the Skills for Londoners Capital Fund to the Mayor’s Academies Programme capital fund.

5.2 The funding for the £14.108m of expenditure set out in paragraph 5.1 is made up of:

• the planned budget allocation for the years 2021-22 to 2024-25 as set out in the 2022-23 GLA: Mayor’s budget submission (£13.278m)

• receipts from NHS England and Improvement and from Health Education England (£500k)

• Mayor’s Construction Academy reallocation approved in MD2846 (£280k)

• Mayor’s Construction Academy underspend approved in this decision (£50k).

5.3 The funding for the additional AEB hubs of £4.751m comes from the AEB budget.

5.4 The funding for the capital element of the MAP of £18.120m comes from returns on the FECIP and the SfLCF.

5.5 The budget allocations of 2022-23 to 2024-25 are subject to approval through the annual budget process. Break clauses will be included in the appropriate

6.1 The foregoing sections of this report indicate that the decisions requested of the Mayor concern the exercise of:

6.1.1 the GLA’s general powers, falling within the GLA’s statutory powers to do such things considered to further or which are facilitative of, conducive or incidental to the promotion of economic development and wealth creation in Greater London and in formulating the proposals in respect of which a decision is sought, officers have complied with the Authority’s related statutory duties to:

• pay due regard to the principle that there should be equality of opportunity for all people
• 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
• consult with appropriate bodies

6.1.2 ministerial functions delegated, by the Secretary of State for Education, to the Mayor pursuant to section 39A of the Greater London Authority Act 1999.

6.2 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) 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.

6.3 The Mayor may delegate the exercise of the GLA’s powers to the Executive Director – Communities and Skills as proposed should he wish.

6.4 If the Mayor is minded to make the decisions sought, officers must ensure that:

6.4.1 no reliance is placed upon:

• any third party funding until the GLA has agreed, entered into and executed related funding with the relevant third party funders and they are content that their project proposals can be delivered fully in accordance with the terms of the same
• GLA funding stated to be “subject to confirmation through the budget setting process” until that process has been completed
• future AEB funding until it has been committed legally by the Department of Education

6.4.2 termination for convenience rights are included in grant agreements and milestones, outputs and/or delivery profiles are structured in a way which enables recipients to sever their contractual obligations with third parties upon exercise of such rights by the GLA without incurring costs attributable to periods beyond the expiry of the termination notice periods and in any event in excess of the approved budget amounts at that point

6.4.3 to the extent that expenditure concerns the:

• award of grant funding, that it is distributed fairly, transparently, in manner which affords value for money and in accordance with the requirements of the GLA’s Contracts and Funding Code and grant funding agreements are put in place between and executed by the GLA and recipients before any commitment to fund is made
• payment for services, those services are procured in liaison with TfL Procurement and in accordance with the GLA’s Contracts and Funding Code and contracts are put in place between and executed by the GLA and contractors before commencement of such services
• variation of existing agreements, such variations are actioned and documented in accordance with relevant provisions of those agreements.
  

• Appendix A – Successful hubs

• Appendix B – AEB providers securing AEB job outcome funding as part of a successful hub