CD143 Employment and Skills Hub - Year 1 Expenditure

Park Royal is London's largest industrial estate. It accommodates a wide range of businesses from small start-ups to large multi-national brands which operate across a range of sectors. The Mayor's London Plan sets a target for an additional 10,000 new jobs and 1,500 new homes across Park Royal.

OPDC has developed a programme to support industrial regeneration over the next 10 years which seeks to address the most pressing issues and capitalise on opportunities. It has been developed through engagement with businesses and stakeholders and through work that forms the Park Royal evidence base.

The Industrial Regeneration Programme is structured around four themes:

• Innovation - setting the benchmark for the future of industry in London
  • Clean Growth
  • Energy Infrastructure
  • 5G Testbeds
  • Digital Connectivity
• Infrastructure - Building capacity to support growth and creating a safer, healthier environment
  • Transport
• Business and People - supporting businesses, employees and residents to thrive
  • Business Engagement
  • Employment and Skills
• Place - Create a more desirable place to live, work and visit
  • Placemaking
  • Promotion
  • Resilient communities

The E&S Hub is a collaborative effort between OPDC, London Borough of Brent, London Borough of Ealing and London Borough of Hammersmith & Fulham, the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) and West London College (WLC) (together "the Partners") to provide employment and skills services that will benefit local businesses, employees and residents.

The E&S Hub will be resourced over the three-year period from August 2020 through the HS2 BLEF grant, OPDC revenue budget and in-kind support from the partners above. The intention is that the future employment and skills work will be funded from contributions secured from section 106 funds, with the support of the delivery Partners allowing OPDC to deliver the E&S Hub in advance of sustainable section 106 funds and with the opportunity to extend the programme when this is secured.

The E&S Hub and its staff will be physically located in Park Royal. However, and in response to COVID-19, key business support, education and training and brokerage services can be delivered through online means, in an approach agreed with stakeholders and partners.

The key objectives for the E&S Hub are to:

• Help local people to gain the skills they need to access current and future jobs in the OPDC area - both getting into work and upskilling those already in work.
• Help local business recover, recruit, retain and develop a workforce with the skills they need.
• Help local businesses access supply chain contracts created by HS2 and OPDC infrastructure and development projects.
• Help meet the increasing construction skills needed across London
• Increase apprenticeship opportunities.

The E&S Hub will achieve these objectives by providing the following services:

• Recruitment - the E&S Hub will help local businesses, HS2, construction contractors and developers advertise and fill vacancies. It will support candidates through the interview process and provide feedback.
• Apprentice Support - the E&S Hub will help businesses navigate the apprentice system and improve internal business networks by encouraging larger businesses to work with SMEs particularly through schemes such as the transfer of apprenticeship levy to other organisations.
• Business Support - the E&S Hub will help SMEs with a range of issues from HR, finance and strategy marketing, as well as helping SMEs access supply chain contracts.
• Skills and training - the E&S Hub will signpost businesses, employees and residents to training provided by training providers as well as gathering intelligence from businesses on current and future skills needs.
• Outreach and mentoring - the E&S Hub will support existing outreach and mentoring programmes by helping participants access employment opportunities.

The table below sets out the expenditure for the first year of the E&S Hub project, which runs from 10th August 2020 to 9th August 2021.

E&S Hub Y1 programme expenditure (10 Aug 2020 - 9 Aug 2021)

The Hub will provide free recruitment services for business and residents and support to help businesses recover, recruit and retain staff. During its first year (which runs until 9th August 2021) the E&S Hub will focus on three main areas:

• Set up and governance
• Uncovering vacancies
• Retaining jobs

Set up and Governance

The E&S Hub Manager will formalise working and governance arrangements with the E&S Hub Partners. He will appoint an external organisation to develop an engaging brand for the E&S Hub. The brand will also provide a neutral space under which staff from different partner organisation can operate. The E&S Hub Manager will also appoint an external organisation to create a jobs vacancies board which will support reporting and monitoring and allow more candidates to access employment opportunities.

Uncovering Vacancies

The E&S Hub Manager will work with businesses to identify vacancies, promote the Kickstart Scheme and explore opportunity for apprenticeship levy transfer.

Retaining Jobs

The E&S Hub Manager will appoint an external organisation to deliver a 12-month programme of business support for SMEs and micro-businesses in Park Royal to assist businesses in managing the impact of Brexit and Covid-19 and help to retain jobs.

The organisation will provide the support through organising webinars, workshops and 1-1 support via telephone, video-call or face-to-face (GLA Safe Working Protocols permitting) and these will include topics such as:

• Covid-19 recovery
• Managing the impact of Brexit
• Business administration
• Financing your business
• Sales and customer service
• Digital skills
• Developing your workforce

The external organisation will produce ongoing monitoring and evaluation reports. These will be uses to understand demand and develop new products and services. Towards the end of the 12 month period, they will produce a final evaluation report and recommendations on future business support.

The E&S Hub delivery partners will work together to ensure that services delivered through the E&S Hub have 'due regard' to the need to (i) eliminate unlawful discrimination, harassment and victimisation; (ii) advance equality opportunity between people who share a relevant protected characteristic and those who do not; and (iii) foster good relations between people who share a relevant protected characteristic and those who do. Protected characteristics under section 149 of the Equality Act are age, disability, gender re-assignment, pregnancy and maternity, race, religion or belief, sex, sex orientation, and marriage or civil partnership status (all except the last being "relevant" protected characteristic).

The Hub Manager will work closely with Hub Partner to ensure that hard-to-reach and groups and those with protected characteristics have equal access to the services provided by the Hub. Where possible the Hub Manager will also work with organisations who provide information, advice, guidance and support to residents with physical and mental disabilities, ex-offenders, BAME, lone parents and women.

The Hub will also encourage Park Royal businesses to adopt good work standards such as the Living Wage, the Disability confident marque, Equal Opportunity policies, fair contracting and the Mayor's Good Work standard.

The Hub Manager will develop a Diversity and Inclusion Plan with annual targets for the number of beneficiaries supported into work from hard-to-reach and groups and those with protected characteristics. The Hub Manager will produce quarterly monitoring reports measuring progress against targets and, if necessary, appropriate action will be taken to improve performance.

Risks

The risk register is attached as Appendix A.

Governance

OPDC acts as the Administrative Authority for the project. OPDC will receive and administer financial contributions and will be responsible for all operational contracts for the E&S Hub such as leases and utility bills

OPDC have recurited a E&S Hub Manager who is responsible for:

• coordinating E&S Hub staff and financial resources;
• producing an annual delivery and communications plan;
• developing KPIs and delivering against targets and objectives; and
• reporting to the Employment and Skills Hub Delivery Board.

The Employment and Skills Hub Delivery Board (comprised of all delivery partners) will oversee the set up and ongoing delivery of the hub, including:

• approving the Annual Delivery Plan;
• approving the monitoring process;
• assessing the success of the Hub against agreed KPIs; making recommendations on improving delivery; and
• assessing the sustainability if the delivery model

The function and role of the Delivery Board will be set out in the Board's Terms of Reference and the Delivery Board will meet quarterly.

OPDC has been awarded £255,000 from HS2's Business and Local Economies Fund and OPDC will provide £140,000 from its Industrial Regeneration programme budget for the first three years of the E&S Hub project (which runs from 10th Aug 2020 to 9th Aug 2023).

Expenditure of up to £177,000 for year 1 of the project will be funded by the HS2 BLEF grant (£92,000) and the Delivery Directorates' Industrial Regeneration budget (£72,000 in 2020/21 and £13,000 in 2021/22)

Project officer(s) must ensure accurate records are kept and grant claims are submitted in a timely fashion so as not to expose the Corporation to financial risk.

Further expenditure is subject to the Corporation's decision making process.

The report above indicates that the decision requested of the Chief Executive falls within OPDC's objective of securing the regeneration of the Old Oak and Park Royal area and its powers to do anything it considers appropriate for the purpose of its objects or purposes incidental to those purposes, as set out in the Localism Act 2011.

In taking the decisions requested, the CEO 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 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 foster good relations between persons who share a relevant protected characteristic and persons who do not share it (section 149 of the Equality Act 2010). To this end, the CEO should have particular regard to section 3 (above) of this report.

Any services required must be procured by Transport for London Commercial who will determine the detail of the procurement strategy to be adopted in line with the OPDC's Contracts and Funding Code. Officers must ensure that appropriate contract documentation is put in place and executed by the successful bidder(s) and the OPDC before the commencement of the services.