DD2673 Infrastructure equality, diversity and inclusion programme: primary schools outreach

1.1.    In 2020, the Mayor of London and his London Infrastructure Group (LIG) commissioned research into the key barriers to employing and retaining talent from across London’s diverse population. In response to the findings, the LIG and the GLA made four pledges, all of which seek to improve equality, diversity and inclusion (EDI) across the sector. These are to:
•    develop and facilitate a network of professionals committed to improving EDI in the infrastructure sector
•    reach every primary school in London to highlight potential careers in the infrastructure sector – promoting the sector more widely and highlighting pathways into the sector for underrepresented groups from an early age
•    facilitate reverse mentoring – either internal or cross-company – with a diverse range of employees and senior leaders to increase retention and facilitate a more inclusive culture
•    collect consistent, high-quality data on EDI across the infrastructure sector.
1.2.    In 2021, working with the Workforce Integration Network and several LIG member organisations, the GLA appointed Education for Employers to deliver an outreach programme to primary school pupils in years five and six. The resulting Building Future London programme surpassed its objectives – with 50 volunteers (including many from LIG organisations) reaching 3,451 pupils in 31 schools across London.
1.3.    The Building Future London programme demonstrated the following: 
•    There is appetite from schools and pupils for greater learning about what careers in the infrastructure sector can look like; and how they link to important and topical real-life issues that pupils relate to.
•    Seeing a diverse range of voices talk about their experiences in the sector can have a positive impact on children who might not previously have thought a career in the sector was available, or attractive, to them.
•    There is benefit in talking about careers in the sector overall; and for organisations across the LIG to develop an approach that can serve them collectively. 
1.4.    Given the success of the programme, and the continued importance of ensuring a diverse talent pipeline for the infrastructure sector, the views of EDI and HR specialists in LIG member organisations were sought about how the joint GLA-LIG EDI forum could add most value. 
1.5.    Many LIG partners already run successful school outreach programmes (including at primary-school level), covering topics including safety, building eco-conscious behaviours, and their organisation’s work. However, these programmes do not include a focus on EDI. It is therefore proposed to use the learning from Building Future London to develop resources that complement existing outreach schemes across the LIG, with a focus on highlighting future careers in the infrastructure sector. 
1.6.    The GLA will work with LIG partners to commission a curriculum showcasing careers from across the infrastructure sector to children from a young age. It will support existing efforts to ensure a diverse talent pipeline that can meet the needs of the infrastructure sector and the demands of a net-zero future.
 
1.7.    The work will: 
•    include a mapping exercise to understand the number and type of outreach activities currently taking place across LIG organisations 
•    identify synergies and opportunities for collaboration 
•    produce a curriculum that showcases careers in the infrastructure sector overall, and meets collective objectives 
•    include practical expertise and support (where needed) in how to deliver school outreach programmes 
•    result in a resource that can be easily adopted and integrated into existing outreach programs across LIG organisations.
1.8.    The stages of work to deliver across the objectives are as follows:
•    Phase 1 – mapping exercise: £20,000 will fund specialist consultancy support to map the number and type of career development and schools outreach activities currently under way across LIG organisations and the GLA Group. This is to inform the next phase of curriculum development, to ensure all opportunities for synergies and alignment are identified early in the process and, crucially, to avoid any duplication.
•    Phase 2 – curriculum development: £50,000 is allocated to appoint a specialist consultancy to develop a schools-outreach curriculum that highlights careers in the infrastructure sector to children from a young age. This is designed to be delivered by members of the LIG and complement their existing outreach programmes. Suppliers will be asked to demonstrate how they will deliver lesson plans and materials that can be easily integrated into LIG members’ current school outreach programmes. This integration approach should substantially increase the number of pupils served compared to the GLA undertaking delivery of a separate careers-based programme in isolation. 
1.9.    The GLA Infrastructure team will work closely with LIG organisations via the GLA-LIG EDI forum and a project-specific steering group to ensure that the procurement is designed to meet the needs of partners across the group and reflects their priorities. 
 

2.1.    Supporting organisations to highlight careers in the infrastructure sector from a young age delivers on the EDI pledge agreed by the Mayor and the LIG. This is to ‘reach every primary school in London to highlight potential careers in the infrastructure sector’ through promoting the sector more widely, and highlighting pathways into the sector for underrepresented groups from an early age.
2.2.    The objective of this project is to improve the diversity of the talent pipeline in the infrastructure and construction sector. The programme will help by: showcasing, to students and parents, the different roles and role models in the sector; challenging stereotypes and preconceptions, from a young age, about who can work in these roles; and ultimately making careers in the sector more attractive. 
2.3.    The evaluation of the Building Future London programme delivered in 2021-22 found that bringing diverse volunteers into the classroom had helped to inspire and influence both the children and their teachers. It helped them to engage with employers they had not engaged with before and broadened their horizons. The report recommended that more diverse role models from a wide variety of backgrounds should visit London schools. It also highlighted the scope to continue to disseminate interesting policies and practices and to help tackle the impact of children’s social and cultural backgrounds on their future career aspirations, for which there is strong evidence in the literature. 

2.4.    The development of the infrastructure schools-outreach curriculum will provide a flexible resource for LIG organisations to use in their own schools outreach. It will provide a new focus on highlighting careers in infrastructure; and showcasing diverse role models to ensure all children feel a career in the infrastructure and construction sectors is an option for them. We expect to see the positive results discussed above scaled up through the delivery of this curriculum by industry partners, as part of their existing and extensive outreach activities.

3.1.    Under section 149 of the Equality Act 2010, the Mayor and the GLA are subject to the public sector equality duty and must have due regard to the need to: eliminate unlawful discrimination, harassment and victimisation; advance equality of opportunity between people who share a relevant protected characteristic and those who do not; and foster good relations between people who share a relevant protected characteristic and those who do not.
3.2.    The “protected characteristics” are age, disability, gender reassignment, pregnancy and maternity, race, religion or belief, sex, sexual orientation and marriage/civil partnership status. The duty involves having appropriate regard to these matters as they apply in the circumstances, including having regard to the need to: remove or minimise any disadvantage suffered by those who share or is connected to a protected characteristic; take steps to meet the different needs of such people; encourage them to participate in public life or in any other activity where their participation is disproportionately low. This can involve treating people with a protected characteristic more favourably than those without one.
3.3.    This work supports the Mayor’s sixth equality objective, to ‘remove the barriers preventing children and young Londoners from realising their potential now and in later life’. This schools outreach programme, delivered as part of joint GLA-LIG EDI work programme, seeks to challenge preconceptions about careers in the infrastructure and construction sector, and highlight the opportunities that are open to all children in London, by showcasing diverse role models working in the sector today.
3.4.    It also supports several other strategic objectives in the Mayor’s EDI strategy. These are shown in the table below.

3.5.    The GLA Infrastructure team is working collaboratively with EDI and HR specialists from LIG organisations to deliver this work. This ensures that it not only delivers on the Mayor’s objectives, but also aligns with wider industry efforts to improve EDI in the sector, and results in practical and tangible tools that can be deployed by the sector themselves. 
3.6.    Through the procurement process, the team has set out EDI criteria to ensure the supplier appointed demonstrates company commitment to EDI. 
 

4.1    The key risks and issues are set out in the table below:

Links to Mayoral strategies
4.2    The project links with several Mayoral strategies, as outlined in the table below. 

Conflicts of interest
4.3    There are no conflicts of interest to note for any of the officers involved in the drafting or clearance of this decision form.
 

5.1    Approval is sought for the expenditure of £70,000 to fund two projects as part of the infrastructure EDI work programme. £20,000 is allocated to a mapping exercise of existing career development and schools outreach activities across the LIG and GLA Group. The remaining £50,000 is allocated towards the development of a stand-alone schools-outreach curriculum highlighting careers in the infrastructure sector. This will complement existing outreach activities undertaken across the LIG. 
5.2    This expenditure will be funded from the approved 2023-24 budget for Infrastructure Investment/Policy.
5.3    All expenditure will be incurred by 31 March 2024.

6.1    The foregoing sections of this report indicate that the decisions requested of the Executive Director for Good Growth (the “Executive Director”) concern the exercise of the Authority’s general powers and fall within the Authority’s statutory power to do such things considered to further or which are facilitative of, conducive or incidental to the promotion of social development 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.    

6.2    In taking the decisions requested, the Executive Director 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 (age; disability; gender reassignment; marriage and civil partnership; pregnancy and maternity; race; religion or belief; sex; sexual orientation) 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 Executive Director should have particular regard to section 3 (above) of this report.
6.3    This decision form seeks approval for the allocation of budget for the procurement of services.  Officers are reminded to comply with the requirements of the Contracts and Funding Code, when they undertake the procurements.  Furthermore, officers are reminded to ensure that an appropriate contract be put in place between the GLA and the relevant service provider(s), before the services commence.