Agenda item

The Council’s Strategic Head of Inclusive Economy, Employment and Skills (SHES) delivered a presentationon Tackling Unemployment and Inactivity in Barking and Dagenham, which covered:

·  Context;

·  Unemployment as a borough priority and the Corporate Plan;

·  Inclusive Economy, Employment & Skills;

·  Supporting the hardest to reach – a review;

·  Strengths of the existing offer;

·  Areas for development;

·  Good practice;

·  expanding our cross-council work;

·  Challenges; and

·  Job Shop performance overview 2022-23

In response to questions from the Committee, the SHES stated that:

·  The figure of 4.9% in the report referred to the percentage of people in the Borough who were unemployed and the figure of 24.8% referred to those who were economically inactive – these were two different groups, with the latter referring to those who were not required to look for work. It was important to note that the term ‘economically inactive’ included people who may not be looking for work but added much value to their local communities in other ways and were not a burden to public services;

·  National childcare provision and entitlements have a huge impact on employment levels. For example, the take up of free childcare for those on Universal Credit had historically been low as people were put off by the requirement to pay up front and then request reimbursement. It was assumed that the proposed increase in childcare provision to 30 hours for 3- to 4-year-olds could have a positive impact on employment levels; however, this would also depend on other factors including the number of places and how childcare providers respond to the changes;

·  Black/Black British females were those most likely to be qualified to Level 4+, followed closely by Black/Black British males and Asian/Asian British males and females but also, the highest rate of unemployment in Barking & Dagenham was amongst residents of mixed ethnicity (both sexes) and Black/Black British residents (both sexes). Service users of the Council’s job brokerage service reflected the demographic of the Borough, and the Council was doing some targeted work to ensure disadvantaged communities were engaging with employment support, such as working closely with the Adult College, debt advice service, social care, community outreach approaches, and building partnerships with faith groups. The Strategic Director for Inclusive Growth noted that the above data was taken from the last Census and it was important to note that as the Borough was a fast changing one, trends since the Census may have already shifted and furthermore, that the significant number of new residents moving into the Borough to take advantage of its growing housing offer, would not have benefitted from much of the investments made in transforming the Borough’s schools and educational provision;

·  The visibility of the Council’s employment support services needed to be improved. There were plans to update the Service’s digital presence to make it more interesting and engaging. More work also needed to be done with the Council’s Communications team in relation to using social media more creatively, and conversations around this had already began. Having said this, visibility in relation to employment support in some sectors such as the new film studios, was high. The Job Brokerage Service also held regular in-person job fairs to engage residents, including a large one in Barking Town Centre recently attended by over 500 people, where employers were present to speak to people about a range of careers;

·  There was a dedicated website where residents could find out about opportunities linked to the new film studios. The Council had worked closely with the film sector’s skills body, ScreenSkills, to understand what the skills gaps were to help create pathways into secure careers. Work was now taking place with the industry and local training providers to develop training pathways in set building (joinery and carpentry), lighting (electrical installation) and production finance. There was also a longer-term ambition to create pathways to more senior jobs such as set, lighting and production design. Once established, the ambition would be to try to support 20-50 residents a year into meaningful careers in the film sector, as well as brokering job and supply chain opportunities, and supporting understanding of the sector through local school careers programmes;

·  The Council’s main source of quantitative data for the employment review was the Census, but this was also supplemented by qualitative work with target groups, wider evidence from services and the Council’s own administrative data;

·  The Council was working with primary and secondary schools around improving food education, which was supported by resources from the City of London linked to the relocation of London’s wholesale markets. There were plans to build a food school, working with Barking and Dagenham College and create future pathways into careers in the food industry. With regards to retention levels, the Council strived to support people into careers with good job prospects, for example, many of the opportunities being targeted in the film and food sectors were ones that could lead to better positions for those who wish to advance their careers in that industry. The Council’s Inclusive Growth and Adult Social Care teams were jointly implementing an Action Plan to improve the pay, quality, security and progression opportunities of jobs in social care, in order to improve retention levels and attract more people to apply;

·  The sector programmes led by the Council’s Inclusive Growth Service focussed on areas where there was projected to be jobs growth in the Borough. The Council was working with young people and parents to support them to understand the self-employed nature of jobs in the film sector, which may only appeal to those with an entrepreneurial mindset who were interested in working in the film sector. It was key for entry level jobs and the support the Council provides to be designed in a way that gave the person the relevant experience to progress in their career pathway in the sector and grow their income;

·  The food sector had both jobs that were highly skilled and well paid and low paid jobs with low security. The Council’s food sector strategic aims were to both create pathways into good jobs, as well as improving job quality standards in other parts of the sector – for example, by promoting Barking and Dagenham’s Council-owned, London Living Wage school catering service;

·  It was acknowledged that sustained employment outcomes were not where the Council wanted them to be. Various factors impacted this, including the use of fixed term contracts, as well as people’s personal circumstances such as being a carer, which meant that their employment did not fit in with the other things going on in their lives; and,

·  The Council’s Job Brokerage Service provided quality accredited, one-to-one, tailored support with job applications, interviews and various testing methods.

Members posed a number of further questions, which the SHES would respond to in writing at a later time.

[Following the meeting, a correction was made to the statement made in 2.1 of the report, which should have read “Of people aged 16 and over who were not in employment, Barking & Dagenham had the 3rd highest proportion (in England & Wales) who had never worked (42%)”].