Tag Archives: Skills

TGLP welcomes CBI call for growth in skills and employability

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The Thames Gateway London Partnership welcomes the publication of CBI’s briefing paper ‘Mapping the route to growth rebalancing employment.’

The paper which examines  the UK’s track record of labour market achievement and highlights the challenges for the future, supports a number of TGLP’s key objectives in particular the need for investment and growth in the employment and skills sector. TGLP welcomes the CBI’s call for change in order to avoid  ‘a polarisation of skills levels’ with more higher skills required in London. TGLP believes that it is essential  to invest in the long term and exploit the opportunities and talents available in the labour market.

TGLP Chief Executive Ros Dunn stated ‘TGLP welcomes the publication of CBI’s briefing paper which reinforces our concerns that the level of employment has unduly suffered during the economic downturn  and has affected the greater South East as much as the rest of the country. TGLP calls for greater investment in the skills sector and for the government to recognise that  the skills sector is one of the key drivers of employment growth.’

Notes to Editor:

  • TGLP is a cross river cross party organisation representing the 10 local authorities and 8 universities in the Thames Gateway area.
  • CBI’s ‘Mapping the route to growth rebalancing employment’ can be found here

BT Apprenticeship Scheme hits 50th Anniversary

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This national apprenticeship week see’s the 50th anniversary of the BT apprenticeship scheme. The scheme has successfully placed some 1,400 apprentices across the UK in the last five years alone. The scheme is recognised within industry as one of best in the country, and regularly works with other companies and learning providers to share expertise.

The scheme is continuing to recruit apprentices in and around London, and still has some vacancies in its current round of recruitment, which runs for another two weeks. BT’s current focus is on recruiting an additional 250 apprentices across the UK, including around 100 in London, to become fully-qualified Openreach customer service engineers supporting the roll-out of super-fast broadband. This time round, applicants will need to hold a minimum of five GCSEs (grades A to C, including Maths and English Language) and a UK manual driving licence. If you would like to register your interest please go to http://www.bt4me.co.uk/.

The current recruitment round will finish later this month, however BT anticipate starting another round in the Spring and anyone already registered that meets the minimum entry requirements will be reconsidered then if they are not recruited in the current cohort. The next round will include apprenticeships that do not specify a driving licence as part of the entry requirement. We fully encourage potential applicants to apply whilst the vacancies are still open.

TGLP Digital Gateway Seminar: The future of the Digital Economy in the Thames Gateway

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Leading economic commentator Will Hutton delivered the keynote address at the TGLP Digital Gateway seminar on Monday, where he praised the creative strength of the Gateway’s digital eco-system and called for increased co-operation and cohesion to realise the potential of the vital growth corridor; “The Thames gateway is a creative and cultural asset to the UK… the Gateway in its totality, borough by borough, will deliver the digital economy.”

The seminar, attended by well over 100 people, was held at Ravensbourne; the Greenwich Peninsula’s new state of the art HE college which specialises in creative and digital courses. The seminar accompanies TGLP’s most recent policy report, Digital Gateway: The future of the Digital Economy in the London Thames Gateway. The report brings together contributions from many of the key speakers and can be accessed here.

Also speaking was Mayoral economic policy director Anthony Browne, who emphasised the Mayor’s commitment to nurturing East London’s expanding knowledge economy: “London has always been at the cutting edge of technology… there is an extraordinary opportunity to develop the high tech cluster of businesses in East London”.

Elizabeth Varley, CEO of Shoreditch based TechHub, made the case for greater support for innovative digital start-ups in East London and spoke of the need for tax incentives and a creative environment to help spark entrepreneurialism.

The issue of Digital exclusion was also taken to task with all the speakers giving their suggestions for ways in which the digital skills gap in the Gateway could be bridged through a greater focus on education and digital inclusion courses. There was a strong consensus that Government at all levels should work to ensure that people are not left behind as the knowledge economy expands.

Click here to download the Digital Gateway: The Future of the Digital Economy in the London Thames Gateway report.

For any further information about the seminar or for a hard copy of the Digital Gateway policy report please contact David Courcoux on 020 7673 4685 or David@thames-gateway.org.uk.

You may also want to visit the UKTI Tech City website for all the latest information on the East London digital economy.

Prime Minister Announces New Technology Centre In Hackney

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This article is from the TGLP archive. It was originally posted on: 04/10/2010

The Thames Gateway London Partnership today wholeheartedly welcomed the Prime Minister’s plans to transform London’s East End into a world class technology centre. Speaking this morning in Shoreditch David Cameron pledged his government to creating a Silicon Valley style technology centre in East London.

Cameron’s announcement comes only days after the government highlighted the importance of the continued development of the London Thames Gateway in its White Paper on local economic growth. The paper recognised the Gateway as having significant growth potential and pushed for developments to drive forward investment and growth. Today’s announcement can be seen as a sign of the Government’s continuing commitment to follow through on this pledge.

The new technology centre will be located in the London Borough of Hackney which already houses the country’s largest grouping of creative industries. Among the businesses announced to be investing in the site are industry top guns Google, Facebook and Intel.

Speaking at the launch Prime Minister David Cameron said:

“Our ambition is to bring together the creativity and energy of Shoreditch and the incredible possibilities of the Olympic Park to help make east London one of the world’s great technology centres.”

The Thames Gateway London Partnership Chief Executive Ros Dunn said:

“The Government has sent a clear message in recent weeks that the development of the Thames Gateway is still a key priority. Today’s announcement builds upon Hackney’s existing position as the country’s top location for digital and creative business. Over 30% of the country’s creative industries are located in Hackney and now industry heavyweights like Google and Intel are understandably eager to join the fast growing business community. This clearly shows that Hackney and the London Thames Gateway has solidly established itself as an internationally recognised location for the creative and digital industries.”

  • The East London technology centre was announced by David Cameron on November 4th 2010.
  • According to 2008 figures Hackney houses 34.28% of the country’s Creative Industries. The Creative Industries are defined according to the Department for Culture Media and Sport’s guidelines.

Skills Statement by Heidi Alexander MP

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Please note: This is an archive file from TGLP’s previous website therefore the date and time stamp will not reflect the date of actual posting.

Heidi Alexander MP, Former Vice Chair, Skills and Employment

“We live in a fantastic world city where people get on with one another and where people, irrespective of where they come from, have the chance to succeed.”

Introduction

These were my words a year ago when I was asked about the best thing about London. Whilst none of us could have imagined the changes that have rocked the London economy over the last 12 months, it is more important than ever that we – the public sector and our partners focus upon what we can do to ensure that our residents still have the chance to succeed.

This is a critical time for the London Thames Gateway. Like everywhere else, things are changing quickly – rising levels of unemployment and a loss of confidence in the business base are compounding the challenges faced by our communities who have historically had low skills levels and exhibited above average levels of worklessness.

We need to work fast and as a partnership we feel we are well placed to respond: the councils are some of the biggest employers in each borough and the public sector as a whole accounts for over 25% of employment across the sub region. There are also real opportunities to tap into new and emerging markets; building global skills for a global city whilst mitigating the environmental costs of the decisions we make.

Our challenge in developing a response will include a review of the changing nature of job creation and where new job growth may be expected. This will give us the opportunity to better plan for future skills requirements, whether these are at new retail hubs such as Stratford City or in the emerging environmental technology industries. We will also consider how to improve the offer that will help to retain businesses in London Thames Gateway and increase confidence within our complex employer market.

I particularly want us to focus on three priorities in the coming year: tackling worklessness, work force development, and looking at how best to secure an educational legacy from the Olympic Games.

Effects of the economic downturn and worklessness

Even before the effects of the current economic crisis became apparent, there were already comparatively high levels of unemployment in a number of London Thames Gateway boroughs. The unemployment rate in eight of our eleven boroughs now exceeds the overall London average.

Our research suggests that the first effects of the economic downturn began to appear from June 2008 onwards, resulting in a sudden increase in jobseeker claimants. I said before that things are moving fast and this rate of increase has since accelerated, with the result that there are now an additional 13,000 jobseeker claimants across London Thames Gateway, an increase of 26%. Surprisingly, the increase in jobseekers is particularly severe in the outer London Thames Gateway boroughs. Bexley (+76%), Havering (+75%) and to a lesser extent, Redbridge (+48%) have witnessed significant increases in unemployment. Even within my own borough of Lewisham we have seen a 24% increase in jobseekers.

We will examine the role the public sector can play in tackling worklessness. We will work with central government to explore how we can best use apprenticeship programmes, looking at quality as well as quantity, and look at other options such as fast tracking unemployed private sector professionals into the public sector, where appropriate. We are also developing a Thames Gateway wide internship programme and will work proactively with the LDA who are charged with developing skills provision.

While it can seem as if all eyes are on the Olympics and the employment opportunities already being created, we must not lose sight of the other major infrastructure development coming to the sub region; Crossrail. We already know that 11,000 jobs will be created requiring specialist skills during construction and we must make sure that our residents have access to these jobs, and to the proposed specialist construction academies that will furnish the right skills for these jobs. We will also review the economic impact on the sub region and employment opportunities from Crossrail’s delivery, which could be substantial, particularly for our outer London boroughs.

Workforce development: the skills challenge and engaging with business

One of our biggest challenges will be to produce the level of skills required by the workforce in order to satisfy future demand for jobs. There has been a longstanding mismatch between the skills of local residents and the skills and competences required by employers, with overall skill levels in London Thames Gateway boroughs significantly below the London average. We must ensure that our current and future residents are equipped to compete in the open market; recognising that improved transport links will bring challenge as well as opportunity.

Part of this is about raising aspirations of children and young adults, increasing participation in post-compulsory education and widening access to higher education: all critical if local residents are to take advantage of the opportunities the Thames Gateway offers.

The eight higher education institutions that are part of the TGLP family already educate in excess of 116,000 students, 50% of whom are from the LTG area – and within a regional context their activities account for almost a third of total student provision. Additionally, through the development of KnowledgeEast, the business-focused network of eight universities and colleges in East London and Thames Gateway, employers have access to the expertise and facilities of 5,000 academics and some of the UK’s highest-rated research departments. These co-ordinated interventions between business and universities (knowledge transfer) will play an increasingly important role in developing the skills of our residents and markets of tomorrow.

World class Olympic legacy educational facility

We are extremely keen to play our part as the Mayoral proposal to develop a world class educational Olympic legacy facility in the Gateway develops. TGLP and our Higher Education Group want to ensure that the wider Gateway context is properly recognised and that we maximize the benefits of any new facility for our existing residents as well as new students who may be attracted to the Gateway.

Moving forward

Despite the current economic climate, there are encouraging signs of progress which should mean the London Thames Gateway will emerge strongly post-recession. There are more degree educated residents (+72,000 since 2005) and a decline in the number and proportions of residents with low skills. Even more encouragingly, there are signs that the improvements in skills across the sub region will continue. GCSE results have shown significant improvements and participation in post-compulsory education and training has also increased. There are now more people going into higher education in our boroughs (+43% since 1999), with higher numbers of highly skilled residents entering the local labour market. We must ensure this progress is maintained, and match the improvements in the skills of our residents with equal progress in generating new employment opportunities.