Economic Inclusion Panel

The West Midlands Procurement Framework for Jobs and Skills (launched in March 2010) was developed for use by public and voluntary sector organisations to increase access to jobs and skills opportunities for local people through the procurement exercises they undertake.

The public sector spends and invests an estimated £220 billion annually on goods, services, capital assets and construction. Within the West Midlands the public sector spends an estimated £16 billion annually.

The Economic Inclusion Panel’s Research programme which published the regional economic inclusion baseline report;

The research programme is being managed by two groups - the Data Group and the Data Advisory Group. The purpose of these two groups is to ensure that the Panel is provided with data and evidence that supports its overall purpose. The Data Group is responsible for the collation and analysis of data around economic inclusion, not only to identify the headline themes, but critically to understand the detail of the complex picture and nature of economic and social exclusion.

The Data Advisory Group oversees the Data Group’s work programme, and ensures that the analyses and intelligence provided meets the Panel’s requirements.
The data information products developed by the groups to date includes:-

• Economic Inclusion Annual Report;

• Briefing Reports on health & disability, young adults and BME  groups;

• Economic Inclusion Indicators;

• Quarterly Recession Monitoring reports;

• Report on causes and factors influencing worklessness; and

• Report on the dynamics of worklessness.

The Economic Inclusion Panel’s Research Programme, with all research reports are available to download at wmro.org (Opens in new window).

Further information on the data groups and key documents

Health and Housing Mapping and Gapping - developing Worklessness Protocols for the Housing and Health sectors, linked to the West Midlands Integrated Employment and Skills Programme, led by Jobcentre Plus and the Learning and Skills Council;

A Health, Housing, Employment and Skills Group has been established to provide representation for the main regional strategic bodies that support the Panel’s activities. The alignment between Housing, Health and Worklessness is critical to ensure barriers are not restricting the effectiveness of the Integrated Employment and Skills system in helping individuals enter and progress in the labour market. The group will test the Integrated Employment and Skills Model within the Health and Housing sectors and ensure appropriate mapping and gapping/identifying barriers exercises for the sector are kept updated. The group  provide a strategic link between the health and housing and the employment and skills sectors working together towards agreed actions and priorities.

A summary of the key activities is set out below:

• Work strategically and operationally with the Health sector to successfully access the wide range of employment opportunities that arise in the NHS and social care, amongst initiatives such as `Future Jobs Fund`; Multi-Area Agreement; Public Sector Hub; and , AWM’s `Connections to Opportunities Programme`;

• Establish working arrangements between AWM, the LSC, JCP and the housing sector to facilitate effective partnership working across the region by ensuring the alignment is effectively carried out and the impact is measurable; and

• Explore fully the contributions Health providers can, and do, make to tackling Worklessness.
  

The group delivered its findings and recommendations to the Panel at their meeting on February 23rd 2010.

Health & Disability - exploring the means to enhance marketing of current employment and training provision to Incapacity Benefit recipients, linked to the Fit for Work Programme and providing advice and guidance directly to local people in GP’s surgeries;

The aim of this group is to develop proposals for the Panel in order to market the current support packages available to Incapacity Benefit 'stock' customers and explore how links to existing initiatives can create opportunities for the existing client group. The current activities have sought to:

• Identify what the offer to Incapacity Benefit (IB) stock clients is;

• Identify the number of IB clients resident within each upper tier local authority; and

• Identity the number and age of IB clients, by health condition, and duration of claim.

The group delivered its recommendations to the Panel meeting in February 2010. Task and Finish Group papers can be accessed via the related documents.

Related documents

Older Workers and Older Jobseekers - identifying the needs and channels for delivering advice and guidance to older job seekers and older ‘labour market returners’;

The aim of this group is to develop proposals for the Economic Inclusion Panel on delivering advice and guidance to older job seekers and older labour market returners.

The group focuses on the following areas of activity:-

• Understanding the labour market for individuals aged 50 and over; and considering the key factors which effect levels of employment in this age range;

• Identifying barriers which prevent older people accessing suitable jobs;
  Considering the suitability of current recruitment methods and support targeted at people aged 50 and over ; and

• Analysing and considering how training and support is provided in the workplace and how employers tailor support to individual needs.
  

The findings and recommendations on encouraging Jobseekers aged 50+ to take up employment opportunities will be presented to the Panel meeting in May 2010.

Better Engagement of BME Communities - taking forward outcomes of the DWP-funded regional event in November 2009 to consider ‘Narrowing the Gap’;

16% of the working population of the West Midlands is from a non-white ethnic group, compared to 12% for Great Britain.  BME communities in the region have an employment rate of 54% compared to 74% for the white population. This compares to a gap of 16 percentage points for England.  Employment rates vary significantly between different BME groups in the region - eg Indian males have an employment rate 15 percentage points higher than black/black British males.  Pakastani/Bangladeshi women have a very low employment rate of around 20%.
 
Discrimination, ‘education’, English language proficiency and living in disadvantaged areas have been identified as principal barriers to employment for BME groups.  BME groups are more likely than their white counterparts to be in insecure and low paid jobs, indicating that job retention and career progression are also relevant.
The purpose of this Task and Finish Group is to consider a range of actions that have the potential to improve engagement among BME communities, identify sustainable solutions to current BME rates of Worklessness and make recommendations to the Economic Inclusion Panel. 

Young People - to develop new forms of labour market support for the expanding cohorts of young people leaving full time education during the recession, and who will otherwise form the next cadre of long term unemployed adults (building on the Government’s Backing Young Britain announcement);

The purpose of this group is to develop and make recommendations to the Economic Inclusion Panel on proposals to help prevent the current cohorts of School, Further Education and Higher Education ‘leavers’ from becoming the next generation of Long Term Unemployed Adults.

To date activities have focused on:

• Increasing Public Sector opportunities: apprenticeships, graduate traineeships and work experience;

• Finding new ways to make better information and guidance available to Learners (aged 14-19) and to their families, to help them choose between learning and career options; and

• Promoting the benefits of employing local young people to local employers.
  

The group presented its findings and recommendations at the Panel Meeting on 23rd February 2010.

Regional Worklessness Network - to champion Best Practice in Tackling Worklessness, led by Improvement and Efficiency West Midlands (IEWM);

The Regional Worklessness Network supports partnerships in the region to drive improvements in performance in tackling worklessness, underpinned by more effective embedding of good practice.

The role of this Steering Group is to oversee the Network’s activities and ensure that there is effective, joined-up improvement support and learning provision.  The Network and Steering Group are both facilitated by Improvement and Efficiency West Midlands in partnership with regional stakeholders.

The Network Steering Group aims to:

• Ensure integrated support for the preparation of worklessness, child poverty and Local Economic Assessments;

• Promote customer-focused innovation through a  demonstration project in Cannock Chase, as a follow up to the Community Support Task Force case study;

• Promote co-ordination of learning and improvement support, including a regional events calendar;

• Develop proposals for strengthening evaluation evidence and practice and the more effective transfer and wider application of good practice; and

• Provide feedback to the EIP on ways of improving the delivery of worklessness programmes.
  

For updated information on the Regional Worklessness Network Steering Group, please refer to the EIP Coordinator's update report from each Main EIP Meeting.

Equality and Diversity Advisory Forum - to ensure that the Panel’s work is informed, supported and appropriately challenged