Around 60 year 8 and 9 students from Redbridge took part in the grand final of the Young Dreamers Awards on 6 June 2023.

The brainchild of CGI, one of the world’s largest IT and business consulting services firms, the awards sought to promote STEM subjects and careers to young people in a way that was fun and inclusive.

Collage of images including picture of Lord's cricket ground, students presenting to judges' panel, stand showing students' presentation and students looking at CGI stand.

Students from Caterham High School, Oaks Park High School, and Chadwell Heath Academy arrived at the ultimate round of the competition at Lord’s cricket ground as the best teams from previous rounds.

As they set out their projects on the presentation stands, it was clear they were keen to impress the panel in this friendly but high calibre competition.

The students were treated to a cricketer’s dream tour of the grounds, before coming back to present to a panel of C-suite judges from CGI, NCA, Ministry of Justice, and the Crown Prosecution Service.

Benefitting from mentoring from CGI employees, the best science, technology, engineering and maths teams from the schools faced the following challenges that drew out their soft skills as well as STEM thinking.

Judges on each panel made their excruciatingly difficult decisions based on how well the teams had addressed the challenges as well as their teamworking, research, creativity and presentation skills. It was tough. There could only be one winner in each category.

The STEM Challenges and winners

Picturs of all the winning teams on stage holding their award certificates.

Read the latest news from the Local London Career Hub

Visit the Careers Hub website.

At the end of last month, Business LDN submitted the draft London-wide Local Skills Improvement Plan (LSIP) to the Department for Education, comprising an overall report for London and our sub-regional annex, along with those for the capital’s other three sub-regions.

Taking an employer-led approach to addressing local skills needs, hundreds of representatives from businesses, education providers and public sector stakeholders contributed to the development of our LSIP. Huge thanks to everyone who contributed.

Sarah Murray, Director of Local London said “Hearing from employers as well as training providers and public sector stakeholders has unearthed some very discernible gaps, as well as potential solutions, that are distinct to our boroughs. There are some shared skills needs across London, such as health and social care, but how these manifest in our sub-region is different to other London sub-regions. I am delighted that the London plan recognises this.”

Headlines from the Local London LSIP

Clear themes and actions came through from our conversations, including:

LSIP next steps

Whilst we await sign off by the Secretary of State, we are developing plans for the next stage of the LSIP and how we can continue that conversation with employers, providers and other stakeholders in our sub-region.

To be part of improving local skills provision in this part of London, please contact: lsip.locallondon@redbridge.gov.uk

The final published report will appear on our website and will let you know when it’s published.

Call to all Training Providers within Local London

As well as the progress being made on the LSIP, the Department for Education also recently launched the Local Skills Improvement Fund (LSIF), which has been designed to enable training providers across a sub-region to respond collectively to the priorities in the local skills improvement plans (LSIPs). FE providers have agreed that the lead applicant for our sub-region will be LSEC.

If you are a training provider working within the Local London sub-region and would like to know more about the project, please contact Liz.lake@lsec.ac.uk

We will share further updates on LSIF when we can.

Find out more about our LSIP work.

Local London’s Work and Health Programme is continuing to make a difference to people across our boroughs. The programme supports people who have disabilities or long-term health conditions, are long-term unemployed, or have specific barriers to finding sustainable employment.

The programme has had a fantastic start since it was extended in November 2022. With all stages of the programme out-performing expectations dramatically, from referrals to job starts and sustained employment.

This means that more people in our boroughs are getting the life-changing support they need, like Leon who said “I was really struggling with my current situation and needed to work. I’m now working Monday to Friday and starting to build a good life for myself”.

These improvements are the results months of detailed reviews our team have been undertaking into specific areas of the Work and Health Programme in detail to ensure it is making a positive difference for residents.

We have looked at the way our partners manage caseloads, onboard people, and engage with employers. As a result of these no-stone-unturned reviews we have implemented changes which are being reflected in the programme’s performance.​

Sarah Murray Director of Local London said “It is no accident that our numbers are soaring above expectations. We are looking in detail at the whole process from onboarding to in-work support to ensure we can help more of our boroughs’ residents. The actions we are implementing at every stage mean more people who need this support are getting it.”

Graphic showing Work and Health Programme first quarter results in 2023. Referrals 89% above target. Programme starts up to 79% above target. Job starts up to 100% above target. Sustained employment 158% above target.

More and better targeted referrals

Over the past few months, our team have been visiting job centres and diligently working on the ground with staff from our delivery partner, Maximus, to advise and facilitate better working relationships and awareness of the programme in job centres across all our boroughs. Month-on-month, this has led to a greater number of eligible residents being referred and fewer having to be turned away to other support.

Demand has been much higher than anticipated. Having worked with partners to raise awareness of the programme, the number of referrals exceeded expectations by 82% in the first quarter of 2023.

​As well as seeing a higher number of referrals, we are seeing more people who meet the eligibility requirements referred to the programme. In March 2023 79% of residents referred were able to start on the programme, reflecting the important work being done in job centres to raise the profile of programmes offered and ensuring residents are referred to the programme that best suits their needs.​

Residents can be referred onto the programme via our member boroughs’ job brokerages services as well as job centres. With both referral routes working better the number of people who are now in work thanks to the programme is 75% higher than expected​. We are continuing engage with our boroughs’ services to ensure referrals via boroughs’ teams are optimised too.

Working with our delivery partners the programme has been able to provide more residents with the support they need to get into work, like Yousuf who told us “If it wasn’t for Csilla, supporting me with my CV I wouldn’t have bothered carrying out job searches and would still be in the same position as I started. I have now gained my confidence back. Thank you Csilla.”

More job starts and sustained employment

We are continuing to work with Maximus to help those on the programme find roles, and to encourage more collaborative working across boroughs. We supported and facilitated a jobs fair where job seekers could find out about local opportunities, interview and which resulted in job offers on the day and further strengthening relationships between partners and local employers. We are planning more across our boroughs.

Job starts have increased month on month, peaking with 100% more than anticipated in March 2023. With the referral process improved we expect more participants join the programme and or this trend to continue.

We are focussing now on driving sustained employment, and are working jointly with the Integration Hub to ensure residents continue to receive support they need once they have moved into employment​. In the first three months of 2023, we were 158% above our baseline.

The Local London Work and Health Programme provides up to 21 months support for people who have long-term health conditions and/or disabilities or have been unemployed for 24 months or more.

Funded by The Department of Work and Pensions (DWP) and European Social Fund (ESF), we work with Maximus and manage the programme on behalf of our boroughs – Barking and Dagenham, Bexley, Bromley, Enfield, Greenwich, Havering, Newham, Redbridge and Waltham Forest – to help more people get into and retain good jobs.

Logos for the Local London Work and Health Programme, Department for Work and Pensions, European Social Fund and Maximus.

On Thursday 20 April we held a free webinar led by the creator of the data warehouse to help colleagues across our boroughs to discover some of the interesting features of this powerful comparison tool.

The recently updated data warehouse now brings together datasets covering our nine London boroughs on topics such as population, skills, employment, ethnicity and much more. This makes it a useful resource for policy makers, researchers, campaign planners and anyone interested in understanding our boroughs and our sub-region.

⇒ Watch the recording of the webinar to:

Sarah Murray, Director of Local London said “We know that blanket assumptions about London don’t reflect the complex tapestry of demographic, economic and other factors that make our boroughs and sub-region what it is. Our Local London Data Warehouse is a powerful tool for anyone wanting to see in detail current and historic data from our boroughs and for making fair comparisons with the rest of the capital and national averages.”

⇒ Explore the Data Warehouse

Employers from a range of sectors came together to discuss the skills needed for a future green economy at CEME Business Campus in Rainham on 26 April.

Thousands of new jobs will be created over the next few years, fuelled by major urban and industrial developments across our region, including the new Thames Freeport and development of a hydrogen ecosystem, as we move closer to London’s target of reaching net zero by 2030.

Hosted at CEME, which has recently been chosen as the preferred site for a £29m Hydrogen Living Lab, discussions around the region’s green skills needs were stimulated by the Local London Green Jobs and Skills Partnership. This partnership, led on behalf of Local London by London South East Colleges (LSEC), comprises colleges, local authorities and employers working together to develop and promote high-quality green skills training across London.

Decorative: woman's hand holding a seedling.

Sarah Murray, Director of Local London joined Mark Jenkinson of green consultancy Crystal Associates, and Louise Wolsey, Group Chief Strategy Officer of London South East Colleges, to address representatives from around 100 large and small businesses about the importance of collaboration and ways to support the next generation of employees, such as upskilling and improved training facilities.

The speakers were keen to impress the following key recommendations to provide equal opportunity and the necessary skills and tools for local people to access the green jobs of the future, namely:

Breakout sessions were also held for delegates to discuss what colleges can do to help employers close skills gaps and also to explore the importance of building future skills. This included funding for green laboratories at further education colleges to develop career pathways in key technologies, with focus on low-carbon and renewables and design technologies, and the vital role of collaboration with businesses.

Sarah Murray, Director of Local London said “We have a huge opportunity ahead of us regarding green jobs. It is very fitting that we are holding this event at CEME business campus today, as some of these green jobs could well be here at a future Hydrogen Living Lab facility.

In our sub-region these green jobs are set to increase three-fold by 2050. It is vital that people living here have the skills to take on these roles as they become available now and in the long term. I am absolutely delighted that the Local London Green Jobs and Skills Partnership, led by LSEC, is bringing together education, employers and other stakeholders on this agenda.”

Group Chief Strategy Officer at London South East Colleges, Louise Wolsey, said: 

“As an FE College, we are committed to supporting our students into fulfilling careers in exciting industries – and the green sector offers exceptional opportunities. But to maximise this, we need to continue enhancing our collaboration with both SMEs and large employers.

“Together we can close skills gaps, grow the economy and support our local communities with access to great green jobs – via reskilling, establishing industry standard qualifications and improved training facilities and flexibility in FE.

“The Strategic Development Fund has facilitated some really important work in this area and we are looking forward to building on this, together with our Mayoral Academy partners.”

Mark Jenkinson, CEO at Crystal Associates, added:

“Without doubt there needs to be a much greater urgency with the implementation of climate change plans. Effective national policies are needed, but the future of Net Zero must focus at a local level

“To achieve this, we need to bring businesses, educators and communities together. With the ambition to double the size of London’s Green Economy by 2030, there is much work to do – but the opportunities that exist are huge.

“Employers are being asked to make a pledge to support this drive. I’d urge them all to do this and for everyone to play their part in this important movement.”

Find out more about green jobs that are set to boom in this part of London.

For more information about the partnership, the work being done and the opportunities available across the region, visit www.LSEC.ac.uk

Discover more about CEME business campus in Rainham –focused on business growth, innovation and development ceme.co.uk

Our E-business programme has plenty to celebrate. The free programme has helped hundreds of SMEs to learn how to use digital tools to grow their businesses, resulting in £10 million increase in business turnover across our boroughs.

On Thursday 20 April 2023 our partners South East Enterprise, who run the programme in Greenwich and Bexley, hosted an event with Bexley Business and Employment (BBE) at the Bexley Civic Offices celebrating some of the programmes successes.

Benefitting from a collaborative approach taken in the borough, the programme has safeguarded over 200 SME jobs, created over 75 new jobs in SMEs and increased revenue by £2.4million.

SMEs helped through the programme poured into the room at 6pm, excited to share their stories and network. Many of the event’s suppliers had been helped by the programme, including Graham Baker the evening’s official photographer, who contacted the programme to enhance his online marketing expertise. Read Graham’s story.

Cllr Baroness O'Neill addresses Bexley E-business celebration

Cllr Baroness O’Neill addresses Bexley E-business celebration

Local London Chairman and Leader of Bexley, Cllr Baroness Teresa O’Neill OBE opened the event, welcoming local business owners “I am proud to say that partnership work between South East Enterprise and the Council’s BBE service is proving to be extremely successful in supporting our business community and ‘Making Bexley Even Better’.  The programme is also working with our town centres to develop further positive engagement and address the digital divide that many businesses are facing.”

Sarah Murray, Director of Local London, added “The South East Enterprise team are doing a fantastic job. SMEs play a significant role in the local economy in north east and south east London, to see that the E-business Programme is making such a positive difference to small business owners here is hugely important. This is another success story for devolved funding. The model works brilliantly!”

Tony Goldstein, Director of South East Enterprise, spoke warmly of the business owners he’s met through the programme which matches you with an advisor who will help you develop a plan bespoke to your needs; from developing your website to TikTok marketing and everything in between.

Picture boards about 7 of the SMEs helped by the programme

Tony was joined by Jennie Blake owner of Serenity Sessions, a Bexley-based business that provides wellbeing training to help organisations build resilient teams.

Jennie Blake addressed the room of SME owners: “I want to express my gratitude to the programme and especially my advisor. I can’t even tell you the value Rebecca added, she became my mentor, cheerleader, proof-reader, and marketing guru. With her I was never alone. She helped me keep on track and grow my business. In fact, between year one and year two I doubled my turnover. She gave me the push I needed to get Serenity Sessions on Linkedin and I got one of my biggest contracts from there. Working a lot with charities who work with vulnerable people I am now able to reach more of them and help them to build their teams’ resilience so they in turn can help more people. Huge, huge thank you. And yes, it is free. There is no catch. You should get on the programme if you are an SME owner.”

Local businesses were entertained on the evening by students from Rose Bruford College in Sidcup, The Barley Ducks duo.

South East Enterprise will be running their first drop-in E Business Booster Session in May.  This is designed to generate ideas that will give businesses some quick wins. Find out more.

Find out more about the programme near you:

The Local London’s E-business programme provides free face-to-face support and advice for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in who want to know how to make the most of digital software and marketing tools to help their businesses succeed. Across our boroughs the programme has supported over 800 SME businesses.

More opportunities for businesses

Help us develop a local skills improvement plan to help close skills gaps and ensure local people have the skills to take up jobs: Local.london/lsip

Want to inspire young people to consider a wide range of careers? Find out about joining our careers programme as a volunteer and sharing your story with students: careershub.east@redbridge.gov.uk

Employers, training providers, third sector, and other stakeholders can still get involved and help shape a better future for our learners, workers and businesses.

Employers in our nine London Boroughs north and south of the river have been sharing their views on how to work with training providers and local stakeholders to safeguard against skills shortages in the future. This employer-led approach will identify real-life skills needs and key changes required to enable local training provision that is responsive to market needs.

You can still get involved.

Give your views on the first draft for our sub-region

Alongside the consultation above, we would welcome your views on the first draft of the Local London Annex to London’s Local Skills Improvement Plan.

Share your views by midnight Thursday 4th May 2023 by emailing lsip.locallondon@redbridge.gov.uk

Image of three people dressed in hi-viz jackets and hard hats on a building site looking at a large map.

Ongoing Conversation

We are keen to work with employers, education providers and stakeholders to ensure that the plan develops and is implemented with evolving local needs.

If you would like to find out more about our LSIP work and how you can be involved in its development, please contact: lsip.locallondon@redbridge.gov.uk or visit local.london/lsip to find out more.

Skills Improvement Consultation

BusinessLDN sought feedback on its findings to ensure the final London Local Skills Improvement Plan (LSIP) report works for business, for skills providers and most importantly of all for Londoners. This will be submitted to the Secretary of State at the end of May.

The draft included separate annexes for research gathered from London’s four sub-regional partnerships which highlights the shared and different needs across the capital.

Sarah Murray, Director of Local London, commented “Looking at skills from an individual borough or single-London perspective would not be the right scale, I am delighted that the London plan recognises that the priorities across the capital are different. Not only does it highlight contrasting priority sectors sub-regionally, but this suggests differences in shared areas, such as health and social care.”

Findings from our engagement identifying priority skills needs in our boroughs were outlined in pages 49-56 in the main consultation document. The consultation closed on 27 April 2023.

 

(Edited 28.04.23)

Published today, our exciting, new 3 year plan ‘Towards 2026’ sets out the direction and ambitions of Local London, one of the fastest growing parts of London and an engine of growth for the UK.

This is ‘London’s leading edge’ and with a focus on People, Place and Sustainability, the plan emphasises the importance of working together on common issues; outlining how we will advocate, fundraise and manage programme delivery for the benefit of our nine member boroughs, and the 2.6 million people and 100,000 businesses here.

Councillor Baroness O’Neill of Bexley OBE, Chairman of Local London, said “I am pleased to present to you the Local London plan ‘Towards 2026’. This sets out our Leaders’ and Mayor’s renewed commitment to this sub-regional partnership. This is an ambitious vision for the future of our sub-region, which we can achieve through strong collaboration, partnership, and a with a focus on people, place, and sustainability.

By working together, we can be a stronger voice and find solutions to common problems that affect our communities and residents across our nine boroughs. Working closely with stakeholders in London, the UK Innovation Corridor and Thames Estuary, we will continue to build strong links with our neighbouring councils and regions to help us to unlock new opportunities and drive inclusive growth.

Partnership is what will make the difference for our communities and residents. Our plan places a strong emphasis on collaboration and agility to help us to build stronger relationships and respond to the needs of our members, stakeholders, and communities.

Very consciously we have identified people, place, and sustainability as the central pillars of our strategy. These three elements are interconnected and essential for delivering a sustainable and thriving future for our sub-region. We will work to promote inclusive growth, foster vibrant communities, and ensure the needs of our sub-region are not lost in assumptions about being part of the capital.

Addressing the cost of living is also a critical issue that runs through everything we do with our programs in Local London. We recognise that many residents are struggling with the high cost of living, and we are committed to delivering solutions that can help to ease this burden.

We will build on our successful track record of managing devolved funding and implementing programmes to benefit people and businesses in our Boroughs.

We are ambitious for our sub-region, and the people living, working and learning here.”

=>Read our 3 year strategy ‘Towards 2026’

Local London Plan Towards 2026 cover, showing outline of London and our member boroughs on the east of the capital north and south of the river.

Local London is one of the four sub-regional partnerships in London. Local London is a Leader / Mayor-led partnership of nine London boroughs: Barking and Dagenham, Bexley, Bromley, Enfield, Greenwich, Havering, Newham, Redbridge and Waltham Forest. Our strength lies in our members’ engagement on priority issues of sub-regional significance.

Understanding statistics about north east and south east London just got easier and more comprehensive.

Relaunched this week, the Local London data warehouse has been updated and now incorporates datasets covering our nine boroughs, which includes our newest member, London Borough of Bromley.

In addition to providing the latest information across our entire sub-region and easy-to-understand comparisons with London and England averages, the warehouse now includes:

New datasets from 2021 Census on:

Pulling together the most up-to-date public data from trusted sources, the data warehouse presents the information in a way that is easy to understand, for experts and people who do not work with data on a regular basis.

With information on topics such as population, skills, employment, ethnicity and much more, it is a useful tool for policy makers, researchers, campaign planners and anyone interested in understanding our sub-region.

Sarah Murray, Director of Local London said “I am thrilled that the Local London Data Warehouse is now even more comprehensive and includes figures for all nine of our member boroughs. At the touch of a button, anyone can see current and historic data from our boroughs on a range of topics as well as making comparisons with the wider London region and national picture – it’s easy and free. This is really useful for researchers, planners, people working in policy or campaigns, or anyone seeking to understand the borough or sub-region better.”

Data discovery webinar

Join our free online webinar on Thursday 20 April 2-3pm for a guided tour of the datasets with the creator of the data warehouse.

The tour is open to anyone interested in learning how to make the most of the data. Book now to:

⇒ Reserve your place for the webinar tour on Thursday 20 April 2-3pm on Eventbrite.

⇒ Explore the Data Warehouse

Screenshot of the data contained in the data warehouse for decorative purposes here.

This month through our Integration Hub, we began training 20 advisers who work across all nine of our member boroughs to support residents with complex needs into employment.

Supported Employment Training is built on the premise that everyone can work with the right job and the right support.

Delivered in partnership with BASE (British Association for Supported Employment), this training will enable advisers working in our nine member boroughs to provide the right support to employers and residents who require specialist help, including those with disabilities, to find and keep good jobs.

Sarah Murray, Director of Local London said “Our Integration Hub team are committed to providing the support partners need, they are engaging with services across our nine boroughs and beyond to help them improve work-related services for our residents. This training is one of a series of bespoke interventions that have been put in place after listening to what front-line staff and managers need.”

The current SET cohort includes advisers from local authorities, community and commercial organisations who operate in the employment and skills sector in Bexley, Bromley, Barking and Dagenham, Enfield, Greenwich, Havering, Newham, Redbridge and Waltham Forest.

Our team are striving to bring together partners working in employment services and to drive improvement consistently across our adviser network in Local London so residents can get the same great level of support, no matter which borough they live in.

This innovative programme is part of the Mayor of London’s ‘No Wrong Door’ (NWD) initiative, which aims to bring together employment services, employers and residents looking for work, apprentice/traineeships or training opportunities, to ensure that residents across our boroughs receive the support they need to find and keep good work, and have careers that they can be proud of.

> Find out more about our Integration Hub team’s work.