Download Appendix 4 LEP Stakeholder Engagement and Events Government

Appendix 4
LEP Stakeholder Engagement and Events
Government:
Officers and Members have continued to meet with government officials from various
departments on a variety of issues.
Borough/sub-regional engagement:
Officers and Members continue to engage with London boroughs through London
Councils, sub-regional partners and directly with boroughs. Key events have included:
 South London Growth Board, 12 December (and bi-monthly thereafter);
 West London Alliance WPCB (Whole Place Community Budget) Partnership
Board, 16 October (and monthly thereafter);
 London Councils Regeneration Chief Officers Group, 16 December; and
 Waltham Forest Regeneration Programme launch, 6 November 2013.
Other Events and meetings:
‘KnowledgeLondon’ event on the London Enterprise Panel and mechanisms for
engaging with SMEs, 24 September 2013
This event for ‘knowledge transfer practitioners’ working in the London area (including
universities, further education (FE) colleges, research organisations and business support
groups) focused on the work of the London LEP and, in particular, mechanisms for
engaging with SMEs. LEP SME Working Group Member Jenny Tooth attended as the
main panellist, giving an overview of the role of the London Enterprise Panel and talking
through the SME Working Group's objectives.
Green Entrepreneurs Workshop, 1 October 2013
LEP Member Stephen Howard represented the London LEP at this event, which aimed to
further investigate the barriers to and opportunities for Green Entrepreneurship in London.
Stephen was one of a panel of speakers and presented an overview of the LEP.
London Stansted Cambridge Corridor – LEP Chairs Meeting, 1 October 2013
LEP Deputy Chair Harvey McGrath met with representatives from the other LEPs within
the London Stansted Cambridge Corridor (Mark Reeve, Chair of the Greater Cambridge
and Greater Peterborough LEP, John Gourd, Chair of the Hertfordshire LEP and George
Kieffer, Essex Vice Chair of the South East LEP).
During the meeting, attendees agreed to continue to collaborate in terms of shared
infrastructure priorities (e.g. the West Anglia line) and key sectors for the corridor such as
life sciences and digital.
London Employment and Skills Convention, 7 October 2013
LEP Member and Co-Chair of the Skills & Employment Working Group Jack Morris
attended this event on behalf of the LEP. Jack took part in a panel plenary chaired by Will
Gore, Deputy Managing Editor of the London Evening Standard. The event explored key
issues for London's labour market before an audience of invited guests including journalists
and London opinion-formers. Debate took place on how to get more Londoners into
sustained employment, and how to achieve a step change in collaborative working across
London's complex geographical and political boundaries.
European Structural Investment Funds 2014-2020 consultation event for social
partners
The LEP and the Trades Union Congress hosted a joint event in order to engage with
social partners on the LEP’s draft ESIF strategy. The event was open to trade unions,
employers’ organisations, community & third sector groups, and the skills & education
sector and attracted over 80 attendees.
London and Core Cities LEP/CITB Joint Investment Event, 24th October 2013
Matthew Hancock MP, Minister of State for Skills and Enterprise hosted an event to
explore the proposed join investments that LEPs were taking forward with the
Construction Industry Training Board (in London a £2m project has been agreed by the
LEP, utilising £1m from the Growing Places Fund and £1m from CITB). The London
LEP was represented by Skills & Employment Working Group Member Cllr Mark Rusling
and GLA officers.
Ministerial Roundtable for LEP Chairs with Matthew Hancock MP, Minister of State
for Skills and Enterprise, 13 November 2013
LEP Member and Co-Chair of the Skills & Employment Working Group Jack Morris
attended this event alongside representatives from other LEPs. Attendees were given the
opportunity to discuss LEP skills activities with Matthew Hancock MP who, as Minister
for Skills and Enterprise, works across BIS and the Department for Education and is
responsible for apprenticeships, sixth forms, and further education.
Higher Apprenticeships: ‘Investing in Talent, Achieving Growth’ Workshop, 21
November 2013
Officers from the GLA’s Economic & Business Policy team attended this event on behalf of
the LEP. The workshop provided an overview of apprenticeships, higher apprenticeships
and apprenticeship reforms recently announced by BIS in their October Implementation
Plan. Presentations were delivered by BIS, UKCES, Skills Funding Agency and West
Sussex County Council.
Green Skills for Green Jobs Conference, 27 November 2013
Officers from the Economic & Business Policy and Environment teams attended the Green
Skills Conference in London in November on behalf of the LEP. Speakers included the Chief
Executive of the National Skills Academy for Nuclear and the CEO of the National STEM
Centre. The Rt Hon Edward Davey MP, Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change
and Julie Elliot MP, shadow minister for Energy and Climate Change also took part in
debate.
Key messages from the event included:
 The need to embrace the apprentice route (including higher level apprenticeships)
into the green skills sector, to supplement entrants from higher education; and
 The engagement of employers in making the green economy alive, real and relevant
in the minds of young people is key to providing role models to help improve
progression rates from GCSE to AS and A levels, particularly among female
students.
London Enterprise Panel / Association of Colleges’ Skills Summit, 29 November
2013
The LEP and the AoC hosted the Skills Summit for principals of London’s further education
colleges, who are responsible for the expenditure of in excess of £550 million on adult skills
provision in London. This training contributes to the Mayor delivering on manifesto
targets around jobs and apprenticeships. Key attendees included:






Kit Malthouse – Deputy Mayor for Business and Enterprise
Grant Hearn – Co-chair, Skills and Employment Working Group, LEP
Jack Morris - Co-chair, Skills and Employment Working Group, LEP
Caroline Neville – Regional Director, Association of Colleges (AoC)
Ian Ashman – Principal, Hackney Community College
Jill Lowery – Skills Funding Agency lead for London
The event was extremely well received with a good level of representation from across
London’s FE colleges. The event will be repeated bi-annually. A key outcome of the
meeting was the agreement that an FE representative be appointed to the LEP. It was also
agreed that a workshop would take place to explore the LEP’s proposals for FE capital
funding available under the Local Growth Fund.
London Assembly Economy Committee session on the LEP, 2 December 2013
The Chairman, Deputy Chair Kit Malthouse and LEP Lead Officer Fiona Fletcher-Smith
attended the London Assembly’s Economy Committee to discuss the performance of the
LEP, the Mayor’s plans for its future and the implementation of the Jobs and Growth Plan.
BIDs Steering Group, monthly (quarterly from 2014)
The Business Improvement Districts (BIDs) Steering Group was set up to oversee the
£230k LEP Growing Places Funded Grants Programme for starting new BIDs. The
Group includes representatives from the SME Working Group, ten London BIDs,
Transport for London, the Mayor’s Office for Policing and Crime, London Councils, British
BIDs and the Association of Town Centre Management.
Infrastructure Plan Events, 14 October and 16 December
Two discussion events around London's infrastructure needs have been held at City Hall, on
14 October and 16 December 2013. LEP Members Isabel Dedring and Harvey McGrath
were on the panel for the first event alongside Peter Murray (Chairman, New London
Architecture), Professor Dieter Helm CBE (University of Oxford and New College), Bridget
Rosewell (Chairman, Volterra Partners) and Chris Choa (Principal, AECOM). The second
event aimed to test the initial findings of the plan and offered the opportunity for delegates
to influence our high level assessment of infrastructure delivery in London up to 2050. LEP
members were in attendance alongside a range of stakeholders.
Maintaining a Flexible Workforce: Zero Hours Contracts Briefing, 3rd December
2013
This Westminster Briefing event aimed at discussing the latest developments in Zero
Hours Contracts (ZHCs), highlighting both opportunities and issues to be addressed. Key
messages from the event included:

The Office for National Statistics (ONS) estimates that in 2012 there were about
250,000 workers on ZHCs, which is equal to 0.84% of people in employment.
Recently, the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD) has
estimated that this amounts to 1 million people (approximately 3% of the workforce).
However, the current statistics on ZHCs are subject to many caveats, since a
common definition of ZHCs is not available and a common legal framework has not
been agreed upon. Lack of data and evidence, and lack of clarity about the
relationship defined by ZHCs between employers and employees were identified as
the main issues to be disentangled. In this regard, the speakers agreed on the
following recommendations:
o The Government consultation – to be launched in the next few weeks, should
(i) address the issue of exclusivity in the employee/employer relationship, (ii)
address the issue of applicability of the National Minimum Wage Regulations
to both working time and on-call time of ZHCs workers; (iii) explore the
possibility of nudging employers towards a voluntary code of conduct, and
(iv) develop measures to curb some abusive aspects of ZHCs.
o More research should be commissioned on (i) the number and the
characteristics of workers on ZHCs, (ii) the motivations that lead workers to
take up ZHCs, and (iii) whether ZHCs are the actual answer to flexibility.