Hackney’s Skills for Employment Strategy

Work on the Skills for Employment Strategy commenced in March 2008 when a working group of key education/ training and employment stakeholders from across the borough was set up, including The Learning Trust, JCP, ELBA, HTEN, LDA and LSC. The working group was chaired by Ian Ashman, Principal of Hackney Community College, and co-chair of EDP, who took a leading role in developing the Strategy. The underlying research and analysis of the evidence base for the Strategy was carried out by Atiya Munir, Team Hackney Partnership Policy Adviser.

Through this partnership effort a draft Strategy was completed by July and launched on Team Hackney’s website for a public-wide consultation in August. The consultation ended on 10th October with responses sent via e-mail as well as feedback being provided at partnership forums. A total of ten responses were received and included HTEN, TLT, Metropolitan University, ELBA, LSC and Hackney Women’s Forum. The Strategy was then revised in response to the consultation feedback and agreed by the stakeholders before its final sign-off at the EDP on 25^th November 2008. Since then it has been taken to the Council Cabinet and the Team Hackney Board for approval, and an implementation plan has been developed to ensure that each of the Strategy’s actions will be owned by relevant organisations and built into their action plans.

The aim of the Strategy is to improve the level of skills of local residents and help meet the skills needs of employers. A critical priority is to provide equality of access to skills and training to deprived communities, who currently have some of the lowest skills levels in London. Establishing partnerships with public, community, voluntary partners and employers is seen as key. The strategy proposes action to deal with five key challenges, to help the residents of Hackney acquire the right training to get into work; to improve their skills and income levels once in employment; and to enable them to participate fully in the social and economic life of the borough.

The responses received to our consultation on the initial equality impact assessment (IEIA) have been incorporated into the Strategy. A full EIA will be carried out once a detailed implementation plan has been drawn for the Strategy.

Over the next few months the findings of the Strategy and its recommendations will be taken to the relevant Thematic Partnership Boards and to the Team Hackney Board to get their commitment to its implementation.

If you have any queries please contact Ian Ashman, Principal of Hackney Community College and co-Chair of Economic Development partnership, on 0207 613 9223, or by email to iashman@hackney.ac.uk.

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Skills for Employment Strategy May 2009 (545 KB)
Skills for Employment Strategy May 2009 (554 KB)