Green Flag Thematic Study: Improving Economic
Prosperity During the Recession
There are patterns of common responses by local authorities and their partners
to the impact of the recession – task forces, early payment of invoices from
small businesses, financial inclusion services, redundancy support, etc),
highlighted by the Audit Commission report (When it comes to the crunch: How
councils are responding to the recession)
http://www.audit-
commission.gov.uk/nationalstudies/localgov/Pages/whenitcomestothecrunch12a
ug2009.aspx
Some areas have gone beyond and been more innovative, sometimes expanding
activities already on the stocks to meet increased needs consequent to the
recession, sometimes breaking entirely new ground.
This overview highlights what those areas awarded Green Flags by the Audit
Commission in 2009 have been doing.
Croydon
At the start of the credit crunch key individuals within the London Borough of
Croydon took the decision to approach the recession as an opportunity rather
than as a problem by taking advantage of the slowdown in the commercial
property market to give them the time to “take a good look” at local land issues.
Working with the Mayor, local businesses and other key stakeholders the
Borough has been developing an Opportunity Area Planning Framework (OAPF)
to support new jobs, homes, services and facilities in Croydon. Rather than
being driven by individual projects as tended to happen when the commercial
property market was buoyant, the slowdown in the market allowed the Borough
and its partners time to develop a shared understanding – with a shared
evidence base – and to develop five area-based masterplans under the
overarching OAPF strategy. For East Croydon, for example, this work has
involved, amongst others stakeholders, Network Rail, and centres on the
coordinated redevelopment of East Croydon railway station as a modern
transport interchange with major office and retail developments nearby and with
related support for the development of skills sets needed not only for the
construction work but also for the ultimate office and retail developments.
The Borough’s Economic Development Strategy has been refreshed to take
account of the effects of the recession and the Economic Recovery Plan designed
to use the recession as an opportunity to support the development of the skills
that local businesses will need in the upturn. Working in partnership with local
training providers and employers the local authority has, for example, supported
the development of retail and construction academies to provide training
relevant to local employers’ needs. Skills levels of 19 year olds at Levels 2 and 3
have improved faster than nationally and in the rest of London, skills shortages
are lower, and the number of young people not in education or training (NEETS)
has fallen more than it has in similar areas.
Croydon demonstrates a positive attitude to business retention and inward
investment. For example, the Borough took an early and proactive approach at a
very senior level to the Land Registry’s decision to close their office in Croydon,
putting the case that the Land Registry might instead consolidate all their
operations in the borough and facilitating the process whereby the Land
Registry’s head office is to be relocated to Croydon in 2011. In addition, the
borough has developed a website for residents and businesses with practical
advice on how to deal with the recession.
Barrow in Furness, Cumbria
Tackling worklessness was a key priority in the Cumbria Community Strategy
(2008) in which special attention was paid to Barrow-in-Furness (Barrow) where
unemployment was relatively higher than the county average. A particular cause
for concern was the rate of long-term unemployment which had fallen in all parts
of Cumbria but not in Barrow. In addition, Barrow was one of the areas in
Cumbria with a relatively high level of people claiming Incapacity Benefit (IB)
(the 3rd highest percentage of working age population on IB in the country),
being addressed as a key county LAA target.
Partners in Barrow took great efforts to develop an holistic, joined-up approach,
carrying out joint planning and working “smarter” together in order to make the
best use of their joint resources to tackle Barrow’s high level of worklessness.
New research commissioned on local IB claimants highlighted issues which were
key to their understanding of this group of people and their specific needs. They
were also awarded Working Neighbourhoods (WNF) funding. The key strand of
their work has been targeting personalised support to unemployed local people
and those claiming IB in order to help them get work. Nearly all the wards in
Barrow which have high levels of worklessness are also areas of business
concentration and where most of the sites for expansion are located and this has
helped partners develop local skills relevant to the needs of local employers
within these high priority wards thus tackling both demand and supply issues
within the locality.
Workless people living in priority wards are offered one to one, customised help
in “Workshops” set up within the locality specifically designed to addresses the
particular barriers that prevent each person from working. This might include,
for example, improving skills, addressing financial barriers, and advice and
support about related initiatives, pre-employment training and interview skills
and other confidence-building exercises. A support fund is available which may
contribute towards costs such as childcare, interview clothing, and travel to
interviews. Workshops’ resources also include job-brokerage, internet access,
use of IT facilities, telephone and fax, and local newspapers which advertise job
vacancies. A variety of outreach activities has included linking to the PCT’s work
on mental health, with employment support officers working within some GP
surgeries. In addition, partners are working towards instilling a positive attitude
to entrepreneurialism in the next generation of workers through schools and
other local organisations.
At the same time, partners are working to ensure that the physical infrastructure
in terms of modern, high quality sites and premises is in place in order to
encourage inward investment and have supported this with marketing activities
designed to raise the profile of the town.
The proportion of unemployed people who had been out of work for over a year
in Barrow fell from 13% to around 7.5% ( below the national average 9.1%) in
the two years to 2009, and, although the level of IB claimants is higher than the
national rate, the decline in Barrow has been relatively higher than the national
decline. However, the proportion of unemployed people aged under 24 is
relatively high.
Experience and lessons learnt in Barrow are shared regularly with other
Cumbrian authorities, for example in the monthly meetings of the LAA IB
project, and partners regularly visit nearby authorities to learn from their
experience getting people into jobs. A greater shared understanding and
possible new ways of working were two positive outcomes of the county-wide
Deep Dive, Understanding Worklessness, at the end of 2009.
Essex
Essex County Council and its partners developed a range of initiatives to tackle
the recession including council tax support, rescuing a number of village post
offices and a flagship initiative, Banking on Essex, set up in partnership with
Santander which owns Abbey.
The idea of creating a Bank of Essex had been discussed previously, but a
brainstorming session of senior officers arranged by the council leader in
November 2008 to consider the economic downturn and possible recession
triggered in part by the global credit crisis identified this as one of the most
proactive ways in which the council could support local small and medium sized
businesses (SMEs). Many SMEs were finding it impossible to raise credit from
their High Street bank as traditional lines of credit became subject to more and
more stringent loan criteria and this was threatening the ability of some to
continue to trade or to expand. Rather than treat the symptoms caused by a
lack of credit, the council’s aim was to take a preventative course to support
basically robust businesses through the credit crisis.
The council made £50m of its balances available to Banking in Essex, matched
by Santander. This is not a ring-fenced pot of money but part of the normal cash
balances held by Essex, ie, no services will be cut as a result of this financial
activity. In practice, £1m is held on deposit – and earning interest at commercial
rates - by the county for the fund, topped up as and when loans are drawn
down. Loans of up to £100,000 (ie, £50,000 from Essex, £50,000 Santander)
over up to five years may be made to healthy SMEs who are finding it impossible
to raise money from High Street banks.
Protocols between the county council and Santander were completed by the end
of 2009 and marketing of the loan scheme was begun in December 2009. In the
first five months of operation, the Bank has lent £350,000 of which £175,000 is
capital from the council, with loans averaging £25 – 30,000. They have
concentrated on their “key sectors”: engineering, manufacturing and
renewables, although no sector is excluded, and each business is judged on its
own viability. Interest in the scheme picked up quickly, and the working
assumption is that eventually 5 deals will be made each month. Loans may be
made for both capital and revenue expenditure, also overdraft facilities for short
term cash flow requirements. Those companies which are declined a loan are
automatically referred to Business Link for advice.
The cost of setting up the scheme is estimated to have been around £300,000,
mainly in legal costs. Thereafter, it “could run itself” with a small amount of time
from the county council’s treasury management function and interest earned on
the loans made. For the future, the county council is investigating the possibility
of offering other products and services under the “Banking on Essex” umbrella,
making similar agreements with other High Street banks, and the possibility of
using the Bank as a “single gateway” for other economic development services
from partners within the county.
Kent
Led by the county council, partners in Kent have been investing in the
development of skills of young people with a range of courses, apprenticeships,
and careers and lifestyle advice and guidance. Key to this has been the
development (starting in 2004) of a network of 25 vocational skills centres
across the county, with particular emphasis being given to locating centres in
more deprived areas especially where there were relatively high levels of young
people not in education or training (NEETS).
The first tranche of skills centres to be set up were built on school campuses.
They were designed to resemble warehouses in order to be suggestive more of
work than of school. Local young people aged between 14 – 19 years, ie, not
only pupils at the school, attend the centre for vocational training one day a
week; some also have one day a week placement in a local company, which
option tends to be the most successful as it frequently leads to an apprenticeship
for the young person with the company. The curriculum is guided by local
employers.
However, the perception of the young people is that these centres are more of
an extension of school, rather than anything to do with work. Over recent years,
partners have built several stand-alone centres on industrial estates. They have
found that local employers are even keener to get engaged in these centres than
in those sited on school grounds, and this has enabled partners much better to
meet the actual skills needs for those specific localities from the local labour
force, a win-win situation which improves the sustainability of both local
employment and of local business. Important local sectors to have benefitted
include specialist retail, precision engineering, motor engineering, construction
and health & social care.
Experience has shown how important it is to get the recruitment process right
for each individual young person when they enter the training scheme at 14.
Skills centres have had to be rigorous with feeder schools, providing them with
clear guidelines so the young people follow the course most suitable for them.
Feedback from parents indicates that if their child is on the right course for one
day a week, that has a positive effect on the other four days in the classroom.
So far, more than half the schools involved tend to send their most difficult
pupils for vocational training, but increasingly schools’ attitudes are becoming
more positive and several “bright” pupils attend, notably for the engineering
training programmes. Kent’s grammar schools are becoming more involved as
they expand their post-16 offer.
Partners took an early decision not to retrain teachers to staff the newly created
posts in Kent’s Skills Centres but to recruit people from industry. A programme
of continuous profession development (CPD) is built into the job requirement in
order to keep the Centres in line with state of the art developments in industry.
For the future, partners are looking to encourage employers to run their local
skills centre, perhaps as a training division of their own company. The first of
this “new generation” of Skills Centres is an engineering and cycle maintenance
training facility sponsored by Giant Bicycles of Taiwan at Swan Valley school
near Gravesend.
Oldham
Oldham, along with the rest of Greater Manchester, has lost many of its
traditional manufacturing jobs over recent decades. The local workforce lacked
the skills either to attract new employers to Oldham or to find employment
elsewhere within Greater Manchester. Social cohesion issues, including serious
civic unrest in 2001, added to the challenge. Unusually within the city region,
Oldham was still losing manufacturing jobs when the recession hit in 2008. Local
partners were tasked with continuing to raise skills levels and to restructure the
local economy during the recession.
An integral part of the borough’s Community Strategy has been to integrate LSP
partners’ activities in order to increase employment (either within the borough or
more widely in Greater Manchester), improve skill levels, raise aspiration, and to
develop Oldham as a centre for education, concentrating initially on opening a
university campus as part of the University of Huddersfield which would not only
meet the needs of local students (many of whom for reasons of cultural
preference wish to live at home) but also to attract students from over the sub-
region. A planned world-class science facility for primary age children to
undergraduates, the Regional Science Centre, and the extension of the city
region’s Metrolink to Oldham stations from Autumn 2011 will help maintain the
momentum. This strategic approach to both capital and revenue funding
streams has required joined up working across the partnership on a number of
cross-cutting issues.
Two partnership programmes have been key to the partners’ strategy of raising
skills and growing the borough’s FE sector. The programmes address both
objectives by concentrating on attracting local young people who would not
normally progress to FE or HE. The Junior University Programme was set up in
2002 to give individually tailored extra academic support and advice to identified
cohorts of young people between 14 – 19 years old in all the borough’s schools
and colleges to raise both aspirations and attainment of those who have talent
but lack the drive. It costs around £385 for each young person on the
programme. Young Professionals is also a “bespoke” scheme which supports
similarly “at risk” young people who are more suited to take a vocational route
through mentoring, employability and other training into employment and
further education. It costs around £250 per young person to follow this
programme. Importantly, local employers are involved in decision-making
around the curriculum, and it has been crucial that service providers respond to
employers’ changing needs. Both programmes link to the borough’s Teenage
Pregnancy Partnership to address the skills needs of young parents. Alongside
this support for young people are programmes to support older people’s
employability.
The programmes have successfully got more local young people continuing their
education after 16 and GCSE results have improved. Many local households now
have their first family member at university. More teen mothers are continuing
in education or training than previously and the proportion of NEETs from the
cohorts participating in the programmes is significantly lower than the average
rate for the borough. The proportion of working age people in Oldham qualified
at Level 4 or higher has increased and the numbers employed in professional
occupations, including on the new HE campus, has risen with a concomitant
increase in earnings.
Slough
Slough’s employers include some significant companies in the “knowledge
economy” sector who require a very highly skilled workforce. In contrast,
residents of Slough have some of the lowest qualifications in the south-east.
About half of the jobs in Slough were done by people who did not live in Slough:
local adults had to travel outside the borough to find low-skilled jobs whilst local
employers were providing high wage jobs to people living outside the borough
with the consequence that there was a wide – and widening - gap in earnings
between residents of Slough and workers in Slough. In addition, the high levels
of commuting into and out off the borough contributed to severe traffic
congestion which was found to be a major problem for local businesses.
Slough Skills Campaign is a partnership of local employers and the public sector,
including the borough council, schools, HFE institutions and training providers.
Partners have taken a coordinated multi-faceted approach from school to
employer to develop local skills to meet the demands of local employers.
Activities have included successful lobbying to set up a local smaller training
providers network working in partnership with other providers with a single Train
to Gain broker which every employer and provider must use. This helped ensure
that Slough-specific needs are addressed and reduced confusion.
Provision of information, advice and guidance (IAG) for unemployed people has
been strengthened at community level with a borough-wide network of IAG
centres which supplement Jobcentreplus provision with impartial and confidential
advice which is designed reassure those people who might be concerned about
threats to their benefit status.
The borough increased funding for the local Volunteer Centre at the start of the
recession. One new activity has been the development of a Buddy Scheme in
which volunteers have been trained to support other unemployed people. This
has also helped relieve demand on the IAG centres. The local authority has also
funded a work placement officer tasked with developing placements for the
council and other partner organisations. These may be paid, 2-month
placements, 9-month sandwich placements or 6 week volunteer placements, for
which out-of-pocket expenses may be paid. Major local employers including O2,
SEGRO Properties (owner of Slough Trading Estate which has 17,000 on-site
jobs) and RIM (the company behind the Blackberry) have committed to the
placement scheme.
In the two years since the Skills Campaign was launched, over 1,000 people
have directly benefitted from the programme. The percentage of 16-19 year old
people in education has increased from 82% to 87% as aspirations have risen.
The skills gap between Slough and the rest of the South East is closing: the
percentage of working age residents qualified to NVQ Level 2 or higher has risen
from 60.5% to 67%, Level 3 or higher from 37% to 44.5%, and Level 4 from
10% to 24%. Since 2004, the gap for median earnings between residents and
people employed in Slough has closed by around £120/ month as more local
people get a local job.
For the future, the recent approval of a £400m, 20-year masterplan for Slough
Trading Estate will help provide local building work over the medium term, is
forecast to lead to more than 4,000 new jobs and to contribute over £100m pa
to the local economy.
Why it works
Although each of the six Green Flag areas reviewed has its individual
characteristics, challenges and problems , there are some common elements
running through the successful activities being pursued reinforcing IDeA
guidance to help local authorities since 2008 in anticipation of a deep, long, and
possibly a double-dip recession. The publications include “Driving Economic
Prosperity: Diagnostic Toolkit”, “No Council of Despair: Positive local leadership
in a recession”, and “How To” Guides on Tackling Worklessness.
Take a strategic approach, over and above taking short-term action to
tackle immediate issues. Rather than consider slackening economic
activity to be a problem, take the opportunity and time to work towards
building a more resilient local economy and infrastructure, engaging local
partners in shaping the area for long term, sustainable growth. Get ready
to respond to the upturn by tacking the drivers of prosperity for
individuals and the economy, eg, by developing skills local employers will
need when the upturn comes, developing and strengthening the local
infrastructure
Work in partnership with other key local players in the public, private,
voluntary & community sectors and with social enterprises to develop and
action local responses to local challenges. The downturn affects different
groups disproportionately: some sectors will be harder hit than others, for
example, and there will be additional challenges in responding to the
needs of certain groups of people, such as NEETs. The Green Flag areas
have benefitted from strong and inclusive local partnerships which
enabled them quickly to assess where the greatest impact could be made
with the resources available and then to implement new and flexible
approaches to tackling the recession.
Lead by example. Bring together local partners to develop and
communicate a clear, reasoned and shared local response; networking
nationally and regionally at a high level on behalf of the local area for
inward investment and investment retention; taking on apprentices in the
local authority; managing public assets to support growth
Actions taken by the Green Flag local authorities include:
a. Strengthening the collective evidence base so partners fully understand
the local economy, the main drivers, the differences between
neighbourhoods, employers’ needs, etc
b. Helping local businesses survive the recession and improve performance,
working with them to identify the local challenges to growth, improve the
connections between local skills supply and local employment, and to
address market failure in the private sector:
• Develop demand-led workforce training
• Improve access to finance for local businesses hit by the credit
crunch with quick and flexible loan procedures
• Provide targeted information, advice and signposting to support to
help reduce business failure
c. Addressing barriers to work for local people:
• Work with local schools to raise educational attainment and to
encourage vocational training which will meet the needs of local
employers
• Encourage local recruitment
• Develop and support projects which bring new jobs for local people,
eg, “growing” a new sector, as in Oldham, and bringing forward
capital projects, as in Croydon.
Targets addressed
Maximising Employment for All
• NI 118: Take-up of formal childcare by low-income working families
• NI 151: Overall employment rate
• NI 152: Working age people on out of work benefits
• NI 153: Working age people claiming out of work benefits in the worst
performing neighbourhoods
• NI 173: People falling out of work and onto incapacity benefits
Raising Skills
• NI 161: Learners achieving a level 1 qualification in literacy
• NI 162: Learners achieving an entry level 3 qualification in numeracy
• NI 163: Working age population qualified to at least level 2 or higher
• NI 164: Working age population qualified to at least level 3 or higher
• NI 165: Working age population qualified to at least level 4 or higher
• NI 174: Skills gaps in the current workforce reported by employers
Educational Attainment/ addressing NEETs
• NI 76: Achievement at level 4 or above in both English and Maths at KS2
• NI 77: Achievement at level 5 or above in both English and Maths at KS3
• NI 81: Inequality gap in the achievement of a level 3 qualification by the
age of 19
• NI 82: Inequality gap in the achievement of a level 2 qualification by the
age of 19
• NI 91: Participation of 17 year-olds in education or training
• NI 117: 16 to 18 year olds who are not in education, training or
employment (NEET)
Competitiveness & Growth
• NI 166: Average earnings of employees in the area
• NI 171: VAT registration rate
• NI 172: VAT registered businesses in the area showing growth
Contact Details
Croydon
Tony Antoniou,
Director for Economy and Sustainability
Planning Regeneration & Conservation Department
London Borough of Croydon
18th Floor South Side
Taberner House
Park Lane
Croydon
CR9 3JT
Tel: 0208 726 6000 x65407
Tony.Antoniou@croydon.gov.uk
http://www.croydon.gov.uk
www.croydoncrunch.com
Cumbria County Council
Jim White, Environment Programme Manager
Cumbria County Council
The Courts
Carlisle
Cumbria
CA3 8NA
Tel: 01228 227493
jim.white@cumbriacc.gov.uk
http://www.cumbria.gov.uk/
http://www.cumbria.gov.uk/
http://www.geographyandgender.org/documents/barrows_IC_report.pdf
Essex County Council
Ian Hatton, Senior Regeneration Manager
Essex County Council
County Hall
Market Road
Chelmsford
CM1 1QH
Tel: 01245 437539 ex 51539
ian.hatton@essex.gov.uk
http://www.essex.gov.uk/
http://www.bankingonessex.com/
Kent County Council
Sue Dunn, Head of 14 – 24 Innovation Unit
Kent County Council
County Hall
Maidstone
Kent ME14 1XQ
Tel: 01622 694923
sue.dunn@kent.gov.uk
http://www.kent.gov.uk/
Oldham Borough Council
John Eley, Manager
Oldham Partnership
Room 441
Oldham Civic Centre
West Street
Oldham
OL1 1UL
d
John.eley@oldhampartnership.org.uk
http://www.oldhampartnership.org.uk
Slough
Rafiq Chohan, Assistant Director, Economic Development & Inclusion
Slough Borough Council
St Martin’s Place
51 Bath Road
Slough
SL1 3UF
Tel (PA): 01753 875082
rafiq.chohan@slough.gov.uk
http://www.slough.gov.uk
References
IDeA Recession resources
http://www.idea.gov.uk/idk/core/page.do?pageId=9487771