Government Offices | East of England |

Funded through the European Social Fund, EQUAL is an initiative which tests and promotes new means of combating all forms of discrimination and inequalities in the labour market, both for those in work and for those seeking work, through transnational co-operation. EQUAL also includes action to help the social and vocational integration of asylum seekers.

EQUAL operates across identified thematic fields which embrace the four pillars of the European Employment Strategy and support for asylum seekers. EQUAL funds activities implemented by strategic partnerships called Development Partnerships (DPs). Each Development Partnership will address one thematic field of its choice.

EQUAL encourages participation and transnational co-operation through partnership building across five priority areas which are closely focussed on key issues of concern in Britain. It will, over time, develop good practice that can enhance the delivery of mainstream UK and Structural Fund activity.

EQUAL operates in stages called Actions 1, 2 and 3. Action 1 is the first stage lasting up to six months during which Development Partnerships prepare their programme of activities. Action 2 covers the main implementation activities of work programmes approved at the end of Action 1. Action 3 covers the thematic networking and dissemination of good practice and impact on national policies.

Four Development Partnerships have been awarded to organisations within the East of England Region for Round 2. These are:

Organisation:

DP Title:

Theme:

Summary:

Hertfordshire Business Centre Services Ltd.

CREATE (Creating Equal Access to Enterprise)

C (Entrepreneurship)

CREATE is an existing DP which is focussed on supporting individuals into self employment using franchising and structured business formats as a route to enterprise. They have also developed services to support the development of Social Format Franchising, the replication of social enterprises. Franchises and businesses using a structured Business Format have far higher survival rate than new business starting from scratch. They believe that this business format offers great potential for new entrepreneurs particularly those in their key target groups, namely women, 3rd agers, ethnic minorities young people and people with disabilities. CREATE + aims to build on the best of what they have achieved and target new resources where they have identified where there are gaps in their provision and where they can make maximum impact. The initial partners will be HBCS Ltd (an active Business Link), the Small Business Service (SBS) and Community Action Network (CAN). Through Action 1 they will augment our partnership from the existing CREATE DP, develop a work plan and a new trans-national partnership.

Organisation:

DP Title:

Enterprise Theme:

Summary:

Suffolk County Council – Social Care

REALISE – Real Employment & Livelihood in Social

D (Entrepreneurship)

Suffolk County Council is the driving force behind the Development Partnership because of its understanding that services for people with disabilities must improve to meet their needs. New real work and employment opportunities are necessary to combat inequality in Suffolk. The current service provision, in particular training and permitted work, are considered not to meet the demands of the labour market and in many cases do not offer any prospect of real work experience, employment or career opportunities for people with disabilities.

Social enterprises/firms are a way to provide a better service for disadvantaged groups. Not being part of the public authorities they offer more innovation and flexibility. Nevertheless the local authorities involved in the project, Suffolk County Council and the Primary Care Trusts, realise their role within the creation of a social enterprise sector in Suffolk. They understand their responsibility to support externalized projects /services. They would like to be at the forefront of the development, working alongside the voluntary sector to develop innovative solutions.

The DP is unique in its partnership approach. The partners involved have not worked together in a structured process to develop and improve training and employment for people with disabilities. The partnership includes organisations from all levels (operational, funding, political) and the structure of the DP involves partners equally and will ensure that resources are allocated at all levels of the partnership. REALISE will improve the ways services are provided in Suffolk and will have an impact on the development of the social economy in Suffolk by creating quality work. A key part will be to clarify the role and structure the relationship between social enterprises and public bodies. Experts will support the different parties in gaining the necessary know-how to create sustainable social enterprises and connect them with procurement officers in the sub-region. They will support the development of a new umbrella organisation hosting future providers.

Organisation:

DP Name:

Theme:

Summary:

Dacorum Borough Council

CEMENT

E (Adaptability)

Construction-Empowerment-Motivation-Equality-Networking-Tools (Cement DP) is a network developed over the last 4 years interested in access for disadvantaged groups into the construction industry (an area with massive construction developments in the M1/M11 corridor). DP includes Dacorum Borough (Hemel Hempstead)/Milton Keynes Councils, Northamptonshire/Bedfordshire/ Hertfordshire Councils, networking 4 LSCs/ Regional Development Agencies/South East Development Agency/East of England Development Agency/East Midlands Development Agency/London, Business Links/sector training organisations/employers/diverse groups from the voluntary sector/prison service. The DP addresses theme E engaging non-traditional learners into vocationally/basic skill embedded learning in the construction sector. Practical learning/employability encompassing older workers into self-employment/re-skilling/training/mentoring/work-based assessors, offenders/young people at risk of offending developing self-esteem/motivation/employability, ethnic minorities/women entering the sector. Engaging these groups providing cost effective solution to regional labour/skills shortages over the use of external based unproven workforce putting increased stress on local infrastructure. The DP's rationale is to use the skills shortage in the construction sector to introduce new/Bite size learning allowing non-traditional regionally based disadvantaged groups outside the labour market to enter the sector; helping employers remove recruitment barriers/value the skills of older workers through re-skilling/mentoring/use as workplace assessors. Embedded are the principles of innovation/Equal Opportunities/Empowerment e.g. bite-size learning/personal incubator/older workers returning as assessors/inter RDA networking/self employment.

Organisation:

DP Name:

Theme:

Summary:

Hertfordshire Business Centre Services Ltd.

Demonstrating the Case for Diversity & Flexible Working

F (Adaptability)

For the EU economies to remain competitive and retain high levels of employment as globalisation progresses, employers must continually innovate to improve value addition within the workplace. This increases rates of change and puts more responsibility onto individuals for their personal development, career paths and ultimate job retention. Simultaneously, individuals are demanding greater flexibility and opportunity to balance demands of work with demands of their personal lives (whether for social, cultural, religious or caring responsibility reasons). To achieve planned growth, the UK workforce needs to expand but estimates show only 20% of required growth can come from the UK’s white male able-bodied population. This creates a real need to find ways to drive employers to open up work opportunities for a broader mix of social groups in the workforce. Many groups still experience serious barriers to productive entry to the workforce (Notably women, people with disabilities or health issues, people with dependants, ethnic minorities and 3rd Agers). These represent an enormous untapped pool that can make a positive impact upon the UK economy. Whilst intuitively there is widespread recognition that working flexibly and embracing diversity is good for performance, very little work has been done on quantifying direct performance benefits. Without clear connection between cost and returns, businesses, employees and individuals outside of the workforce find it hard to justify the personal and financial investments required to engage. This project seeks to demonstrate the Business Case for organisations to embrace diversity and flexible working strategies and develop (where none exist) innovative resources to help employers and disadvantaged groups in the labour market to access opportunities and make greater contributions to the economy. The partnership will explore innovative processes to link cause and effect and use practical pragmatic evidence to influence policy to build a more flexible growth economy.

EQUAL

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