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Come and work at the North East LEP

The North East Local Enterprise Partnership is currently recruiting for two new full-time roles, to help us deliver more and better jobs in the North East.

First is a fixed term contract for an ESIF (European Structural Investment Funds) Programme Manager.

The successful candidate will work with partners and raise awareness of the 2014-2020 ESIF programmes across the North East.

This will include running regional events to promote the launch of project calls, coordinating and supporting local partners with their local ESIF events, and supporting local partners in the development and management of a robust pipeline of ESIF projects that will support the delivery of the ESIF Operational Programmes, the North East LEP area ESIF Strategy and the Strategic Economic Plan.

To apply for this position or to find out more about the role, please click here. The closing date for applications is Friday 24 June.

We are also currently recruiting for a permanent Skills for Business Manager to join the new North East LEP executive team.

The successful candidate will take the lead in identifying what businesses within the North East require both now and in the future for businesses and the economy to grow. The post holder will work with business and education providers to design and implement a demand led skill strategy.

To apply for this position or to find out more about the role, please click here. The closing date for applications is Wednesday 29 June.

We look forward to hearing from you.

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Enterprise Advisers: bringing the automotive industry into schools

The North East Local Enterprise Partnership’s (LEP) latest Enterprise Adviser, Rob Dodds, works with the Link School in Pallion, Sunderland, to help increase awareness of career opportunities in the automotive industry and upskill the next generation of young people for when they leave education and move into the world of work.

Rob, who is Apprentice Coordinator at Sunderland-based car parts manufacturer Unipres (UK) and a  supplier to Nissan, is  volunteering  as an Enterprise Adviser as part of the North East LEP’s drive to bring business leaders into schools and shape careers provision. It’s part of the LEP’s wider skills programme of activity to identify and plug skills gaps, and equip young people with the knowledge, skills and abilities employers  look for in the future workforce

Rob works and supports  the Link School in Sunderland who until Robs support did not have access to employers. Students now take part in the Industrial Cadets programme at Unipres, learning about every aspect of the business and gaining insights into working in the automotive industry.

Rob also offers careers talks with Unipres apprentices, giving students the chance to talk and relate to people near their own age who are currently working in the automotive industry.

Rob said: “The Enterprise Adviser initiative provides the link for schools to get in touch with employers.

“It helps youngsters to decide what they want to do in future, and we try to link it in with their curriculum.

“The skills shortage in the North East region is pretty big and Unipres, as a large employer, believe it is important to put something back.

“We didn’t set out to gain anything from the programme other than to try to bridge the skills gap. If we even get one person through the door interested in a career in the automotive industry, we’d consider it a fantastic success.”

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Apprenticeship case studies required

The Department for Business, Innovation and Skills, Skills Funding Agency and National Apprenticeship Service are looking for case studies for the ‘Get in Go Far’ communications campaign, which launched on 16 May 2016.

This campaign is aimed at 14-24 year olds, their parents, influencers and employers, to encourage the take up of apprenticeships in England. It is a key part of delivering the government’s plan to achieve 3 million apprenticeship starts, reform apprenticeships and increase BAME representation in line with the Prime Minister’s 2020 vision for apprenticeships.

Get In Go Far want to show real life inspirational stories of apprentices and highlight the variety of opportunities available to young people through case studies. These case studies would be used mainly in PR opportunities to profile the campaign.

Do you have any case studies from:

· Apprentices aged between 16 and 24

· Apprentices on levels 4-7 apprenticeships

· Skills Funding Agency accredited apprenticeships

· Apprentices where the employer is based in England

· Mixture of sectors, but keen to receive case studies from the STEM sectors

· Blue Chip companies as well as SMEs.

How to submit content:

To send case studies, please email [email protected]. Please include the name of the relevant individual and/or your organisation.

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TyneMet hailed as an exemplar STEM Assured college

Tyne Metropolitan College has announced that following a review by the national Innovation Council and subsequent recommendation to the STEM Foundation, it has been reaccredited as an ‘exemplar STEM Assured® College’.

In 2012, TyneMet was the first FE College in the North of England to be awarded the STEM Assured® status in recognition of the quality of its Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics provision by the STEM Foundation.

STEM Assured® is the standard for assuring quality of delivery of STEM education and training. It is an outcomes-based standard, driven by the need to assure a more coherent strategy for the development and delivery of STEM education and training that addresses industry requirements for skills. This reaccreditation highlights TyneMet’s determination to be at the forefront of STEM provision and meet the needs of local and national employers.

Jon Vincent, Principal and Chief Executive at TyneMet College said: “This accolade demonstrates our strategic commitment to developing scientific and technical excellence and commends the efforts, of colleagues, students and partner organisations alike, in helping to create a strong culture and establish TyneMet as a leader in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics education.

“At TyneMet, we place an emphasis on pathways to STEM industries in the knowledge that that students studying on STEM related subjects will be in a very strong position when applying to university or for jobs.”

TyneMet was highly commended for its excellent focus on STEM innovation as a strategic differentiator for the whole college and the development of focused employer relationships with companies including Northern PowerGrid, Freeman Hospital, Nestle and Procter & Gamble. The College was also praised for its high quality teaching, with specialist subjects headed up by Technologists and its work with the unemployed, with 46 per cent of participants ending up with employment in the engineering sector.

Prof Sa’ad Medhat, Chief Executive of the UK STEM Foundation said: “TyneMet College is undertaking a key role in transforming their local economy by ensuring its STEM programmes are current and fit for purpose, in supporting the development and growth of businesses in the region. Students can also be assured that the College’s provision will enable them to progress into Higher Education and secure employment.”

TyneMet offers a wide range of vocational courses designed to up-skill and advance both employees and employers across the North East and following a STEM agenda continues to be integral to the College’s growth and development plans.

To find out more, visit www.tynemet.ac.uk. To find out more about STEM Foundation visit www.STEMFoundation.org.uk.

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Get In Go Far

Get In Go Far is the government’s new advertising campaign, informing and inspiring young people to consider apprenticeships, traineeships and work experience as valid and credible routes to a rewarding career.

According to the government’s research, 70% of employers say that apprenticeships improved their products or services and the North East LEP recognises that apprenticeships are key to delivering more and better jobs and improving skills here in the North East.

We aim to reach a target of 30% of North East businesses employing an apprentice by 2017 and are investing in pre-apprenticeship training and traineeships.

We are also delivering support to North East SMEs to help them identify opportunities and create new opportunities for young people, though a partnership scheme – Generation NE.

The £4.5m scheme, which is led by a partnership of local authorities and the North East LEP, will provide dedicated support through a team of specialist business advisors, to businesses to help them offer work placements and traineeships.

Gill Southern, Co-Chair of our North East Business Support Board said: “Providing young people with work experience and skills development is essential. The local economy has great potential, but without the right workforce we won’t be able to achieve our ambitions for sustainable economic growth. SMEs are critical to providing these opportunities, and through schemes such as Generation NE we can ensure that they have the support they need to do this.”

Visit www.getingofar.gov.uk to find out more about the Get In Go Far campaign.

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A refreshed SEP to reflect changing times

Richard Baker, Head of Strategy and Policy at the North East LEP, gives an update on the refresh of our Strategic Economic Plan.

The North East Strategic Economic Plan – or SEP for short – is the region’s road map to economic success.

It is our medium-term economic plan for the North East LEP area.

It sets out clearly how the LEP and the North East Combined Authority support economic growth and details the advice we give to Government about the most important investments needed for our area.

The SEP focuses on the sectors and areas that make our regional economy tick: innovation, business support and access to finance, skills, employability and inclusion, economic assets and infrastructures and transport and digital connectivity.

Like all plans setting out a course of action to reach milestones further down the road, it needs updating to reflect changing times.

The original SEP was unveiled back in March 2014.

It was born out of the evidence base of the Adonis Review of 2012 – and the data which underpinned that report was from two years previous.

The economic data in the current SEP is based on a period when we emerged from recession rather than where we are at now.

A series of new policy documents will impact our future economic planning and decision-making – a national innovation plan, new national infrastructure commission and an emerging devolution deal.

In the light of these shifting sands, the North East LEP board has agreed with the North East Combined Authority that now is the right time to look again at parts of the SEP, taking into account new evidence of the region’s economic position and evolving public policy environment.The SEP refresh is just that.

Not a rewrite, but a look again at how we reach our ambitious target of creating an extra 100,000 more and better jobs by 2024.

We are hard at work on this process.

We are examining with sharp focus our opportunities to be competitive nationally and internationally in the smart specialisation areas and growth sectors.

These are passenger vehicle manufacture, subsea, marine and related advanced manufacturing, life sciences and health and creative, digital software and technology based services.

We are looking to see high levels of productivity in these areas and to work out our position within the Northern Powerhouse to ensure we have the strong profile our region needs to seize maximum advantage from the opportunities it presents.

The views of stakeholders are crucial to our refresh work. They will contribute substantially to the evidence base, credibility and application of the SEP.

We’ll be seeking the views of business, the public and third sectors at a series of workshops running either side of the EU referendum during the summer.

There will also be an online survey for people to feed their views into the refresh process.

Details of how stakeholders can take part in the SEP refresh will coincide with the launch of our engagement activity in June and more information about how businesses can input will be available soon.

These views will be fed into the work to create an updated SEP which will be unveiled later this year.

Two other important pieces of work will support this refresh.

One is an economic analysis paper, which has been independently verified and looks at where we are now, compared to then back in 2014 and the next steps the region needs to take. We would encourage businesses to get in touch if they have more research or evidence to strengthen the economic analysis paper we have produced.

The second is a progress review of SEP delivery to date to show what has been done set against the SEP’s original plans.

The progress review looks right across leadership and governance structures, programme development, resource acquisition and investment.

Our aim with stakeholders is to provide the North East LEP area – from County Durham to the Northumberland – with an updated strategic economic plan which better reflects today while future proofing for tomorrow.

Richard Baker

Head of Strategy and Policy

North East Local Enterprise Partnership

[email protected]

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LEP encourages collaboration on careers guidance

Ryan Gibson, Facilitator for the Career Benchmarks Pilot at the North East LEP, explains how the LEP is helping to bring the education and business sectors together in the North East.

I’m a firm believer that good communication is the key to successful partnerships. Talking, sharing ideas, understanding our different perspectives and collaborating where possible helps us to think differently and develop new, smarter, ways of doing things.

That’s why as part of my role at the North East LEP, we’ve brought those organisations, that already do a fantastic job linking education and business, together to raise awareness of what each other does and to help schools, colleges and businesses navigate the space more effectively to improve the impact of careers education in the North East.

In one of the first events of its kind in the region, over 30 different organisations that work to link education and business came together to discuss how working in partnership could help achieve our collective aim to transform the quality of careers guidance.

Those organisations were:

Business in the Community
North East Chamber of Commerce
The Careers & Enterprise Company
National Careers Service
National Contact Centre
STEMNET
Think Physics
Esh Group
TICE – This Is Creative Enterprise
Princes Trust
Engineering UK
Young Enterprise
Health Education England
The Wise Group
Rising Star
STEM Learning
Royal Town Planning Institute
Primary Engineer
Career Ready
British Engines
The Engineering Development Trust
Fair Train
The Key
Dynamo North East
Youth Focus: North East
My Best School Trip
National Citizen Service

We were also joined by colleagues from each of the local authorities across the LEP area, who provided updates on exciting initiatives they are working on such as the labour market information portal in North Tyneside, Work Discovery Sunderland, Work Ready Newcastle and The Exchange in South Tyneside. Education Business Partnerships from Durham and Northumberland spoke about the work they do and Gateshead advised on the new structures they are developing. It was great to see representatives from local authorities at the meeting as they have an important part to play in helping to facilitate the partnership working that is key to the project’s success.

I had the pleasure of chairing the meeting on behalf of the North East LEP on what was a truly inspiring day of debate, discussion and shared ambition to improve links between the education and business sectors.

Using the ‘Career Benchmarks’ (outlined in the Gatsby Foundation’s ‘Good Career Guidance Report‘) as a basis for our discussion, each organisation talked about their area of work and how they could help schools/colleges implement and achieve the eight benchmarks of good career guidance in the North East.

This first meeting is just the start of the process. What we hope to achieve in the long term is to help people navigate the careers education space more efficiently and effectively, connect them with the right support and use the Career Benchmarks to improve students’ transition from school to work.

One of the key learnings from the day was that while there are many fantastic organisations working to bring education and business together in the North East, the choice can often be overwhelming for schools. There is a need to provide schools and colleges with additional guidance to help them identify which organisations they can partner with to meet their individual needs. In our role, leading the national career benchmarks pilot at the North East LEP, we will be working with partners to developing signposting resources so that education, business and the organisations that link education to business can make maximum impact on young people.

Liam Weatherill, Regional Coordinator for the Engineering Development Trust said, “I found [the meeting] thoroughly enjoyable and very innovative as I had not been to an event that brought together the major players in external future support for schools/businesses in the North East in my time with the Engineering Development Trust. It was good to talk and develop some of the themes and I look forward to future working.”

There was also agreement that many organisations could work together. It was fantastic to see new partnerships form and willing from everyone around the table to work collaboratively where possible.

The next step will be to collate all the skills and services on offer in the North East into a comprehensive resource for schools and colleges. We’ll be able to match these opportunities to the Career Benchmarks ensuring we’re delivering the best possible careers education in the North East to meet the needs of young people, schools, colleges and businesses.

If you’d like to know more about the LEP’s work in this area I’d love to hear from you, [email protected]

Ryan Gibson
Facilitator for the Careers Benchmark Pilot at the North East LEP

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Transforming careers guidance and the impact on social mobility

Ryan Gibson, Facilitator for the Career Benchmarks Pilot at the North East LEP, gives his thoughts on the recent House of Lords Select Committee on Social Mobility report.

The House of Lords Select Committee on Social Mobility released a report on Friday 8 April that argued that young people who do not go to university are ‘overlooked and left behind’.

It suggested students leave the education system without the skills necessary for
work and life and more should be done to ‘improve careers guidance and advice for young people’.

Baroness Corston, Chairman of The Select Committee on Social Mobility, was interviewed on BBC News and said “…schools, employers, FE Colleges and LEPs have no means of working together, and they should have.”

Whilst I don’t disagree with the report’s contents or the recommendations outlined by the Committee, I – like many of my colleagues in the North East – were surprised there was no mention of the innovative work the North East LEP is doing with the Gatsby Foundation to transform careers guidance not just here in the region, but across the country.

The North East LEP, in partnership with the Gatsby Foundation, is currently piloting the National Career Benchmarks; eight clearly defined benchmarks for good career guidance, that when implemented, will improve students’ transition from school to work by allowing them to make fully informed decisions about their future.

The eight benchmarks are:

1. A stable careers programme
2. Learning from career and labour market information
3. Addressing the needs of each pupil
4. Linking curriculum learning to careers
5. Encounters with employers and employees
6. Experiences of work places
7. Encounters with further and higher education
8. Personal guidance

The pilot is already moving apace. Only last week we awarded the first of our partner schools funding to begin work on their innovative ideas to improve careers education.

Of the recommendations outlined in the Select Committee Report, I’m proud to say many of these are already being addressed in the North East LEP region.

The need for ‘professional careers guidance that is independent of schools or colleges, delivered face-to-face, helping them to choose their individual routes forward’ is something we’re addressing through the benchmarks, which require schools and colleges to ensure that ‘every student should have opportunities for guidance interviews with a careers adviser…trained to the appropriate level…and be available whenever significant study or career choices are being made…timed to meet individual needs.

Another recommendation from the report is ‘young people need careers education in schools which is embedded into and fits alongside the curriculum and is informed by labour market information.’ Again, this is something we are helping to facilitate in the North East through the Enterprise Adviser initiative, strategically linking business leaders with schools and colleges across the region, in mutually beneficial partnerships, to help bridge the gap between education and the world of work. We already have the support of a number of education and business organisations and the Department for Education are working very closely with us.

There are other key recommendations the Benchmarks are delivering on, including the importance of work experience and our work, here in the North East, suggests there is no single ‘magic bullet’ for transforming this agenda. Rather it is about doing a number of things, identified within the eight benchmarks of good career guidance, doing them consistently, doing them well and doing them for each and every student.

Together with partners in Government, education and the business sector we are hoping to bring about significant change to the quality and delivery of careers education in the England and I’m happy to report the collaboration needed to make this happen is beginning to take place. Whilst there is still work to be done, we are starting to see the indications of impact already.

Ultimately this project is about helping young people make fully informed decisions about their future by better connecting them to information, advice and opportunities so that they can be inspired about their future, improving the pathway to work and delivering business growth. I take it as a positive that here in the North East we are already addressing many of the recommendations outlined in the Select Committee report.

If anyone has any questions about the Gatsby National Career Benchmarks Pilot, please feel free to contact me via [email protected].

Ryan Gibson
Facilitator for the Careers Benchmark Pilot at the North East LEP

To read The Select Committee report on Social Mobility in full, click here.

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Training from Google for North East businesses

Did you know that businesses with a strong web presence grow more than twice as fast as those without?

You too can use the web to grow your business, your career or even just your confidence.  We are delighted to be working with Google who are about to launch  their first Digital Garage in our area at Newcastle City Library on Friday 22 April. The Garage will be open until summer 2016. You’ll be able to register for free training and/or a one-to-one mentoring session.

More than 90% of jobs will require digital literacy in the near future and small companies can grow twice as fast when they have a strong web presence, so it is crucial that both employers and employees keep up to date with the opportunities presented by online technology.

Over 88 per cent of businesses that have previously attended a training session at The Digital Garage state that they have changed the way they run or promote their business online; 68 per cent of people surveyed say they’ve seen positive results – in either increased sales, bookings, web traffic or social media following – after Google’s free training.

Eileen Naughton, Google’s managing director for UK & Ireland said: “In the digital age, a basic understanding of how the online world works is useful; and when it comes to business, it’s essential. We are bringing the Google Garage to Newcastle because we believe Google can be a growth engine for businesses all across the UK — from start-ups to established companies. We are also welcoming individuals, be they recent graduates or aspiring entrepreneurs, to attend seminars at the Garage and learn more about how digital can help them grow.”

The Digital Garage in Newcastle is being delivered in partnership with Newcastle City Library,
Newcastle City Council, North East LEP and the North East Business & IP Centre.

If you can’t make it to the Google Garage, you can create your own personalised learning plan online, and benefit from Google’s in-depth training, wherever you are.

Register here to get your digital tune up at Newcastle’s Google Garage.