Economic Participation
Priorities
Priority 1: Equipping people with the confidence, skills and choices for employment and entrepreneurship
Employment rates are high throughout most of the East of England. However, for many people access to rewarding employment remains difficult. Basic skills - and enhanced progression routes to higher skills levels - are essential, along with raising aspirations and self-confidence, to increase the likelihood of getting into work, education or training. Certain social groups systematically experience greater barriers than others. Some people aged over 50, some black and minority ethnic communities, people with disabilities or mental health needs and single parents, for example, are more likely to experience barriers to economic participation. Reducing these barriers will require targeted programmes, effective multi-agency working and ensuring an offer shaped around individual circumstances.
For single parents, worklessness or low-paid, part-time work can be a major determinant of severe and persistent poverty. Targeted support to reduce barriers to rewarding work for single parents - in particular availability and affordability of childcare - will make a valuable contribution to the government’s goal of eliminating child poverty, as well as making additional talent available in the labour market.
Priority 2: Tackling barriers to employment in the poorest 20 per cent of communities
Certain places exhibit levels of worklessness consistently above local and regional averages. Frequently, communities where a high proportion of people are not in work also experience other forms of disadvantage, such as crime, anti-social behaviour, poor educational outcomes, access to public services and transport.
Health and health inequalities have a major impact on productivity, employment and educational performance. A concerted focus on tackling persistent health inequalities, and adding to the quality and length of life of local people will have a major impact on the economic outcomes at community and regional level.
Lack of access to transport can also be a significant barrier to employment, particularly amongst young people in isolated rural areas and for those with childcare responsibilities.
Local Area Agreements (LAAs) are a powerful mechanism for delivering an ambitious and integrated approach to improving well-being, access to services and the economy in communities. Within LAAs, a concerted focus on the poorest 20 per cent of communities will have a profound effect on narrowing the gaps in employment and wider outcomes, contributing not only to improved life chances for individuals, but also to stronger communities and improved regional economic performance.
Priority 3: Increasing economic demand in areas with low economic activity rates
Some communities exhibit low levels of employment demand, entrepreneurship or diversity of enterprise. This can result from a legacy of industrial change or from thin labour markets in sparse or remote rural and coastal areas. This limits job opportunities, wealth generation and reduces resilience in the face of economic shocks. These places need comprehensive packages of support and investment to encourage start-up and growth of indigenous enterprises, including social enterprises, and relocation of external employers. Public-sector location, employment practices and procurement can stimulate areas with low economic activity rates.
Enterprise is about more than just new businesses and jobs. It’s about enterprising behaviour. Therefore, there needs to be more emphasis on increasing community capital. This includes supporting communities to take on ownership of local buildings as a base for local enterprises, or supporting local people to set up social enterprises to address local issues, for example, where a village shop has closed or where recycling facilities are poor.
Priority 4: Employers valuing a flexible, diverse and healthy workforce
Globalisation and migration have created a more ethnically and culturally diverse workforce in the East of England. The region also has an aging population, a growing number of women in the workforce and an increasing number of people who balance care and work responsibilities. In the context of a tight labour market, it is more important than ever before to promote the full economic participation of all sections of the potential workforce and to use the talents of all.
Employers increase profitability through responding positively to changes in the labour market and helping to remove barriers to participation for groups who are under-represented in employment. To benefit from the full range of talent in the population, some employers may need support in engaging with the potential available and in providing appropriate training. There are many benefits of a flexible and diverse workforce, including motivation, enriched creativity and access to new markets.
There is also a growing recognition that businesses that invest to create healthier jobs and working environments benefit greatly from a more productive workforce. Collaboration between the NHS, employers and business support organisations to improve the health of the workforce will deliver major long-term benefits to individuals, businesses and economic growth.
Priority 5: A vibrant, skilled and resourced third sector
Third-sector organisations often have a good understanding of need at individual and community level, and the ability to deliver services in a tailored and sensitive way. The cultural sector and the third sector - voluntary and community organisations and social enterprises - can play important roles in helping to empower people and communities to tackle local issues and have major economic impact in their own right. Additional support for community capacity-building and local leadership will help to ensure that interventions are most effectively targeted and shaped in response to need.
The opportunity for engagement in volunteering and cultural activities offers people pathways towards employment as skills are enhanced, confidence is gained and, importantly, as they have access to new social networks and opportunities. Government policies envisage an enhanced role for the third sector. To help ensure that third-sector organisations can fulfil this contribution, appropriate support is needed to enhance their capacity.
Implementation priorities
- Local Area Agreements improving economic and wider outcomes in disadvantaged communities
- comprehensive regeneration programmes to improve quality of place and economic opportunities in disadvantaged communities
- Multi-agency programmes shaped to individual and community needs
- a concerted focus through Local Area Agreements and Multi Area Agreements to improve basic skills and meet Leitch level 1 and 2 targets
- leveraging finance from Capacitybuilders and Financebuilders to provide effective and coherent packages of support for the third sector, including social enterprise, community asset development and land trusts
- effective and coherent packages for migrants and improving workforce health and childcare
- improving local and regional intelligence and evaluation to increase the impact of programmes.