This report specifically looks at the employment and skills issues in the North East of England, up to mid-2007.

Potential of Recruitment & Employment Agencies to Engage with and Support the Employment and Skills Agenda More Directly

The LSC North East commissioned Wood Holmes to undertake research to identify and scope the scale of the positive contributions that the activities of recruitment and employment agencies can make towards the wider strategies of increasing employability and skills in the North East.

North East 14-19 Commission - June 2009

The International Centre for Guidance Studies (iCeGS) has been commissioned by the North East 14-19 Commission to carry out research in the region to inform it's acvitities of the Regional Employment and Skills Partnership, and more specifically to "inform the future development of labour market intelligence (LMI) to support the provision of employment related information advice and guidance (IAG) to support young people".  To read the report, please click on the attachment below. 

The future skills levels of this region depend upon organisations like those featured in the attached publication.  They have taken work-based learning and looked at it from a new perspective. Whether this has involved innovative new approaches to learning, unusual collaborations, or simply a different way of working, these organisations have one thing in common.  They all understand the importance of skills development, to support economic growth and inclusion.

The Leitch Review assesses the UK’s long-term skills needs. It discusses the direct correlation between skills, productivity and employment in the light of globalisation and recommends building on recent reforms to schools, colleges and universities in order to strengthen the UK skillbase, to become a key lever for prosperity and fairness. The review is of a general nature and does not focus on the North East.

Providing affordable, carbon efficient homes in safe, prosperous communities is a national priority. It means improving older properties and, crucially, building new homes in well-connected places with a range of facilities such as schools, health centres, shops and parks. The creation and maintenance of such places – what we call ‘sustainable communities’ – depends on the efforts of a wide range of occupations, including architecture, planning, civil engineering, surveying, housing, community development, neighbourhood management, economic development and, increasingly, environmental management.  However, there is growing evidence that many of these professions face acute recruitment shortages and in several activity areas there is a lack of essential generic skills such as visioning and strategy building, project management, leadership, partnership working and communication.

The findings of this report are intended to inform all those involved in meeting this challenge to anticipate labour market conditions, plan for the future and be better equipped to deal with complexity and change as well as stimulating dialogue across this wide-ranging sector and lead to practical solutions. 

This report assesses the gaps in the supply and demand of skills required to deliver the sustainable communities programme. Gaps include (a) technical skills, linked to regeneration and the built environment; and (b) generic skills, such as finance and project management, leadership and communication. The study was commissioned by the Academy for Sustainable Communities (ASC). Its recommendations relate to what the ASC should promote on a national level. It relates to the situation in England rather than focusing on the North East.

Capital investment has a major part to play in transforming the learning and skills infrastructure and creating world class facilities for individuals and employers.  This plan sets out how the LSC and One North East will focus investment in skills and learning infrastructure jointly and individually in order that the region achieves the ambition for skills it has set out in the Regional Economic Strategy. 

Please see below the 6 monthly progress update report and Annexes for the Regional Skills Partnership which was submitted to national partners (DIUS and DBERR) on 5 October 2007.

Originally established in 2004, Skills North East is one of nine Regional Skills Partnerships across England, working through its partners to identify and meet employment and skills needs in the region.  For more information on the partnership's mission, aims and objectives, please click on the brochures below. 

The Regional Skills Partnership has prepared the Skills Action Plan to identify additional action that needs to be taken in the North East, beginning in 2005-2006 to respond to the challenges outlined.

This document reviews progress since the previous Skills Action Plan Report from 2005-2006. The Skills Action Plan addresses the employment and skill needs of the North East region. Strategic indicators to benchmark and measure the progress of partnership between employers and the skills action plan are discussed.

In March 2005 Skills North East, The Regional Skills Partnership, published its Skills Action Plan. With activities and experiences over the last year, this has guided the actions set out in the updated Skills Action Plan for 2006-2007.

On 11th November BIS published the National Skills Strategy White Paper – Skills for Growth.  Click on the attached documents for more information.

In March 2005 Skills North East - the Regional Skills Partnership - published its Skills Action Plan. This was the first step towards addressing the challenges outlined in the National Skills Strategy 21st Century Skills and of achieving our vision that employers have the skills to support the success of their businesses and that individuals have the skills they need to be both employable and fulfilled.

In a recent report undertaken for the East Midlands Development Agency (emda), Experian’s Economics team investigated the importance, impact and extent of atypical working practices across the region, the findings of which will inform the development agency’s strategy to encourage atypical working.

Dame Carol Black’s review focuses on the health of people of working age, whose health has consequences often far beyond themselves – touching their families and children, workplaces and wider communities. It emphasises the importance of considering the hidden human costs of ill-health alongside the measurable economic costs. The aim of the review is to identify the factors that stand in the way of good health and to elicit interventions, including changes in attitudes, behaviours and practices – as well as services – that can help overcome them. The review is of general nature and does not directly address the North East.

In January 2008 Northern Education was commissioned by One North East, on behalf of the Employer Engagement Sub-Group of the 14-19 Commission, to undertake an assignment aimed at increasing the scale and scope of employer engagement in 14-19 education and training in the region.

The project was to be delivered in two parts:

Part 1 - Clarifying and defining the current baseline position regarding employer engagement in 14-19 education and training.

Part 2 - Stimulating the market, by developing an Employer Engagement Framework and an associated marketing campaign to promote the engagement opportunities and benefits to employers.
The purpose of this report is to present the findings of the Part 1 research, describing the current baseline position regarding employer engagement in 14-19 education and training in the North East.

All three sub-regional groupings (Tees Valley, Durham and Tyne and Wear and Northumberland) submitted their draft final proposals in March.  To view the documents, please click on the attachments below:

• Durham SRG Submission
• Tyne and Wear and Northumberland SRG Submission
• Tees Valley SRG Submission 
• RPG Submission

There is a limited period on which to comment on these proposals. GONE will be collating views from stakeholders in the region and if you would like to submit a comment, please email Jackie McHanwell at GONE jackie.mchanwell@gone.gsi.gov.uk by 16 March 2009.  

Welcome to the North East Interim Regional Planning Group briefing notes aimed at stakeholders and partners in the region with an interest in 14-19 reform, particularly the transfer of the responsibility for the commissioning of 16-19 provision from the LSC to the region’s local authorities.  For more information, click on the documents below.

The Equality and Human Rights Commission (the Commission) is committed to hearing ‘new voices’, especially those that are not always heard. In 2008, the Commission designed a project for ‘new young voices’ consisting of three new research studies, please see below for more information.

North East 14-19 Commission - June 2009

The International Centre for Guidance Studies (iCeGS) has been commissioned by the North East 14-19 Commission to carry out research in the region to inform it's acvitities of the Regional Employment and Skills Partnership, and more specifically to "inform the future development of labour market intelligence (LMI) to support the provision of employment related information advice and guidance (IAG) to support young people".  To read the report, please click on the attachment below. 

Understanding young people who do not participate in education or training at 16 and 17

The summary presents key findings from research commissioned by the Department for Children, Schools and Families aimed at exploring the characteristics and experiences of young people who are not in education, employment or training (NEET) or in jobs without training (JWT).

The statement summarises the key issues from the regional strategic analysis for young people and sets out the broad strategic priorities for the region, as endorsed by the Shadow Regional Planning Group.

The report summaries the findings of three focused research projects and two youth debates in response to the Education and Skills Act.  The 'Staying On' project is aimed at making sure the two extra years of learning for all young people are not wasted. 

The work-related learning guide is aimed at young people and their parents or carers, employers, primary and secondary schools and colleges, and the Education Business Partnership Organisations that help to make it happen.

This paper describes why worklessness is an important issue for social landlords and shows how Unity Housing Association Leeds has addressed it by developing the Tenants into Work (TIW) model partnership working and outreach.

This was an action research project funded by the European Social Fund (ESF) under Objective 3 (national programme) and was targeted at improving the participation of women in the labour market by putting into practice recommendations from previous research, namely – ‘Can mentoring and networking be effective in raising the employability of women?’ Under Policy Field 5 Measure 1 Theme D (Solutions to Gender Discrimination), the project developed, coordinated and delivered a Personal Development Programme to 52 women from six different organisations across the North East of England to help move them closer to employability. The programme was designed specifically as a resource for women – to be delivered in a ‘women only’ space - and was intended to help in raising selfesteem, confidence and aspirations.

The UK Commission for Employment and Skills has just published two major documents: Ambition 2020: World Class Skills and Jobs for the UK is the first of their annual reports on UK progress towards becoming world class in employment and skills by 2020; Their Five Year Strategic Plan 2009-2014 sets out how the UK Commission will contribute towards achieving this goal.

This report looks at the UK as a whole and not specifically the North East of England.

This report looks at unemployment in the UK due to recession and how organisations are looking into changing employment practices in order to tackle recession in all sectors on a national level. The report includes specific figures pertaining to employment practices.

On 15 December 2009, the DWP published its employment White Paper Building Britain’s Recovery: Achieving Full Employment.  This is the first DWP White Paper since Raising expectations and increasing support (December 2008) and follows the Welfare Reform Act, which received Royal Assent in November 2009.  This White Paper focuses on measures to counteract unemployment caused by the current recession, although it proceeds to cover welfare reform more comprehensively in a way reminiscent of previous White Papers.  For more information, click on the link below.

Potential of Recruitment & Employment Agencies to Engage with and Support the Employment and Skills Agenda More Directly

The LSC North East commissioned Wood Holmes to undertake research to identify and scope the scale of the positive contributions that the activities of recruitment and employment agencies can make towards the wider strategies of increasing employability and skills in the North East.

As part of its ongoing drive to improve the impact of services aimed at enhancing employability and skills in the region, Skills North East wants to encourage all partners to ensure that the Regional Employability Framework (REF) lies at the heart of how all services are designed and delivered.

This Green Paper builds on the measures in the 2007 Welfare Reform Act to ensure that those with health conditions and disabilities have more effective provision.  This paper is of a general nature and does not address the North East specifically.

Providing affordable, carbon efficient homes in safe, prosperous communities is a national priority. It means improving older properties and, crucially, building new homes in well-connected places with a range of facilities such as schools, health centres, shops and parks. The creation and maintenance of such places – what we call ‘sustainable communities’ – depends on the efforts of a wide range of occupations, including architecture, planning, civil engineering, surveying, housing, community development, neighbourhood management, economic development and, increasingly, environmental management.  However, there is growing evidence that many of these professions face acute recruitment shortages and in several activity areas there is a lack of essential generic skills such as visioning and strategy building, project management, leadership, partnership working and communication.

The findings of this report are intended to inform all those involved in meeting this challenge to anticipate labour market conditions, plan for the future and be better equipped to deal with complexity and change as well as stimulating dialogue across this wide-ranging sector and lead to practical solutions. 

This report assesses the gaps in the supply and demand of skills required to deliver the sustainable communities programme. Gaps include (a) technical skills, linked to regeneration and the built environment; and (b) generic skills, such as finance and project management, leadership and communication. The study was commissioned by the Academy for Sustainable Communities (ASC). Its recommendations relate to what the ASC should promote on a national level. It relates to the situation in England rather than focusing on the North East.

This report presents the reform programme by DIUS/DWP.  It assesses the principles of welfare and skills reform; the challenge of integrating employment and skills; increasing support relating to skills to increase employability and sustainable employment; skills progression and life-long skills development. The report is of a general nature and does not address the North East specifically.

A study of experience and use of the job preparation premium

This report evaluates the job preparation premium element of the Pathways to Work programme. The job preparation premium is a weekly payment of £20 for a maximum of 26 weeks for people who do some form of activity towards paid employment. The report considers the experiences of benefit administrators and recipients.

The document sets out the North East regional response and offer to businesses and individuals affected by the recession in relation to employment and skills.  For more information click on the document below.

This report discusses a vision for personalised conditions regarding the entitlement of jobseekers seeking and claiming benefits. It makes recommendations in light of challenging times for the global economy and the UK labour market. The vision is of a welfare system more resilient to the ebbs and flows of the economy, so that no-one is left behind. The report is of a general nature and does not specifically address the North East.

This report focuses on understanding the impact of the recession and practical ways in which UK city leaders can respond. Twelve UK case studies are discussed, including Newcastle.

This report makes a series of recommendations to reduce the number of the most socially disadvantaged people in the country. It does not specifically address the North East.

This summary reports key findings of research conducted by the Employment Research Institute at Edinburgh Napier University for ONE NorthEast (ONE) evaluating the North East’s Regional Employability Framework (REF). The REF seeks to provide a single accessible network of employability support to meet the needs of both employers and individuals.

The rise in redundancies and unemployment over the end of 2008 and early 2009 has led to an unprecedented level of response from Government and its agencies, local government and other partners nationally and within the North East.  Much of this response has addressed the wider economic causes of the recession, through actions to increase liquidity in the financial markets, stimulate consumer demand, improve access to credit for businesses, and increase take up of business advice and support through Business Link.  This Action Plan describes the additional activity underway within the North East to address the employment and skills impacts and challenges of the recession, within the context of this wider holistic response.  For more information, please click on the attached Action Plan.

This document reviews progress since the previous Skills Action Plan Report from 2005-2006. The Skills Action Plan addresses the employment and skill needs of the North East region. Strategic indicators to benchmark and measure the progress of partnership between employers and the skills action plan are discussed.

This interim report assesses how local authorities and their partners are using the Working Neighbourhoods Fund (WNF).

This report generally emphasises the urgency to find simple and straightforward ways to deliver more support for workless people. It is not specific to the North East.

Attached is the REF Communications Activity Plan for 2009 to March 2010. 

The North East's multi-agency approach to integrating employment and skills.

This paper looks at the unemployment crisis facing the UK in light of the recent economic crisis and the role of the Third Sector. The characteristics of the current recession are analysed along with past and present responses to the crises. Further, moves toward greater knowledge intensiveness and greening of the economy are discussed along with related practical challenges and opportunities for the Third Sector. The paper is of general nature and does not address the North East specifically.

This document contains the next steps of the government adopting the recommendations of the Leitch Review to provide everyone with the opportunity and encouragement to develop their skills to the maximum. It describes how to create integrated employment and skills services that are more responsive to the needs of individuals and employers. It also shows how to ensure that delivery systems work more closely together, and are driven by those who know best how to shape services to meet local needs. The document does not specifically address the North East.

Dame Carol Black’s review focuses on the health of people of working age, whose health has consequences often far beyond themselves – touching their families and children, workplaces and wider communities. It emphasises the importance of considering the hidden human costs of ill-health alongside the measurable economic costs. The aim of the review is to identify the factors that stand in the way of good health and to elicit interventions, including changes in attitudes, behaviours and practices – as well as services – that can help overcome them. The review is of general nature and does not directly address the North East.

On 3rd November 2009 BIS published the long awaited HE Framework Higher Ambitions: the future of universities in a knowledge economy.  Click on the attached documents for more information.

The region has identified the retention, and continued development, of individuals with higher level skills as a priority during the current period of economic downturn. As such a programme of coordinated interventions has been prepared in partnership with the region’s Higher Education (HE), and Further Education (FE), institutions.

This report has been prepared by Tees Valley Engineering Partnership for One North East. It investigates potential reasons and barriers to take up of individuals with higher level skills.   Engagement with the companies has confirmed the existence of numerous barriers and identified preventative measures which could be used to minimise or eliminate them. The report contains a series of recommendations and an action plan. 

Maximising the contribution of the nation's science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) skills base is widely accepted as being a key differentiator in ensuring the economic prosperity of UK plc.  The demand for STEM knowledge and skills nationally is therefore expected to continue to grow over the period to 2017.  Click on the report for more information.

A brochure aimed at providers of Higher Level Skills within the North East region. 

The North East Higher Skills Network is a dynamic and groundbreaking new initiative that brings together all of the region’s 28 universities and colleges.

Their goal is to enable the North East’s vocational learners and employers to have access to the most relevant, accessible, innovative and fully articulated higher level learning opportunities (Level 4 and above) in the country.

This report reviews the availability of skilled graduates and employee training schemes for higher level skills in the energy sector in the North East. It focuses on up-skilling the existing workforce to Level 3-4 and the needs of employers for recruits at graduate level and higher.

This annual briefing on Engineering and Technology (E&T) Graduate Destinations and graduate application numbers shows that the trend has continued in 2007/08 for E&T graduates to be more likely than average to be in full time employment within six months of graduation. And nearly three quarters (74%) of those E&T graduates who do go into employment work for employers whose primary activity is E&T or related.
 
Also worthy of note are the findings that E&T also has an above average high proportion of students from outside the UK, particularly at higher degree (27.2% UK) and doctorate level (38.0% UK) compared to all subjects (44.9% and 57.7% respectively).
 
If you have any comments on this paper or would like future briefing papers sent to additional colleagues, please send details to research@EngineeringUK.com.

This paper describes why worklessness is an important issue for social landlords and shows how Unity Housing Association Leeds has addressed it by developing the Tenants into Work (TIW) model partnership working and outreach.

This was an action research project funded by the European Social Fund (ESF) under Objective 3 (national programme) and was targeted at improving the participation of women in the labour market by putting into practice recommendations from previous research, namely – ‘Can mentoring and networking be effective in raising the employability of women?’ Under Policy Field 5 Measure 1 Theme D (Solutions to Gender Discrimination), the project developed, coordinated and delivered a Personal Development Programme to 52 women from six different organisations across the North East of England to help move them closer to employability. The programme was designed specifically as a resource for women – to be delivered in a ‘women only’ space - and was intended to help in raising selfesteem, confidence and aspirations.

This report specifically looks at the different sectors in the North East of England and the changes that have taken place over the last decade. It considers four areas of the public sector - criminal justice, education, health, and welfare to work.  In both total spending and spending by each function, the amount per head in the North East during 1997-2007 was above the English average. The North East also witnessed the highest spending per head on employment policies and social protection, and high growth in public sector employment.

This report assesses present and future skill needs of the renewable energy sector in North East England. It outlines the supply of current learning provision in place to meet the demands of the sector. It determines future learning provision and support to the renewable energy sector in North East England. An extensive summary of all educational establishments providing courses related to renewable energies in North East (Course Levels 1-4 and higher education) is included.

Tyne & Wear City-Region (TWCR) has an increasingly diverse economic base, though with a relatively high proportion of public sector activity. There are differing industrial roles for different parts of the region and high levels of commuting.  Employment rates are relatively low.  More businesses are needed. Culture and identity are strong but there is polarisation between rich and poor locations. While skill levels are low (albeit improving amongst young people), they provide a base for development, and Higher Education has strong links with the community.

This report looks at the UK as a whole and not specifically the North East of England.

This paper comprises statistics on the North East which are relevant to the Regional Economic Strategy (RES) and Regional Spatial Strategy (RSS). Statistical tables and figures report population data and projections including age groups, gender, population growth, households, migration data, retirement, birth and death rates.

This is the sixth report (undertaken on a six-monthly basis) providing an economic profile for boroughs in the Tees Valley.

In 2004 research into the employment and skills issues facing the was undertaken by SINE to inform the development of the 2005-06 Action Plan by the regional skills partnership - Skills North East.

This review analyses the most important data sources to identify key messages for strategic planning in the region. It follows up the 2002 Framework for Regional Employment and Skills Action (FRESA).

This report specifically looks at the employment and skills issues in the North East of England, up to mid-2007.

This report looks at unemployment in the UK due to recession and how organisations are looking into changing employment practices in order to tackle recession in all sectors on a national level. The report includes specific figures pertaining to employment practices.

This report looks at the current situation and future strategies for the IT and Telecoms industry in the UK.  The main report is a summary of several other reports looking at different aspects of the IT sector. Unlike the main summary report, these sub-reports include some regionally disaggregated data.  Regional information from three of these sub-reports is included in this summary.

New Skills Consulting was appointed by the LSC North East to undertake a high-level review of the current patterns of demand for, and supply of, adult social care workforce qualifications in the region.

The research was commissioned to test an emerging hypothesis that the learning provider infrastructure in the North East may not currently be offering the full range of learning provision required to meet the needs of adult social care employers and their workforce.

This report has been prepared by Tees Valley Engineering Partnership for One North East. It investigates potential reasons and barriers to take up of individuals with higher level skills.   Engagement with the companies has confirmed the existence of numerous barriers and identified preventative measures which could be used to minimise or eliminate them. The report contains a series of recommendations and an action plan. 

North East 14-19 Commission - June 2009

The International Centre for Guidance Studies (iCeGS) has been commissioned by the North East 14-19 Commission to carry out research in the region to inform it's acvitities of the Regional Employment and Skills Partnership, and more specifically to "inform the future development of labour market intelligence (LMI) to support the provision of employment related information advice and guidance (IAG) to support young people".  To read the report, please click on the attachment below. 

The future skills levels of this region depend upon organisations like those featured in the attached publication.  They have taken work-based learning and looked at it from a new perspective. Whether this has involved innovative new approaches to learning, unusual collaborations, or simply a different way of working, these organisations have one thing in common.  They all understand the importance of skills development, to support economic growth and inclusion.

This report contains some regional analysis, but mostly pertains to the UK overall, as at October 2006.

This report contains minimal regional analysis of the North East, concentrating on the national picture in IT and Telecoms (ITT) salaries in the UK, as at December 2008.

Maximising the contribution of the nation's science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) skills base is widely accepted as being a key differentiator in ensuring the economic prosperity of UK plc.  The demand for STEM knowledge and skills nationally is therefore expected to continue to grow over the period to 2017.  Click on the report for more information.

The 2008 Labour Market Review is an overview of the employment and skills statistics in the North East. As the current economic conditions are highly volatile, the labour market picture is changing rapidly and the Skills Team will be undertaking dialogues and preparing bulletins to enable us to share information about labour market changes in the coming year.

Sector experts at the LSC regularly produce sector intelligence reports which are hosted on their website.  Please click on the links below to access the reports.

This report assesses the gaps in the supply and demand of skills required to deliver the sustainable communities programme. Gaps include (a) technical skills, linked to regeneration and the built environment; and (b) generic skills, such as finance and project management, leadership and communication. The study was commissioned by the Academy for Sustainable Communities (ASC). Its recommendations relate to what the ASC should promote on a national level. It relates to the situation in England rather than focusing on the North East.

The fourth National Employers Skills Survey (NESS) has revealed a steady upward trend in most areas of skills development, according to the views of over 79,000 employers.

NESS gathers and analyses data on the issues employers face in terms of recruitment, skills gaps and training.

This report reviews the National Employers Skills Survey 2007 (NESS07) with a special focus on comparing findings between the North East and the rest of England. Findings are also contrasted with earlier National Employers Skills Surveys. The report addresses issues of recruitment problems, skill gaps, training, recruitment of young people and apprenticeships.

This research report makes a strong case that a small number of high-growth businesses are responsible for the lion’s share of job creation and prosperity, and that innovation is instrumental in the success of these businesses. 

The North East Regional Strategic Analysis 2007 provides the strategic analysis which underpins the priorities and commissioning strategy.

Education at a Glance is produced annually by OECD.  It provides an up-to-date set of comparable indicators on the performance of education systems and represents the consensus of professional thinking on how to measure the current state of education internationally. 

The indicators look at who participates in education, what is spent on it and how education systems operate and at the results achieved. The latter includes indicators on a wide range of outcomes, from comparisons of students’ performance in key subject areas to the impact of education on earnings and on adults’ chances of employment. New material in this edition includes first results from the OECD Teaching and Learning International Survey (TALIS) on teacher practices as well as teacher appraisal and feedback; an analysis of the social benefits of education; information on long-term unemployment and involuntary part-time work among young adults; a review of trends in attainment; data on the incentives to invest in education which show the benefits of education in dollar amount across OECD countries.

News article featuring Philip Whiteman and SEMTA the Sector Skills Council for Engineering Manufacture (published in Professional Engineering 27th January 2010)

The summary matrix Sector Skills Needs in the North East presents key statistics to illustrate the nature and scale of skills needs in the North East region by sector and occupation.

Volumes 1-4: Published 26 September 2007

Skills in England 2007 is an assessment of the skills arena and highlights the key skills issues facing the LSC and its partners following a comprehensive review of development and evidence over the past year.  The report complements other skills reports at this time including the Leitch Review of Skills and the Freud Report.

This document signposts English regional organisations to relevant SSC Labour Market Information. All Sectors Skills Councils will publish a summary of their Sector Skills Agreements by 1st December 2009, with a detailed report produced for the UK and each nation by February 2010. From 2010, these reports will be published by December of each year.

The State of the Region is designed to be an up to date resource that provides both data and analysis on key regional indicators.

Economic activity in the UK is unevenly distributed, with historically persistent patterns of spatial disparity. For this to be increasingly true over the course of many years, there must be self-reinforcing benefits from the spatial concentration of activity.  This report analyses these agglomeration benefits and their policy implications, with particular reference to the Manchester City Region (MCR).

This 2007 report analyses the performance of the region and assesses its progress towards meeting the targets set out in the RES and Leitch Implementation Plan. It mainly provides figures illustrating historic statistics as well as required targets and milestones according to the Skills Action Plan 2007-2010. Each target is compared to an estimate of the milestone that the region needs to achieve according to the Leitch implementation plan for 2010.

This report establishes baseline evidence against which the current and future impact of the recession could be measured for the voluntary and community sector (VCS) in the North East, based on a survey of 130 organisations.

This report reviews the availability of skilled graduates and employee training schemes for higher level skills in the energy sector in the North East. It focuses on up-skilling the existing workforce to Level 3-4 and the needs of employers for recruits at graduate level and higher.

This report provides a high level profile of the Tyne Wear city region (i.e. Northern City Region) by discussing similarities and contrasts with the Tees Valley city region (i.e. Southern City Region). The report focuses on the cores of these city regions and the influences they have on the surrounding areas. The report uses a thematic analysis based on the Business, People and Place structure as featured in earlier studies, The State of the Region and the Regional Economic Strategy.  Reported statistics on the city region relate to the business economy (structure and performance), people (including demography, households, education, skills and economic activity) and place (including housing market, crime, infrastructure and environment). The emphasis of this report is on providing descriptive statistics rather than making policy recommendations.

This report focuses on the oil and gas industry in the Tees Valley and the specific businesses that operate in this sector.

This research report makes a strong case that a small number of high-growth businesses are responsible for the lion’s share of job creation and prosperity, and that innovation is instrumental in the success of these businesses.

The Wind, Wave and Tidal (WWT) sector is forecast to grow significantly over the period to 2020.  Key to fuelling this growth will be the development of a skilled workforce.  Through a process of research and consultation with employers and organisations involved in workforce development, key occupational and skills areas within the sector have been identified.  Forecasts have been made of the likely demand within these occupational areas and the current and planned supply of skills relevant to these areas has been examined.  The issues for the sector in competing for, and attracting skilled staff have been examined and a number of indicative actions proposed to address these issues delivered through enhanced influence, direct action and partnership. 

This summary has been prepared by the Skills Team at One North East.  It is derived from some unpublished benchmarking research carried out as part of the simplification agenda for UKCES.  The researchers have classified businesses into 6 types which may be of interest to those engaging with employers on a regular basis.

In a recent report undertaken for the East Midlands Development Agency (emda), Experian’s Economics team investigated the importance, impact and extent of atypical working practices across the region, the findings of which will inform the development agency’s strategy to encourage atypical working.

This report is concerned only with Manchester City Region (MCR), but draws lessons for the development of other City Regions.

It compares and contrast MCR’s success in growing and attracting highly skilled labour with other key city regions in the UK, and assesses the productivity benefits that are associated with its performance in this respect. 

This paper was commissioned by the Northern Way to inform its thinking about skills issues across the area. The emphasis is on the demand and supply for skills and how these fit to the wider growth agenda. It considers how to address blockages in the provision of skills, in order to promote economic development. The focus of this paper is a demand-side perspective on the quality of the workforce (a separate report is forthcoming considering labour supply and employability issues). It identifies a series of issues highlighted through consultations on the workings of the current system, and examines the evidence of what works based on a review of existing evaluation evidence. Recommendations for the North East.

In a recent report undertaken for the East Midlands Development Agency (emda), Experian’s Economics team investigated the importance, impact and extent of atypical working practices across the region, the findings of which will inform the development agency’s strategy to encourage atypical working.

This is a national document that presents the findings from a literature review of existing evidence on what employers want from employment and skills provision and the extent to which the current system is joined up.  A total of 85 publications on behalf of DWP and BIS were reviewed.

There is no specific reference to the NE.  Contact liz.robson@onenortheast.co.uk for more information. 

This annual briefing on Engineering and Technology (E&T) Graduate Destinations and graduate application numbers shows that the trend has continued in 2007/08 for E&T graduates to be more likely than average to be in full time employment within six months of graduation. And nearly three quarters (74%) of those E&T graduates who do go into employment work for employers whose primary activity is E&T or related.
 
Also worthy of note are the findings that E&T also has an above average high proportion of students from outside the UK, particularly at higher degree (27.2% UK) and doctorate level (38.0% UK) compared to all subjects (44.9% and 57.7% respectively).
 
If you have any comments on this paper or would like future briefing papers sent to additional colleagues, please send details to research@EngineeringUK.com.

This report looks at the national picture of women in IT and Telecoms in the UK and contains minimal regional analysis.

Dame Carol Black’s review focuses on the health of people of working age, whose health has consequences often far beyond themselves – touching their families and children, workplaces and wider communities. It emphasises the importance of considering the hidden human costs of ill-health alongside the measurable economic costs. The aim of the review is to identify the factors that stand in the way of good health and to elicit interventions, including changes in attitudes, behaviours and practices – as well as services – that can help overcome them. The review is of general nature and does not directly address the North East.

This report considers the overall UK and is not specific to the North east.

This report specifically looks at the different sectors in the North East of England and the changes that have taken place over the last decade. It considers four areas of the public sector - criminal justice, education, health, and welfare to work.  In both total spending and spending by each function, the amount per head in the North East during 1997-2007 was above the English average. The North East also witnessed the highest spending per head on employment policies and social protection, and high growth in public sector employment.

This report assesses present and future skill needs of the renewable energy sector in North East England. It outlines the supply of current learning provision in place to meet the demands of the sector. It determines future learning provision and support to the renewable energy sector in North East England. An extensive summary of all educational establishments providing courses related to renewable energies in North East (Course Levels 1-4 and higher education) is included.

This report looks at the current situation and future strategies for the IT and Telecoms industry in the UK.  The main report is a summary of several other reports looking at different aspects of the IT sector. Unlike the main summary report, these sub-reports include some regionally disaggregated data.  Regional information from three of these sub-reports is included in this summary.

New Skills Consulting was appointed by the LSC North East to undertake a high-level review of the current patterns of demand for, and supply of, adult social care workforce qualifications in the region.

The research was commissioned to test an emerging hypothesis that the learning provider infrastructure in the North East may not currently be offering the full range of learning provision required to meet the needs of adult social care employers and their workforce.

This report contains minimal regional analysis of the North East, concentrating on the national picture in IT and Telecoms (ITT) salaries in the UK, as at December 2008.

Maximising the contribution of the nation's science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) skills base is widely accepted as being a key differentiator in ensuring the economic prosperity of UK plc.  The demand for STEM knowledge and skills nationally is therefore expected to continue to grow over the period to 2017.  Click on the report for more information.

Sector experts at the LSC regularly produce sector intelligence reports which are hosted on their website.  Please click on the links below to access the reports.

The summary matrix Sector Skills Needs in the North East presents key statistics to illustrate the nature and scale of skills needs in the North East region by sector and occupation.

This document signposts English regional organisations to relevant SSC Labour Market Information. All Sectors Skills Councils will publish a summary of their Sector Skills Agreements by 1st December 2009, with a detailed report produced for the UK and each nation by February 2010. From 2010, these reports will be published by December of each year.

This report reviews the availability of skilled graduates and employee training schemes for higher level skills in the energy sector in the North East. It focuses on up-skilling the existing workforce to Level 3-4 and the needs of employers for recruits at graduate level and higher.

The region’s health sector is made up of National Health Service (NHS) and private hospitals, private nursing homes, NHS and private medical and dental practices, medical research laboratories, ambulance transportation, adult and children’s social care services, complementary medicine and other
human health activities; across a range of organisations within the public, private and voluntary sectors,along with the small but growing Life Sciences research and innovation sector. It is therefore a largeand complex sector, which not only cares for the health and wellbeing of the population but is also an important engine of the North East economy.  For more information on the North East Health and Social Care sector, click on the attached reports.

This report focuses on the oil and gas industry in the Tees Valley and the specific businesses that operate in this sector.

The Wind, Wave and Tidal (WWT) sector is forecast to grow significantly over the period to 2020.  Key to fuelling this growth will be the development of a skilled workforce.  Through a process of research and consultation with employers and organisations involved in workforce development, key occupational and skills areas within the sector have been identified.  Forecasts have been made of the likely demand within these occupational areas and the current and planned supply of skills relevant to these areas has been examined.  The issues for the sector in competing for, and attracting skilled staff have been examined and a number of indicative actions proposed to address these issues delivered through enhanced influence, direct action and partnership. 

This annual briefing on Engineering and Technology (E&T) Graduate Destinations and graduate application numbers shows that the trend has continued in 2007/08 for E&T graduates to be more likely than average to be in full time employment within six months of graduation. And nearly three quarters (74%) of those E&T graduates who do go into employment work for employers whose primary activity is E&T or related.
 
Also worthy of note are the findings that E&T also has an above average high proportion of students from outside the UK, particularly at higher degree (27.2% UK) and doctorate level (38.0% UK) compared to all subjects (44.9% and 57.7% respectively).
 
If you have any comments on this paper or would like future briefing papers sent to additional colleagues, please send details to research@EngineeringUK.com.

This report looks at the national picture of women in IT and Telecoms in the UK and contains minimal regional analysis.

This was an action research project funded by the European Social Fund (ESF) under Objective 3 (national programme) and was targeted at improving the participation of women in the labour market by putting into practice recommendations from previous research, namely – ‘Can mentoring and networking be effective in raising the employability of women?’ Under Policy Field 5 Measure 1 Theme D (Solutions to Gender Discrimination), the project developed, coordinated and delivered a Personal Development Programme to 52 women from six different organisations across the North East of England to help move them closer to employability. The programme was designed specifically as a resource for women – to be delivered in a ‘women only’ space - and was intended to help in raising selfesteem, confidence and aspirations.

This report looks at the national picture of women in IT and Telecoms in the UK and contains minimal regional analysis.

Tyne & Wear City-Region (TWCR) has an increasingly diverse economic base, though with a relatively high proportion of public sector activity. There are differing industrial roles for different parts of the region and high levels of commuting.  Employment rates are relatively low.  More businesses are needed. Culture and identity are strong but there is polarisation between rich and poor locations. While skill levels are low (albeit improving amongst young people), they provide a base for development, and Higher Education has strong links with the community.

This is the sixth report (undertaken on a six-monthly basis) providing an economic profile for boroughs in the Tees Valley.

This report focuses on understanding the impact of the recession and practical ways in which UK city leaders can respond. Twelve UK case studies are discussed, including Newcastle.

This report provides a high level profile of the Tyne Wear city region (i.e. Northern City Region) by discussing similarities and contrasts with the Tees Valley city region (i.e. Southern City Region). The report focuses on the cores of these city regions and the influences they have on the surrounding areas. The report uses a thematic analysis based on the Business, People and Place structure as featured in earlier studies, The State of the Region and the Regional Economic Strategy.  Reported statistics on the city region relate to the business economy (structure and performance), people (including demography, households, education, skills and economic activity) and place (including housing market, crime, infrastructure and environment). The emphasis of this report is on providing descriptive statistics rather than making policy recommendations.

This report focuses on the oil and gas industry in the Tees Valley and the specific businesses that operate in this sector.

The report assesses progress to date of the Tyne & Wear City Region Employment Consortium and future development.  Progress has been good, with contracting underway, building on the success of Tyne & Wear Together. 

The Multi-Area Agreement aims to set a clear direction for the Tyne & Wear City Region in the context of the Sub National Review and the Machinery of Government/Raising Expectations proposals, achieving a more competitive economically inclusive City region.  This involves regeneration, increasing skill levels and employment opportunities and strengthening internal and external transport connections.  Key sectors need to be developed, and current administrative arrangements made less complex and fragmented within integrated frameworks.

This report is concerned only with Manchester City Region (MCR), but draws lessons for the development of other City Regions.

It compares and contrast MCR’s success in growing and attracting highly skilled labour with other key city regions in the UK, and assesses the productivity benefits that are associated with its performance in this respect. 

The monthly e-bulletin aims to keep you informed of learning and skills developments in the North East Voluntary & Community Sector.

This report establishes baseline evidence against which the current and future impact of the recession could be measured for the voluntary and community sector (VCS) in the North East, based on a survey of 130 organisations.

This paper looks at the unemployment crisis facing the UK in light of the recent economic crisis and the role of the Third Sector. The characteristics of the current recession are analysed along with past and present responses to the crises. Further, moves toward greater knowledge intensiveness and greening of the economy are discussed along with related practical challenges and opportunities for the Third Sector. The paper is of general nature and does not address the North East specifically.

Skills NorthEast has developed a directory of free, online Information, Advice and Guidance Resources.  This directory is arranged to provide advice an indication about which sites might be most useful for different audiences and requirements.

North East 14-19 Commission - June 2009

The International Centre for Guidance Studies (iCeGS) has been commissioned by the North East 14-19 Commission to carry out research in the region to inform it's acvitities of the Regional Employment and Skills Partnership, and more specifically to "inform the future development of labour market intelligence (LMI) to support the provision of employment related information advice and guidance (IAG) to support young people".  To read the report, please click on the attachment below. 

In 2005 the government established a review of Information, Advice and Guidance services for adults in order to help achieve the long-term objective outlined in the White Paper, Skills: Getting on in Business, Getting on in Work (2005).This called for a universally available, high quality and well-used service offering linked information, advice and guidance for adults covering jobs, qualifications, training and related support such as childcare. One element of the review was to conduct and evaluate a trial extension of the UfI/learndirect telephone guidance service to handle a substantially larger volume of calls, and to test a three-stage call-back and action planning model.

Industrial activism is, at its heart, about readiness for the upturn and preparing for a world economy that is expected to be very different, and more challenging, than that experienced before the recession.  To read the summary, click on the summary paper below.

This is a document published by the Government in April 2009. 

A review of Government's Science & Innovation Policies by Lord Sainsbury October 2007. 

This research report makes a strong case that a small number of high-growth businesses are responsible for the lion’s share of job creation and prosperity, and that innovation is instrumental in the success of these businesses.

Previous research has found that the economic value of basic skills is particularly high in the UK, which implies a relative scarcity of individuals with good basic skills. 

This report provides a more up to date analysis of the economic value of basic skills in the British labour market, based on data drawn from the British Cohort Study for people born in 1970 and data from the Skills for Life Initiative.  The report is rather technical in both its method and discussion for the non-statistician.

The UK Commission for Employment and Skills has just published two major documents: Ambition 2020: World Class Skills and Jobs for the UK is the first of their annual reports on UK progress towards becoming world class in employment and skills by 2020; Their Five Year Strategic Plan 2009-2014 sets out how the UK Commission will contribute towards achieving this goal.

The report assesses the progress towards making the UK a world leader in skills, employment and productivity by 2020.

This is the final report in a series of three which address issues of regenerating British cities. Previous reports highlighted growing geographical inequality in the UK (Cities Limited) and reviewed international studies (Success and the City).  This final report uses the evidence that was gathered so far about what is possible and what is not, about what works and what does not, to offer new policy proposals for regenerating Britain’s cities. In relation to the North East, Sunderland is discussed as a case study representing limits to regeneration.

Prepared by Steve Besley, Education Policy Manager, Edexcel.  The updated version of the 'Who does what?' Guide which lists most of the main bodies and agencies operating in the world of education and training. The need to keep things simple has meant that details are necessarily kept to a minimum. It is best used as a reference guide.

This report specifically looks at the employment and skills issues in the North East of England, up to mid-2007.

On 15 December 2009, the DWP published its employment White Paper Building Britain’s Recovery: Achieving Full Employment.  This is the first DWP White Paper since Raising expectations and increasing support (December 2008) and follows the Welfare Reform Act, which received Royal Assent in November 2009.  This White Paper focuses on measures to counteract unemployment caused by the current recession, although it proceeds to cover welfare reform more comprehensively in a way reminiscent of previous White Papers.  For more information, click on the link below.

The future skills levels of this region depend upon organisations like those featured in the attached publication.  They have taken work-based learning and looked at it from a new perspective. Whether this has involved innovative new approaches to learning, unusual collaborations, or simply a different way of working, these organisations have one thing in common.  They all understand the importance of skills development, to support economic growth and inclusion.

Since the publication of the Leitch Review of Skills -  ‘Prosperity for all in the global economy - world class skills’ in December 2006, Skills North East, the Regional Skills Partnership held an event in April 2007 to discuss what those challenges meant for the region, and for businesses.

The Government's response to Leitch Review of Skills - "World Class Skills" was published on 18 July 2007.

The Leitch Review considered the UK's long-term skills needs to maximise economic growth, productivity and social justice outlined proposals for the actions required to achieve this. 

The NEHSN has prepared a brief summary of the Government response. 

The Leitch Review assesses the UK’s long-term skills needs. It discusses the direct correlation between skills, productivity and employment in the light of globalisation and recommends building on recent reforms to schools, colleges and universities in order to strengthen the UK skillbase, to become a key lever for prosperity and fairness. The review is of a general nature and does not focus on the North East.

This report focuses on the needs of learners, employers and communities in the North East. It assesses the extent to which the mix and quality of the region’s LSC-funded learning provision meets these needs.

Industrial activism is, at its heart, about readiness for the upturn and preparing for a world economy that is expected to be very different, and more challenging, than that experienced before the recession.  To read the summary, click on the summary paper below.

This is a document published by the Government in April 2009. 

The latest round of European Union Structural Fund programmes is for the period 2007-13. Operating within he parameters set out in the England Operational Programme, this Regional ESF Framework sets out the direction for the use of European Social Fund (ESF) in the North East.

This report presents the reform programme by DIUS/DWP.  It assesses the principles of welfare and skills reform; the challenge of integrating employment and skills; increasing support relating to skills to increase employability and sustainable employment; skills progression and life-long skills development. The report is of a general nature and does not address the North East specifically.

The document sets out the North East regional response and offer to businesses and individuals affected by the recession in relation to employment and skills.  For more information click on the document below.

This report focuses on understanding the impact of the recession and practical ways in which UK city leaders can respond. Twelve UK case studies are discussed, including Newcastle.

The report looks at ways to align investment in ‘place’ between public and private partners; and facilitate ‘partnership working’ across economic development, transport, skills, housing and regeneration.

This Advice has been produced during a period of significant economic and institutional change and in advance of a new Integrated Regional Strategy, however the North East welcomes the opportunity presented by RFA 2009 to restate and clarify our priorities in this new context.

The statement synthesises the priorities for sectors, spatial targeting and targeting by employer and learner types.  It sets out overall priorities for the North East Region for the year 2010/11.

The rise in redundancies and unemployment over the end of 2008 and early 2009 has led to an unprecedented level of response from Government and its agencies, local government and other partners nationally and within the North East.  Much of this response has addressed the wider economic causes of the recession, through actions to increase liquidity in the financial markets, stimulate consumer demand, improve access to credit for businesses, and increase take up of business advice and support through Business Link.  This Action Plan describes the additional activity underway within the North East to address the employment and skills impacts and challenges of the recession, within the context of this wider holistic response.  For more information, please click on the attached Action Plan.

On 11th November BIS published the National Skills Strategy White Paper – Skills for Growth.  Click on the attached documents for more information.

This Local Government Association document calls for further, significant devolution of decision-making and funding for both employment and adult skills to local agencies working together in sub-regional partnerships. Six incremental steps are recommended to the Government to improve the development of a devolved welfare and skills system. The report is of general nature and does not focus on the North East.

In a recent report undertaken for the East Midlands Development Agency (emda), Experian’s Economics team investigated the importance, impact and extent of atypical working practices across the region, the findings of which will inform the development agency’s strategy to encourage atypical working.

This document contains the next steps of the government adopting the recommendations of the Leitch Review to provide everyone with the opportunity and encouragement to develop their skills to the maximum. It describes how to create integrated employment and skills services that are more responsive to the needs of individuals and employers. It also shows how to ensure that delivery systems work more closely together, and are driven by those who know best how to shape services to meet local needs. The document does not specifically address the North East.

A summary of the most recent data on international migrant workers in the North East.

This note summarises the regional data in a recent data release of National Insurance registrations by non-UK nationals in 2006/07. The tables - at http://www.dwp.gov.uk/asd/asd1/niall/registration_tables2007.xls  - show the distribution of registrations by region, local authority and parliamentary constituency.

The Celebration of Learning and Skills (CoLaS) Awards 2007, held at the Sage Gateshead on 12th October, are designed to honour and reward some of the North East’s most outstanding individuals and employers, recognising their innovative and progressive approach to skills development and learning excellence.

A total of 10 awards were up for grabs on the evening, at the Oscar-style CoLaS awards ceremony, where they joined 1,000 other invited guests to enjoy an evening of recognition and local entertainment, hosted by television personality Kirsty Gallacher.

The future skills levels of this region depend upon organisations like those featured in the attached publication.  They have taken work-based learning and looked at it from a new perspective. Whether this has involved innovative new approaches to learning, unusual collaborations, or simply a different way of working, these organisations have one thing in common.  They all understand the importance of skills development, to support economic growth and inclusion.

In a recent report undertaken for the East Midlands Development Agency (emda), Experian’s Economics team investigated the importance, impact and extent of atypical working practices across the region, the findings of which will inform the development agency’s strategy to encourage atypical working.