Agenda item

Councillor Shaikh, Executive Member for Economic Development presented the Q1 Performance Indicator Report.  A copy of the presentation would be interleaved with the agenda.

In the discussion, the following points were made:

·         Members were informed that the number of residents supported back into work through its Employment Partnership was 244, against the profiled target of 200. The Partnership aims to increase employment for Islington residents by co-location and sharing information on vacancies and other local opportunities.

·         The Employment Partnership strategic approach ensures that employment provision in the borough meets the needs of identified priority groups such as parents of those aged 0-18, people with disability or long-term health conditions, young aged 18-25 and BAME.

·         Engaging with unemployed young adults aged 18-25 remains a challenge as there is no accurate statistics for employment rates for this group, however Council services and partners aim to support at least 396 young people aged 18-25 into employment this year. In addition members were advised that at the end of Q1, the Council had 93 outcomes against a profiled target of 40 which represents an improvement on last year outcomes.

·         Members were advised that 2 Islington residents had been supported into Council’s apprenticeship in Quarter 1 and the Council’s HR Service leads the in house programme. 19 apprentices will commence work within the Council during the autumn and placed in Business Administration, Housing & Property Management, Accounting, Data Management and Project Management.

·         Members were advised of the 1,497 learners that had enrolled during the 2018/19 academic year, less by 100 compared to the previous year, a reflection of the national trend. Officers noted that engaging more learners remains one of the over-arching priorities of the service in 2019/20. In addition the Executive Member informed members that five weeks of the academic year will be used as ACL learning weeks, an opportunity for the team to promote the service in libraries and Bright Start centres and to attract new learners and deliver short community learning based provision.

·         Meeting was advised of the enormous work carried out by key internal partners such as Bright Start, iWork, communities and libraries and each area allocated ACL leads. ACL will be delivering an accredited Level 1 Fashion course at Durham Road Community Rooms in Finsbury Ward.

·         The Executive Member recognised the efforts of both ACL and iWork in developing additional courses with Health and Social Care employers to as a route into work for residents who are looking for a career or a pathway into that field.  Members were also informed that the newly recruited Head of Service will be in post soon and will be looking at ways of improving the offer.

·         Meeting was informed that by the end of June 2019 there were 263,359 visits to Islington Libraries, slightly above the figures of visits in the first quarter of 2018/19, slightly below the profiled target set for Q1 2019/20. Members were advised that some of the libraries had been renovated and invited to view and visit it.

·         Members were informed that the Council continues to embed social value in its council commissioning/procurement exercises by creating apprenticeships and entry-level jobs with its suppliers for local residents.

RESOLVED:

That the report be noted.