Official Launch of the City Region Employment and Skills Multi Area Agreement
On Wednesday 9th September the City Region of Birmingham, Coventry and the Black Country will officially sign an employment and skills Multi Area Agreement with Government.
The outcome of the MAA is increasing numbers of people in sustainable employment with training across the area of the City Region of Birmingham, Coventry and the Black Country . This will be achieved by removing a number of barriers, inflexibilities and inconsistencies in the current operating framework, and the delegation of decision making and funding from national and regional agencies to the City Region.
Chair of the City Region Board, and Leader of Birmingham City Council, Cllr Mike Whitby says
"The signing of our Multi Area Agreement is a significant step in our efforts to tackle long-term unemployment, and increase skills. Through real partnership working, joined-up across our City Region and beyond, our partnership is levering in new funding and accessing new powers to address one of the most critical issues facing the country. "
“We now look forward to working closely together with partners to ensure that national and regional employment and skills monies are targeted on the areas of greatest opportunity and greatest need - enabling us to get even more people off benefits and into skilled jobs than if we were working separately".
Through the MAA the City Region has agreed new powers with Government which will lead to
- Joint working with the Department for Work and Pensions to agree how national employment programme budgets can be targeted to get higher numbers of individuals off benefit in priority areas across the City Region.
- Devolution of the statutory power to set the adult skills strategy which will have formal influence over Skills Funding Agency spending in the City Region , known as Section 4 powers; currently only existing in London
Using the MAA partnership approach and the new powers from Government the City Region is committed by 2013 to
- Reducing the gap in benefit claimants between City Region and national average by 0.25% equating to 26,397 individuals less in receipt of workless benefits in the City Region, this means 11,070 additional individuals will be moved off benefit because of the MAA
- 163,000 more individuals will be qualified to Level 2
- 145,000 more individual will be qualified to Level 3
The private sector will play a key role in identifying the skills needs of businesses in the City Region and will have a “hands on” role in delivery of the MAA.
Ben Reid, Chief Executive of the Midcounties Coop and Chair of the private sector led Board overseeing the delivery of the MAA, the Employment and Skills Strategic Management Board, ESSMB says
"Business will play a central role in identifying both our current and future skills needs. To improve our competitiveness and productivity, and also recover strongly from the recession business, needs workers with the right skills. The private sector will work with our local and central Government partners to make sure that every pound of public money supports our objective of having the best trained workforce in the country".
The MAA builds upon the experience and successes of the City Strategy Pathfinder, a new and innovative approach to tackling worklessness and poor skills across 55 disadvantaged wards in the City Region, and also the Integrated Employment and Skills trails.
Through the MAA
- Local councillors and business leaders will decide the top adult employment and skills priorities and directly influence Government spending in support of these
- Local people who have been on long term benefits and/or who have low skills will benefit from one single system tailored to their specific individual needs to help them to get into a job and stay there
- Local businesses will have increased numbers of job ready applicants with skills
- Local businesses will have the opportunity to design pre-employment training
- Over the lifetime of the MAA local councils, the LSC (SFA), JCP, AWM and national Government will all seek to progressively ensure that money is spent supporting one set of targets reducing the risks for duplication and overlap
Chair, Birmingham and Solihull Employment and Skills Board (David Hersey), Chair, Black Country ESB (Ben Reid), Chair, Coventry and Warwickshire ESB (Daniel Gidney), Chair, Telford and Wrekin ESB (Alan Taylor) and two local authority Leaders from the City Region Board (currently Councillor Ken Meeson and Councillor Anne Millward), along with a local authority Chief Executive (Mark Rogers) and the Regional Directors of the LSC, JCP and AWM.
