Jobs Fair will start at 1.00 pm – 3.00 pm
There will be a wide range of employers and employment related agencies present at the jobs fair and subsequent meeting.
Meeting 7 February 2015 at 3.10 pm
Presentation about Southwark
apprenticeships: Lorna Fraser, organisational development.
Information: Southwark apprenticeship week and apprenticeship
working in the youth service.
Presentation from cabinet member, Cllr Ian Wingfield
Specialist panel for public questions.
Primary school admissions and school places, Glenn Garcia (Head of pupil access).
New sixth form for Nunhead.
Youth Community Council: Presentation on SWOT (strength, weaknesses and opportunities) analysis of Peckham.
News about Southwark, Lambeth, and Lewisham councils win £1.1 million award for pioneering local employment scheme.
Minutes:
Councillor Wingfield, cabinet member for communities, employment and business outlined the following:
· Employment, education and training were key elements which should be vital in the borough. The current administration would ensure that around 2000 apprenticeships would be created.
· The fairer future for all vision was delivered successfully. Councillor Wingfield referred to Southwark works who had celebrated their 10th anniversary. They help local people to get jobs, particularly those that found it harder to find work – people with disabilities and older people. Southwark works also helped people from different ethnic minorities. A small proportion of those had been out of work for more than six months or who had never been employed before.
· To ensure that employers in the borough sign up to the London living wage.
· There was a wide range of information from the police, about employment. This could be done through other partners and agencies. Details were provided at the meeting.
· The council provides mentoring and other financial assistance to help people find employment.
· The national apprenticeship week took place recently - employers were encouraged to sign up and provide a commitment to the national apprenticeship standard to set people up for employment.
Southwark apprenticeship: Suley, a young person talked about his experience and how he joined the apprentice scheme in 2013. He worked as a customer services officer at Queens Road Peckham. He then went on to work in the council’s organisational development team and now worked as a participation officer in community engagement. He said he had benefited a great deal from the scheme.
Professor Rao Bhamidimarri from the South Bank Technical College – spoke about preparing students for their academic role and talked about the apprenticeship scheme.
Councillor Stephanie Cryan, cabinet member for financial inclusion – spoke about referred to the Southwark Credit Union and encouraged young people to join the scheme so that they do not fall foul of high interest payday loans. The money savvy scheme which offered financial assistance and advice.
Specialist questions
Questions asked by the panel included the following:
Councillor Wingfield confirmed that the council worked in partnership with the Department of Works and Pension, who were helpful and worked well with the council. It was noted that the Southwark emergency support scheme worked in conjunction with the Dept of Works and Pension.
In response to questions, Councillor Jasmine Ali mentioned that she was involved in the local policy forum. The forum explored training and employment opportunities for young people, and worked with primary school children. Members of the forum thought of new ideas for young people that they could bring forward to group. Councillor Ali said if anyone was interested they could speak to her after the meeting.
SWOT analysis – strengths, weaknesses and opportunities
The young people outlined:
Strengths:
The area has a number of sport activities for young people - like the Damilola Taylor centre. The YCC representatives thanked Steve Verrall who was based at the centre for all his hard work with the young people.
The representatives said as there were a number of good schools in Peckham and Nunhead, this made it a success for the area.
Weaknesses:
· Too many fast food shops
· Not enough local libraries
· Litter on buses – most of the litter seem to be from fast food outlets
· Housing – a general problem with overcrowding in properties where a family of five would be in a two bed room property.
Opportunities:
More activities, jobs for young people – considering it was noted as a high crime area. The representatives did express concern about the cuts to council spending which would affect the council and local community groups. They also made reference to the high premium quotes for car insurance in the area when it was compared to other London boroughs.
Councillor Livingstone mentioned that as cabinet member for housing it acknowledged that there was not enough affordable housing. The council were looking at every possible site for this. The council had also revised the allocations process in order to make it fairer for those that were considered to be overcrowded or in urgent need. The council were still looking at the ramifications of this – as it would not be an easy process.