Spring to Action Ltd

Budget for Growth?

Yesterday George Osbourne and Co announced the budget for 2011.  There was a focus on talking up 'Made in Britain' and 'Manufatured in Britain' goods and services, which seems to follow a key trend already alive and well in some the major brands.

Business support was sadly but glaringly missing. For those of us working in business support and economic regeneration, its difficult to see how UK growth can improve when nationwide free (to the end user) business support is being removed from November 2011, and the majority of businesses will be reliant on a website for information and advice.  As fantastic as the Business Link website is, most businesses want face-to-face support where they can seek answers to their specific problem in their sector.  Will businesses start to pay for this support?

There were announcements of cuts in coroporation tax, business rate relief holiday for small businesses, £100million of funding for Science Parks and Apprenticeships.  This sounds like the return of the Future Jobs Fund by any other name, but surely welcome given the high rate of young people out of work.

A good start but for me, a case of must do better!

Celebrate 100 Years of International Women's Day

On a recent hen do, a woman with young children told me "Women should be told not to bother with university and a career.  It's all rubbish. What a waste of time going to university"!  After having twins she found she needed to reduce her hours at work, but her law firm was unsupportive.  She tried changing career but her teaching job was also unsupportive and she had to give up work completely. 

This story was repeated amongst other attendees, who's also found balancing work and home difficult with a few exceptions. Whilst I wouldn't agree that going to university was necessarily a waste of time, I have sympathy with the sentiment.  Finishing university doesn't mean the hard work is over, it's just beginning.

Listening to Annie Lennox she described many people this morning as 'living in a bubble'.  Although I partly agree with her, I also think that many women in the UK live in reality, where poverty is never far from their door, where inequality is a fact of life and where they face everyday challenges to survive.  Inequality is present both here and abroad.

Tomorrow is International Women's Day, a day where women are honored throughout the world.  The last 100 years of International Women's Day day have seen many changes and developments including gaining the right to vote in the UK, access to university, to prominent political seats including a Prime Minister.  This is a chance to celebrate women and the advances and highlight the work yet to be done.

Find out what events are going on near you.  Leicester is holding a Public Meeting at the Secular Hall  and you're invited, or join in the debate online or with friends and family as step towards positive change.

Meanwhile, my friend from the hen do is considering starting up her own business so she can be in charge of her working hours, pay and looking after the children. Hopefully she got a few words of encouragement from me!

UK Unemployment Rises (Again)

So it's official, the Office of National Statistics tells us that UK employment has risen to 2.5 million, at the end of December 2010.  This equates to 7.9% unemployment.

As we all suspected, youth employment has been hit hardest and now one in five 16-25 year olds is out of work (20.5%).

Long term unemployment is also at a high, with 833,000 people now out of work for more than a year.

Families and individuals are facing a tough year, alongside public sector workers who may well be joining them in the queue.  Those with lower skills levels will find it hardest to get work, which leaves Leicester in a vulnerable position.  Not only does Leicester have a high number of public sector workers but we also suffer from a lack of skill levels, with many people travelling from the County in to the City to work adding to the difficulties of local people finding local work.

Focus for the new Local Enterprise Partnership is likely to focus on jobs, skills and enterprise to get more people working and earning, but the situation remains complex. Until we get more firms with higher growth prospects, employing more people, we're unlikely to encourage people to improve their skills to get those jobs. But until we have higher skills levels its unlikely people will start businesses in high growth sectors. 

Perhaps this is a great opportunity to create a complex, multi-faceted strategy to address this, with delivery bodies working on a larger project to address issues across the board? For too long we've all worked in silos, with the effects remaining minimal. We need a step change in the way Leicester views itself, it's skills, it's business. Short -term, small projects have short term, smaller impacts.  They are often cut short when just beginning to make in-roads.

What would you like to see happen to make real change in our business communities?

 

Board Members Wanted

Leicester and Leicestershire's new Local Enterprise Partnership has announced it is seeking new board members to develop a robust strategy to improve the economic performance of local businesses.

The partnership is seeking experienced Private Sector board members with "both commercial acumen and the ability to help contribute to reaching agreement on complex issues that cut across both the public and private sectors. They will have broad experience both commercially and geographically, an appreciation of, and an ability to work with, public sector bodies, whilst demonstrating resilience, diplomacy and influencing skills."

This is a fantastic opportunity to get some fresh blood and new thinking for our city and county, with a range of expertise and experience.  The deadline is 14th February - find out more here.

Take a Small Step towards Employment

Looking for support to get back into employment?

Don't miss Small Steps to Employment, an event funded by Spring to support local people back towards employment.

On 23rd September 2010 at the Linwood Centre, Leicester we'll be hosting a fun and interactive day to boost your confidence and job searching skills.  As well as attending FREE workshops there'll be experts on hand to help you improve your CV and get specialist support to help you get a job.

Join us from 10am til 2pm.  Email us at kash.khunkhuna@springtoaction.co.uk to book your place or just turn up.

Find out more on the Small Steps to Employment website.

Small Steps to Employement (FREE entry)

Want some help to get a job? Facing redundancy and need some support to improve your confidence?

Spring is pleased to announce a FREE event for local Leicester people to raise their confidence, self-esteem and motivation and move closer to getting a job.

You can benefit from:

• 4 free, short, fun workshops to improve your confidence and skills in getting a job
• Access to a range of organisations who offer longer term support, guidance and CV writing skills
• The opportunity to learn about how your local Multi Access Centre can help you

Download Flyer pdf to find out more or  Download Poster pdf to print out and post up in your venue.

It will be held on 23rd September 2010, from 10am - 2pm at the Linwood Centre, Linwood Lane, Leicester.  Please can you email us to confirm your attendance at kash.khunkhuna@springtoaction.co.uk  If you're interested in exhibiting please download the  Download Employment Fair Exhibitors booking form or email Kash on the above address.

Keep up to date with developments on this event at the event website at www.smallstepstoemployment.wordpress.com

Please spread the word!