APPENDIX 19
Memorandum from Professor Mike Campbell
and Professor Ian Sanderson, Policy Research Institute, Leeds
Metropolitan University (JG 25)
(Continuned)
Effective Programme Design
We can summarise briefly some of the key lessons
from research in relation to programme design:
— The need for a targeted approach
based upon sound research and analysis to identify those groups
and/or areas suffering particular problems in gaining access employment
in order to ensure complementarity to "mainstream" programmes
and minimise "deadweight" effects.
— The need for effective measures to
establish contact with identified target groups, especially the
most disadvantaged (so-called "hard-to-reach") with
particular emphasis on "outreach" work and co-ordination
with other agencies to encourage referral.
— The need for a client-focused approach
to address the circumstances and needs of individual jobseekers
in an "holistic" way, assessing the full range of their
problems and requirements, and developing a "tailored"
package of co-ordinated help and support from the full range of
relevant agencies which can meet clients' needs effectively.
— The need for a personalised action
planning approach in which "personal advisors" play
a sympathetic and supportive role, taking a long-term perspective
of individuals' needs with continual monitoring and review of
progress.
— The importance of effective training
focused on individuals' needs to address basic skills, personal
development (eg confidence, motivation and "dependability")
and vocational skills, the latter linked closely to employers'
needs (eg in tailored pre-recruitment programmes or through work
experience components); the ILM model is increasingly seen as
a way of achieving this.
— The need for an effective "job-matching"
service which involves: obtaining comprehensive job vacancy information:
a capability to match individuals to vacancies on the basis of
their circumstances, attributes and skills, provision of specific
training required and support for preparing job applications and
undergoing job interviews; provision of support for job placement
including, where applicable and available, wage subsidy, help
with travel, equipment and clothing, help with childcare, and
advice of implications for benefits.
— The importance of continued "after-care",
mentoring and support for people obtaining work (and for their
employers) to ensure that any "transitional" problems
are addressed early and to maximise the prospects for sustained
employment.
Effective Programme Implementation and Delivery
Finally, there are a number of aspects of the
organisation and management of local schemes which have been shown
to be important in promoting their effectiveness:
— Effective management arrangements
at the strategic level which secure involvement of all key stakeholders
in a partnership arrangement providing strategic direction and
leadership with clear objectives and the means to achieve them.
— Effective joint working with partner
agencies at the "operational" level to achieve co-ordination
and "synergy" between their respective programmes and
activities, for example, in respect of referral of clients, provision
of support and training, securing job vacancy information, provision
of support for job placement, and in contacts with employers.
— Close relations with local employers
to maximise the prospects of meeting their recruitment needs by
matching unemployed people with their vacancies; this involves
a co-ordinated approach between all agencies to contact employers,
identify their recruitment needs, arrange interviews for unemployed
clients supported by pre-recruitment training where necessary,
and providing on-going support and mentoring for job recruits.
— Staff employed by local schemes need
a range of skills and attributes to enable them to identify and
deal sympathetically and effectively with clients while understanding
employers' needs and providing a high quality service.
— Effective systems for capturing and
managing information on clients, vacancies and employers, monitoring
progress, tracking the employment outcomes of clients after securing
a job, and using this information as the basis for evaluation.
6. CONCLUSION
While the emphasis in employment policy has
shifted towards more "active" supply-side measures to
improve the "employability" of the long-term unemployed,
some concerns have arisen about the extent to which such measures
can be effective in localities experiencing a shortage of jobs
or a "jobs gap". However, the notion of a "jobs
gap" is difficult to operationalise given the complexity
of the processes of matching labour demand and supply in local
labour markets. The key problem for labour market policy is the
existence of persistent long-term "structural" unemployment.
Our analysis shows the substantial local variability in levels
and rates of change of long-term unemployment and demonstrates
that these are not correlated with changes in employment. Jobs
growth appears to provide jobs primarily for the short-term unemployed—those
who are least "detached" from the labour market and
best able to secure work with relatively little assistance. However,
it does not "trickle down" to the long term unemployed
and the inactive—those who are most "detached"
from the labour market.
We argue, therefore, that the primary focus
at the local level should be on developing effective targeted
local assistance to improve the "employability" of the
most disadvantaged groups. This is not to argue that labour demand
is not a significant issue for public policy; lack of jobs growth
is certainly likely to constrain efforts to reduce unemployment
and measures to stimulate labour demand must be part of a coherent
welfare-to-work policy. There is a need for a balanced approach
within the context of broader local economic strategy which integrates
action on both the demand and supply sides. Such a strategic approach
needs to be based upon an understanding of how the barriers facing
jobseekers operate in localities as part of a complex of factors
which erode "social capital" and therefore need to be
addressed through a "joined up", multi agency strategy
which integrates actions across all relevant policy areas. Moreover,
there is a need for effective "vertical" integration
of policies and actions at EU, national, regional, local and neighbourhood
levels which can tie supply-side measures in with actions to stimulate
jobs growth. Finally, on the basis of recent evaluation research
we identify a number of key aspects of programme design and delivery
at the local level which promote effective action to "re-engage"
the long-term unemployed and other disadvantaged groups with the
labour market. Such an agenda offers the prospect of "re-balancing"
local labour markets and re-connecting those currently most excluded
from labour market opportunities.
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Policy Research Institute
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October 1999
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