Report of the Director of Inclusive Economy.

This report provides an update on the employment and skills opportunities created from Manchester City Council’s major capital investment programmes, with a key focus on the Our Town Hall and The Factory projects.

The committee considered a report of the Director of Inclusive Economy which provided an update on the employment and skills opportunities created from Manchester City Council’s major capital investment programmes, with a key focus on the Our Town Hall and The Factory projects.

Key points and themes within the report included:

·   The importance of social value and the need to embed it within the Council’s capital investment programmes;

·   The integration of social value into the Our Town Hall Project through contractual mechanisms with construction and design team employers from the outset of the project;

·   The monitoring of social value against 20 specific Key Performance Indicators (KPIs), based around employment, skills, training, and local community benefit with a monetary value attached to each KPI that measures social return on investment (SROI);

·   The social and economic value achievements of the Our Town Hall project and progress against KPIs, including individual case studies;

·   The social and economic value achievements of The Factory project and progress against KPIs, including individual case studies;

·   Noting that the Factory’s Social Value KPIs were realigned in June 2021 to create new jobs, new apprenticeships and Kickstart placements for Manchester residents first;

·   The procurement framework used by several Greater Manchester local authorities and the North West Construction Hub (NWCH) focused on Manchester projects;

·   Tenders for a large Manchester City Council capital funded project must answer a social value question with weighting of 30%. This includes a link to Manchester City Council’s Social Value Toolkit and tenders are asked to demonstrate how their social value proposal would be both Manchester specific and project specific and targeted at hard-to-reach groups within local wards.

In introducing the item, the Executive Member for Skills, Employment and Leisure highlighted the importance of social value and explained that the Council had a strong reputation for delivering social value. He stated that social value was an important lever in the delivery of jobs, training and work experience and the Council was committed to providing these opportunities for residents.

The Director of Inclusive Economy explained that size, scale, building type and procurement impacted the delivery of social value between different projects. She highlighted how the Our Town Hall project was a once-in-a-multigenerational opportunity and social value was embedded as a core objective of this development from the outset. The scheme included ambitious social value objectives with built-in financial incentives for contractors to meet social value KPIs, and financial penalties for under-performance. She explained that a different approach was taken with The Factory scheme to work collaboratively with Laing O’Rourke and Manchester International Festival to deliver social value outcomes across the construction and creative and digital elements of the project

Two apprentices – Abdul Tahir from Mace and Rhianna Austin from Laing O’Rourke – also attended the meeting to share their experiences of apprenticeships. 

Key points and queries that arose from the committee’s discussions included:

·   Whether the Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) relating to new apprentices were targeted to Manchester residents;

·   Why the number of new apprentices up to level 3 was under target;

·   What attracted the guests in attendance to their apprenticeships; and

·   How the Council communicated the importance of social value to other major employers in the city.

In response to a member’s query regarding whether the target number of apprentices were to be Manchester residents, the Work and Skills Specialist explained that the overall target for number of apprentices working on the Our Town Hall project was 150, with 100 of these at level 2 and 50 at level 4 and above. For The Factory project, the target was 25 new apprentices for the construction element. He confirmed that the apprenticeship scheme for the Our Town Hall project was solely for those living or studying in Manchester whilst The Factory scheme had a ‘Manchester first’ approach due to the way it was procured through the North West Construction Hub.

The Director of Inclusive Economy highlighted how the KPI for the number of new apprentices at level 4 and above was overachieving. She also stated that the Our Town Hall project remained underway, and this meant that delivery on the number of apprentices below level 4 would continue. It was recognised that there had been a national and local decline in apprenticeships, partly due to the Covid-19 pandemic, and work needed to be done to improve take-up. The Work and Skills Specialist also explained that the final phases of both the Our Town Hall and The Factory projects were difficult to derive social value from due to rising costs and them being less appealing to those searching for an apprenticeship.  Assurances were provided that the Council’s Social Value Manager working on the Our Town Hall project had sight of contracts for individual packages with LendLease and this provided the Council with influence and the ability to support social value within projects.

In response to a question from the Chair regarding what attracted the apprentices to their roles, Abdul advised that a college teacher suggested the idea of an apprenticeship and he researched the idea through the Council’s website, attended National Apprenticeship Week hosted by GMCA and visited the project. He reiterated previous sentiments that the Our Town Hall project was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. Rhianna explained that she wanted a career switch to the built environment sector, and she received an email advert from the Kickstart scheme. She had previously undertaken work experience with Manchester International Festival, which provided a link with The Factory project. 

The Director of Inclusive Economy informed the committee that the Council continued to encourage other major employers in Manchester to embed social value into their work. An example of this was the Social Value Framework and Charter which had been devised and implemented for partners in North Manchester. This included a shared set of social value objectives to deliver across all North Manchester projects in the next 15 years. This was the first time a place-based approach had been taken and opportunities to do this in other areas of the city was anticipated. Other examples of how social value is encouraged among other major employers included work on the Real Living Wage and a well-established programme between universities and The Growth Company to provide opportunities for residents in the construction sector. An annual conference was also held to showcase social value achievements across the city.

The committee thanked the apprentices for their attendance and sharing their experiences and wished them luck in their careers.

Decision:

That the report be noted.