Employment and skills

We are working with a wide range of strategic and delivery partners, including West London Working, and the Economy and Enterprise and Housing Strategic Board Agency, to develop joint approaches to skills and employment issues in the borough.

Key priorities for the borough include:

reducing unemployment and economic inactivity within the most deprived wards
improving the employment and economic activity rates of lone parents, those with health conditions and disabilities and Black, Asian and minority ethnic (BAME) groups
improving skills levels, particularly at NVQ levels 1 and 2, and with those with no qualifications
improving quality and access to training courses, including Skills for Life (SFL) and English for Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL)
improving local referral practices - including access to training and vacancies, and the quality and accessibility of local skills and employment support provision

The council’s role is concerned with:

improving the coordination and effectiveness of employment and skills provision in the borough
rationalising engagement of employers
identifying and agreeing local priority groups and actions with partners
attracting employment and skills funding to the borough
improving cross-departmental working so that all borough service users can access employment and skills support if needed

West London Working
Since the announcement of the City Strategy Pilot initiative in Spring 2006, Ealing has been working with all the West London boroughs and the London Development agency, Jobcentre plus, Leaning and Skills Council London West and representatives from business, health, education, the community and voluntary sector, to bring about infrastructure changes to reduce levels of worklessness and child poverty in Ealing and across West London.

Key employment and skills issues
(benefits, skills, child poverty, ESOL, migrants)

Ealing has 12,720 residents claiming incapacity benefit or severe disablement allowance, the highest number in any West London borough and the fifth highest in London (DWP benefit claimants May 2007, NOMIS)
Ealing also has the highest number of incapacity benefit claimants with dependent children in London (6,720) (DWP benefit claimants May 2007, NOMIS)
Ealing has 5,860 lone parents claiming income support, the second highest number in West London and the 13th in London. (DWP benefit claimants May 2007, NOMIS)
Ealing has the highest number of residents with no qualifications in any West London borough at 24,000 (Brent figure is 22,000) (ONS APS survey Jan 07- Dec 07, NOMIS)
Only 66% of Ealing residents are qualified to NVQ 1 or equivalent compared to a London average of 71% and England average of 78% (ONS APS survey Jan 07- Dec 07, NOMIS)
Over a fifth (22%) of Ealing residents have ‘other qualifications’. This means that 46,700 people are likely to have difficulty in getting their qualifications recognised by employers. Again, this is higher than the London rate of 15% and the England rate of 9%(ONS APS survey Jan 07- Dec 07, NOMIS)
Child poverty – 16,600 benefit claimants in Ealing have dependent children – a higher number than any in West London and the fifth highest in London. (DWP benefits claimants with child dependents May 2007, NOMIS)
The proportion of Ealing children that live in low-income families has risen substantially since the 2004 indices of deprivation. Whilst 28% of Ealing areas were in the 20% most deprived nationally in the 2004 indices, 37% of Ealing areas are now ranked amongst the 20% most deprived nationally. (CLG, Indices of Deprivation, 2007 and 2004)
At January 2007, West London had over 46,000 pupils in primary schools for whom English is not a first language. Ealing in particular had over 11,000 pupils, which is the highest number of ESOL-need pupils in West London, and is third highest in London. 56% of Ealing primary school pupils need ESOL assistance in comparison with a 49% average across West London. (DCFS, PLASC Pupils by first language, January 2007
Ealing has one of the highest migrant populations in London. This borough has the highest number of patients whose previous address was overseas in the whole of London (12,099) PRDS Flag 4 Patient database, Mid 2005 (source: GLA, 2007)
Ealing also has the highest proportion of A8 National insurance number registrants in London (over 6%). (DWP, Nino Allocations 2005/06)

Ealing Apprenticeships
From January 2008 businesses in the borough will be able to access a free recruitment and support service to encourage them to take on young people as apprentices.

Heathrow Meet the Buyers event
An event to promote contact between local suppliers and buyers on 26 and 27 November 2008.