LGYH Regional Cohesion Network May 2010

The Vision □ To prioritise ESOL funding to those who form part of the many settled communities in England and migrants who are committed to staying in the UK. □ To support better alignment of services and funding □ To improve community cohesion and social integration alongside economic vibrancy of a local area □ To support individuals to achieve their goals for employment, supporting their families and becoming more involved in their local and wider community.

The Objectives □ To shift the mix and balance of provision and services, where necessary, towards locally identified priority ESOL learners □ To allow local authorities, working with partners, more say over who has priority ESOL funding and align ESOL as far as possible with other local priorities and services; and □ To support providers who are already working on this agenda to make changes, where needed, and bring providers not fully engaged on-board.

Government Priorities □ ESOL provision to focus on people who:  Have poor or no English language skills  Are isolated from communities other than their own  Are under represented in learning provision  Are on the path to British citizenship, seeking to meet the English language and knowledge requirements  Have been granted refugee status

The process – 4 steps

Leeds activity to date □ Governance and leadership through Leeds City Council □ Identified resources in the City Council to facilitate and support partnership work, research and development work □ Cross sector ESOL Working group established. □ Work started to develop the evidence base. □ Local Area Action Plan developed to inform LSC/ SFA commissioning for 2010/2011 provision and influence current potential opportunities for ESOL funding.

Conclusions from evidence base □ We only know part of the picture □ Need to better understand:  changing demographics  language and skills needs  English language needs of children and young people from migrant communities  changing provision and funding  routes to provision and who is accessing  language needs of those applying for citizenship  impact of English language on worklessness, NEET and child poverty.

Leeds ESOL priorities for 2010/2011 □ Priority groups identified to support strategic objectives of cohesion and integration, improving educational attainment, and improving employability skills and economic well-being:  Parents and carers of young children  Low level English/ low skill  Refugees

Moving forward □ Develop a longer term strategic approach to the planning of ESOL provision □ The objectives of the ESOL planning strategy are to:  influence the commissioning of ESOL provision to target priority localities, communities and families.  ensure that ESOL delivery is more flexible and responsive to community needs.  support better joining up and planning of ESOL provision across the city.  better understand language needs of those in the workplace and ensure sufficient provision is in place to meet these needs.  make best of resources in the context of locality working.

Priority areas of work □ Develop a locally partnership agreed indicator for ESOL included in our LAA □ Create a directory of ESOL provision □ Map child care options against ESOL provision □ Agree and implement a research brief that has a focus of English language needs within more settled migrant communities □ Scope out the purpose and potential benefits of an ESOL ‘information sharing’ Network/Consortium □ Scope out a potential city register of ESOL tutors

ESOL – what’s the future □ Skills Investment Strategy 10/11 outlines the Governments intention to implement a shared role for funding adult skills:  The State  Individuals  Businesses □ Potential impact of Informal Adult Learning on ESOL □ Conservative commitment to redirect funding to ESOL and English language requirement for marriage visas – ESOL entry level 3 (3 rd May) □ No mentioned in Coalition programme for government (20 th May)

Questions □ In terms of ESOL □ What are the current challenges for local areas and districts? □ What will be the future opportunities and challenges?