OLYMPIC JOBS BOOM COULD BYPASS LOCAL PEOPLE

12.00.00am GMT Fri 23rd Mar 2007

Olympics jobs boom could bypass local people

The people of London's poorest and most disadvantaged area have been promised thousands of new jobs and training opportunities as part of the regeneration legacy of the London 2012 Games, but a London Assembly investigation has identified a number of risks that may jeopardise this promise being fulfilled.

A report1, by the London Assembly Economic Development, Culture, Sport and Tourism Committee, identifies the main threats to the employment and skills legacy as:

Duplication of existing activity, resulting in resources being wasted and a lack of strategic focus

Lack of clarity over funding, which could mean resources are taken away from programmes that are already working well

Ineffectual communication, preventing people from finding out about the opportunities on offer

Lack of focus in initiatives such as the Pre-Volunteer Programme, which risks resources being spread too thinly to achieve a real impact

Up to 50,000 new jobs in the Lower Lea Valley, including12,000 new jobs in the Olympic Park, along with a significant number of short-term jobs created in the immediate run-up to the Games have been promised by The London Employment and Skills Taskforce and the London Development Agency (LDA).

However, questions surround how many of these new jobs will go to local people within the five 'host' boroughs2, where around a quarter of the 720,000 people of working age currently have no qualifications at all and, of these, over 60 percent are unemployed.

Dee Doocey, Chair of the Committee, said:

"In many ways the Committee is encouraged that work has started on the skills and employment legacy, however there are some very real risks that need to be addressed urgently.

"We need to get this right from the very start, or we risk losing the truly life-changing potential of the Games for people. This would be an unforgivable betrayal of people in an area of London that has been characterised by deprivation for generations.

"The last thing we need is another Docklands, where many of the newly created jobs did not benefit local people."

The report makes a number of recommendations to minimise the risks and protect the employment and skills legacy of the Games. In particular, it calls for training to be carefully tailored to fill the right skills gaps - in this case, construction skills and English language tuition.

Construction training should focus on site-readiness, not just technical skills, and more unemployed people from the host boroughs should be given the opportunity to join the Pre-Volunteer Programme to enhance their chances of securing one of the jobs that the Games will generate.

Without proficiency in English, it will be impossible for people living in deprived communities to take advantage of emerging employment and skills opportunities. To address this, the report also recommends that a dedicated Language Academy be incorporated into plans for Games-related training.

The Committee has called on the LDA to report back on the progress it has made on the recommendations in the report within twelve months. It also calls on the Mayor of London, as Chair of the London Skills and Employment Board, to publish an annual report on the impact of all Games-related employment and skills activity on actual levels of worklessness in London, in particular within the host boroughs.