LSC Yorkshire & Humber Leadership and Management
What is Leadership and Management Brokerage?
Leadership and Management brokerage is a discreet service within Train to Gain. It is a cross-sectoral offer, and is available to owners and Managing Directors (and their senior teams) throughout Yorkshire and the Humber region. It is targeted at SMEs, but is available to organisations with up to 5000 employees. It offers an analysis of individual training needs, with a training grant to help meet these needs. For those looking to develop their management teams, further analysis and training may be available.
The Learning and Skills Council (LSC) has contracted with Exemplas Ltd, working with Reed in Partnership, to deliver this service.
Who is Exemplas?
Exemplas started life as the commercial arm of Business Link Hertfordshire. Growth (to 2006/07 turnover of around £15m per annum) has been achieved as a result of successful delivery of a range of LSC and ESF programmes, primarily in London and the East of England, and commercial activity in the UK and internationally.
Exemplas is now 98% owned by the University of Hertfordshire. From April 2007 we started delivery of Business Link services for the East of England with our Essex counterparts, Ixion. Exemplas/Reed in Partnership has recently been asked by Yorkshire Forward to develop the Business Link service for Yorkshire and the Humber.
Our partnership with Reed
Exemplas has worked with Reed in Partnership on a range of skills related contracts in London, including skills brokerage for selected sectors on Train to Gain. The Leadership and Management Brokerage service for Yorkshire and the Humber is run from Reed in Partnership’s offices in Doncaster. We also have an office in Barnsley from which our brokers can operate.
Leadership and Management Resources
The project is managed by Stuart Walker, who is based at Exemplas’s head office in Hertfordshire. Exemplas’s Lead Broker is Simon Andrews, who works in the Y&H Region for about 3 days per week. Reed in Partnership supplies 3 full-time brokers: Jo Bettley, Sue Cadwallader and Abdul Khan. Brokers have, or are working towards, the national broker standards.
Project administration is delivered from Hertfordshire, linking to the IT, finance and infrastructure support available there.
Targets
Our targets are to deliver by March 2008:
- 700 Individual Training Needs Analyses (INA) for Owner-Managers and Directors of SMEs. We have developed an on-line TNA process (www.mytna.co.uk) which links to the major competences in the CMI
framework. This can be delivered by phone or face-to-face if clients would prefer this.
- 700 training grants worth £500 each following the INA
- 150 Management Team Analyses (MTA) for senior management teams.
- 150 training grants of up to £1500 following each MTA (maximum of £500 per person)
Eligibility
Brokerage services are available to all employers in the region, provided they employ other staff. The only exceptions are large firms employing 5000 or more nationally, central government, and state-funded schools. Voluntary/community sector organisations are eligible, but the service cannot support volunteers. The INA (and subsequent training) is only available to the owner/manager, CEO, MD or key decision maker in the organisation.
Training does not need to be qualification based, and can include 1:1 coaching or mentoring for the client. Training should be for development of general management skills. We cannot support sector-specific training or mandatory programmes required by the sector.
Referral process
A process has been developed to ensure the effective passing of leads from Train to Gain brokers to the Leadership and Management brokerage, and vice versa. All referrals will be acknowledged, and employers contacted within 5 working days of receipt. We can also accept referrals from providers, third parties or directly from employers.
Training process
Once the INA is completed, it is analysed electronically and a face-to-face broker visit is conducted to complete the Personal Development Plan. The main outcome from this is a recommendation for training. We are required to offer at least 3 options so employers can make a choice. Training grant payments are made directly to providers to reduce bureaucracy for employers. We are working with the Northern Leadership Academy to ensure a range of opportunities is available, and to help ensure the quality of training delivery.
For more information, contact:
Stuart Walker (stuartw@exemplas.com) Tel: (01707) 398202
or Simon Andrews (simona@exemplas.com) Tel: 07739 647388
For referrals to L&M brokerage, contact:
Lucy Whitlock (lucyw@exemplas.com)
Tel: (01707) 398204