Connecting young people and the world of work - national network of Enterprise Advisors to be rolled out across the Black Country

The Black Country LEP through its Skills Factory project is working with The Careers & Enterprise Company to roll out a new national initiative, a network of Enterprise Advisors across the Black Country. The Careers & Enterprise Company has invested £100k, with equivalent match funding offered through the LEP and affiliated partners, to deliver the project from September 2015 through to September 2016.

Enterprise Advisors are volunteers from the world of work who will work directly with school and college leaders to bridge the gap between the worlds of work and employment.

The Black Country LEP aims to link 45 Black Country schools with an Enterprise Advisor working in partnership with the Education Business Partnerships (EBPs) across the Black Country. The programme will recruit two Enterprise Co-ordinators to support the Enterprise Advisors and work with EBPs across the Black Country.

The Careers & Enterprise Company isan employer-led organisation that has been set up to inspire and prepare young people for the fast-changing world of work. The Enterprise Adviser network is a key initiative and is based on research from the Education and Employers Taskforce and other research organisations that shows that greater contact with employers among young people leads to better employment outcomes. 

Enterprise Advisers will be volunteers from the world of work (businesses and the public sector, organisations of all sizes including the self-employed). Working directly with school and college leaders, they will be responsible for helping schools and colleges build careers and enterprise and employer engagement plans drawing on their own local business networks. They will be supported by full-time Coordinators who will have simple tools available to lay out the range of programmes available to schools and colleges nationally and locally, for example speakers in schools, CV and skill building, work experience. The Enterprise Adviser network will help ‘join the dots’ at a local level and increase coverage across the country.

Claudia Harris, Chief Executive of The Careers & Enterprise Company comments:  “The world of work is changing fast and equipping young people requires ever closer engagement between employment and education.  Young people need to be inspired, helped to better understand the relevance of their education, and supported in making independent and fact-based decisions about their futures. Direct exposure to employers and the self-employed is key. It supports learning by doing and experiencing.” 

The Rt. Hon. Nicky Morgan, Secretary of State for Education, comments: “The nationwide roll-out of the Enterprise Adviser network is a significant milestone for The Careers and Enterprise Company, signalling its commitment – shared by this Government – to giving young people across the country a first-hand insight into the world of work.”

“The company is a key component of the Government’s drive to expand opportunity to all young people, regardless of backgroundor where they go to school, to shape their future, and I am extremely encouraged by this latest development in its work.”

Paul Linton, Chairman of the Black Country LEP Employment and Skills Board said: “The Black Country LEP is delighted to be part of the first wave roll-out of the Enterprise Advisor network. The LEP is committed to creating partnerships between business and schools to support improved educational attainment. The Enterprise Advisor network will enable us to use our expertise in connecting schools and colleges with the worlds of work and employment to ensure young people have the skills, CVs and work experience to succeed in the job market.”

The roll out follows a set of successful pilots over the past year. The Black County LEP is one of 28 areas to be delivering the first wave from September with a second wave starting before Christmas and a third in early 2016.The initiative is supported by employers and employer organisations from across the country. 

For more information on the Enterprise Advisor network visit www.blackcountrylep.co.uk