NILES: Northamptonshire Integrated Employment Strategy

1. NILES: Northamptonshire Integrated Local Employment Strategy Based on the European Employment Strategy (EES) Funded through ESF Article 6 – Innovative Measures Raising the overall competitive position of the European economy Required to provide a robust evidence base and a response to the needs of the Northamptonshire labour market Based around three over-arching objectives: i) full employment ii) quality & productivity, and iii) social cohesion & inclusion.

2. Consultations identified ‘women in the labour market’ as an area for further research. The subsequent research identified 10 issues, including: i) need to improve skills ii) over-reliance on employment agencies iii) low levels of self-employment. iv) lack of women managers

3. Issues and actions have been identified, that are being embedded in the strategies and plans of other key funding and delivery agencies (e.g. ESF Co-Financing Plan), including: i) skills  flexible delivery ii) agencies  social enterprise employment agency iii) self-employment  more targeted promotion and skills transfer recognition iv) women managers  activity to promote role models and mentoring

4. Data and research is held by on the Northamptonshire Observatory website – itself a product of the NILES project. www.northamptonshireobservatory.org.uk EUROPEAN UNION European Social Fund Article 6 Innovative Measures