Saturday 1st December is Small Business Saturday. The aim is to highlight the success of small businesses and encourage consumers to support them in their local communities.
Small Business Saturday grew consumer spending on the day from £468m in 2013 to £748m in 2017.
If you are a small business or potential customer, find out how you can get involved here.
CRP were glad to join the ‘Planning Ahead’ session and panel discussion at this year’s Freight in the City Expo alongside Transport for London’s Director of City Planning, Alex Williams. The session focussed on collaboration, planning and infrastructure as key ingredients to improving freight flows in urban areas. CRP’s Tanja Dalle-Muenchmeyer presented the Smart Electric Urban Logistics project that is successfully demonstrating how smart charging can address local power grid constraints.
The annual Freight in the City Expo looks to support freight operators with a comprehensive seminar programme covering key questions from the urban freight market and by showcasing cutting edge vehicles, equipment and technologies in Alexandra Palace’s Great Hall.
For more information, please see the project webpage here or contact CRP’s Programme Manager Electric Freight Tanja Dalle-Muenchmeyer.
CRP are continuing work on the Central Government (DEFRA) funded Clean Air Villages (CAV) project up until March 2019. Working in partnership with Lambeth, Hammersmith and Fulham, Islington, Kensington and Chelsea, and Lewisham borough Councils, the ambition of the project is to reduce emissions from business deliveries and servicing at 10 air quality hotspot ‘villages’ across the boroughs.
Since the last update, CRP have completed three additional seminars in Islington, Earls Court and Shepherds Bush. By the end of November, the aim is to have the final four seminars wrapped up with promotion for all four events being firmly underway. These final seminars will be taking place in Ladbroke Grove, Earls Court, Fulham and Deptford.
Reflecting upon the last month, it is clear that through a lot of time and effort, CRP continue to create and solidify strong links with both micro, local and national businesses across all of the ‘villages.’ CRP are continuing to develop a wealth of knowledge and understanding of the local and systemic issues businesses are facing and will be looking to continue to support businesses further on the transition to cleaner practises, via funding applications to various government sources.
For further information, please contact CRP’s Business Engagement Officer Ethan Howard.
CRP’s accountable body Westminster City Council is moving to a new, improved finance, payroll and HR solution on 3rd December. The IBC SAP solution is administered by Hampshire County Council and is used by over 85,000 users across the public sector, such as a number of other local authorities and the Police. The new solution is very flexible allowing employees to access it from their mobile device as well as via a laptop. There is currently a data freeze in the existing Agresso system to enable the financial and HR data to be copied across to the new system. This means that no purchase orders can be raised or supplier invoices paid until the new system is implemented in early December.
For further information or with any payment queries, please contact CRP’s Operation Manager Carol Quamina.
CRP’s Recruit London Team visited HMP Brixton on 7th November to view the training facilities and the range of courses on offer to offenders as part of their rehabilitation, prior to their release from prison. The visit was hosted by the Bounce Back Project, a charity and social enterprise supporting ex-offenders into training and employment.
The Bounce Back Project will shortly be opening a training centre in Victoria. Recruit London looks forward to working with Bounce Back by developing their service offer to also include ex-offenders.
For further information, please contact Recruit London’s Westminster Workplace Co-ordinator Chika Anyanwu.
Interest in our Smart Electric Urban Logistics (SEUL) project is no longer limited to the UK or even Europe but has now reached the United States! On 21 September, The New York Times published an article on project lead UPS replacing diesel delivery vans with electric ones and how the smart grid approach implemented as part of the project enables them to do so.
In addition, a UPS / Green Biz study has further identified motivators and barriers to fleet electrification. The study notes how public/private collaboration (in this case between UPS, CRP and UK Power Networks) can overcome these barriers.
For more information, please see the project webpage here or contact CRP’s Programme Manager Electric Freight Tanja Dalle-Muenchmeyer.
Kiran Kumar and Charlotte Marro joined CRP in October on a 6 month placement from the Westminster City Council Graduate Scheme.
Kiran completed a degree in Politics and International Studies at Warwick University and Masters in Social Policy and Development at the London School of Economics. Kiran will be working with us as an Air Quality Officer within the Deliver London team, focusing on the Marylebone Low Emission Neighbourhood and Clean Air Villages projects.
Charlotte has completed a degree in Law at the University of Exeter and a Legal Practice Course with Masters in Law, Businesses and Management. Charlotte will be our Communications and Digital Lead, working across both CRP’s Deliver London and Recruit London teams.
For more information, please email Kiran Kumar or Charlotte Marro.
CRP’s CamdenAbility project recently held its first ever ‘meet the employers’ event, a reverse recruitment fair empowering its disabled jobseekers to meet and discuss employment opportunities with a number of local employers.
As a unique take on standard recruitment fair formats, the event instead put the spotlight on local jobseekers and encouraged employers to tour the room allowing every candidates the opportunity to discuss their work ambitions, skills and experience and employment prospects with every employer in attendance. The event was also an great opportunity for employers to meet disabled job seeking candidates from the local area, promote their organisations and discuss the accessibility of their opportunities.
The event was fantastically well received and featured a number of CamdenAbility network employers, including Camden Council and it’s apprenticeships team, HS2, The Francis Crick Institute, Apleona and Wellcome Trust.
CamdenAbility is funded and supported by Camden Council and delivered in partnership with the Business Disability Forum. The project works in collaboration with a network of employers in the borough, raising the profile of local disabled job seekers through the creation of a range of work related opportunities.
If you’d like to more information about CamdenAbility, please contact Parma Sira.
Michaella Jackson, Recruit London’s Specialist Workplace Coordinator started supporting Theodore, a Westminster resident, in September 2018. Theodore had been unemployed for 3 years after a tragic event of losing 3 immediate family members of his family and having health-related issues.
“Michaella was an absolute godsend and I couldn’t have done it without her. She is such an approachable person who really took the time to listen to the challenges I faced. From the very first time I met Michaella she really gave me belief that I could actually find work and work for a fantastic organisation. Michaella was extremely positive and set out a plan as to how she could support me into finding my next opportunity. She sat down with me and discussed my previous experience to amend my CV accordingly. Michaella also conducted several mock interview sessions to gain my confidence, how to answer interview questions (using the STAR method), and how to use engaging body language. I found these techniques extremely useful as this was something I struggled with in the past.
I am now happily working as a Trainee traffic Marshal at Carey’s, which is a great company. I am thoroughly enjoying my new role and really get along with my colleagues. Some of them are ex-serviceman, so I have made lifelong friendships as we have so much in common. I have now recommended Michaella to my female friend Jo, who recently passed her CSCS course as she is looking for a career in Construction. Jo has been finding it extremely difficult to get into the Construction industry and not having any luck with finding a job. I told her to and go and see Michaella too!”
For more information regarding support into work please contact Michaella Jackson, Specialist Work Workplace Coordinator at Recruit London.
CRP’s Recruit London programme is gearing up for the busy Christmas recruitment period. We are continually working with employers to build on the variety of roles on offer in order to meet the needs of local unemployed residents, especially those that are long-term unemployed or facing particular barriers into work, such as suffering from ill-health conditions or facing homelessness.
We continue to provide a free local service to businesses, promote vacancies to attract eligible candidates, deliver job-specific training and support to candidates, screen and broker candidates into employment, and support the employer and candidates for six months to sustain employment. The story of two candidates who were recently supported into work by our Specialist Workplace Coordinators, Nikoletta Gjergji and Michaella Jackson, are below.
CRP is very grateful to its Recruit London funders for their ongoing support: Capital and Counties, Heart of London Business Alliance, London Borough of Camden, The Crown Estate, and Westminster City Council.
Please get in touch with CRP’s Sylvia Kankasa or Carol Quamina if you would like any further information.
