News Articles Archive - Page 133 of 153

In accordance to the Public Services (Social Value) Act 2012; an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom that calls for all public sector commissioning to factor in social value, Westminster Employment Service in conjunction with Recruit London are leading the way working with the services the Council commissions and procures for contracts over £100k.

The businesses have been tasked to help improve the socioeconomic and environmental well- being of the borough. Part of this is to take part in helping Westminster’s unemployed residents, especially residents with long term, disabled and managed health issues, back into meaningful employment by facilitating work placements, shadowing, assisting with mock interviews, delivering sector or employer talks, and ultimately permanent employment.

An example of how this is taking effect is the work that CRP are doing with ISG Fit Out who are refurbishing Westminster City Hall. Recruit London and Westminster’s Local Employment Services Team are working closely with ISG on the anticipated roles that the entire renovation will need. The re-fit is expected to last just over 68 weeks and we hope to generate in excess of 30 jobs including admin staff, labourers, caterers, security and roles aligned to construction. Recruit London has already successfully assisted with the recruitment of an ISG Office Manager and we are looking forward to doing more with ISG and other contractors to help more Westminster residents into work.

For further information about Recruit London please contact the team: recruitlondon@crossriverpartnership.org

CRP has completed a piece of research, on behalf of Westminster City Council, New West End Company and TfL, on delivery and servicing activities in the Oxford Street West (OSW) district. This research report is set against the backdrop of growing concerns about poor air quality, traffic congestion and the impact of freight vehicles. Based on our extensive first-hand research it suggests a cornucopia of policy and practical recommendations to direct London’s future freight patterns.

The objective was to understand how delivery and servicing to businesses currently operates and to identify actions that stakeholders can take to ensure the OSW district remains great for businesses, visitors and residents. On-street observations alongside discussions with hundreds of businesses led to CRP gathering detailed information on current behaviours. It enabled us to identify a number of recommendations which are being fed in to consultation on the Oxford Street Transformation.

The recommendations range from implementation of shared supplier schemes such as the West End Buyers Club; and use of Click. Collect. Clean Air. to help redirect personal deliveries outside the city. CRP have also recommended actions that will reduce the negative impacts of freight including education on anti-idling, particular in cold weather when particulate filters are less efficient.

For more information contact Amandeep Kellay amandeepkellay@crossriverpartnership.org or Vicky Keeble vickykeeble@crossriverpartnership.org

We are looking for an organised and proactive Transport Project Officer to join our team to assist in delivering a range of ground-breaking projects.

To find out more about this role and to apply, please click on link below:

https://jobs.westminster.gov.uk/vacancy/transport-project-officer-317196.html

10th May 2017 was the most recent of CRP’s twice-yearly Board meetings of its 30 formal public and private sector partners, kindly hosted by the City of London Corporation at its magnificent Guildhall Art Gallery.

The meeting heard about upcoming funding opportunities from the GLA’s Senior Manager Jamie Izzard. CRP’s Brendon Harper launched the new CRP service deliverBEST to partners.

In terms of formal decisions made: 1. CRP to continue to resource communications functions internally. 2. Simon Pitkeathley to remain CRP Co-Chair until at least after the next CRP Board meeting on 10th October 2017. 3. CRP Annual Report and Business Plan 2016/17/18 approved.

The next CRP Board meeting will be hosted by Westminster City Council – many thanks to Councillor David Harvey for making the offer.

For any further information please contact CRP’s Susannah Wilks.

CRP has moved offices and is now based with its accountable body Westminster City Council at:

5 Strand, London WC2N 5HR

CRP telephone numbers remain unchanged.

Thank you very much to Westminster City Council for continuing to host us. CRP now exists within its partner Northbank BID area!

CRP is also very grateful for its desk space at offices including CAPCO, DWP South London District, HOLBA, NWEC and The Crown Estate.

We look forward to seeing you at our 5 Strand offices soon!

For further information please contact CRP Director Susannah Wilks.

As part of Westminster’s Employment Service, Recruit London are working with Groundwork London to offer tailored one to one support and specialist advice, matching and preparing people for appropriate and suitable employment and providing in‐work support to help participants settle into their new roles.

The service also provides direct support to employers, helping them to identify and adapt vacancies within their organisations and ensure that capable, prepared and well-suited candidates make the most of and succeed in these roles. Groundwork London’s grant helpfully supports employers with the wage costs of participants in the first few months.

To find out more, please contact in the first instance CRP’s Specialist Workplace Coordinator Sylvia Kankasa.

This service is funded by ESF and the Big Lottery Fund through the Building Better Opportunities programme.

CamdenAbility is an innovative disability employment initiative. Funded by the London Borough of Camden, CRP is working with a network of local businesses to support Camden residents with disabilities or long term health conditions into work.

This month saw CamdenAbility host its first Business Network Meeting Event.The Network heard from CamdenAbility members University College London (UCL), Royal Free Hospital Trust, City Lit and London Borough of Camden on their initiatives to improve disability awareness within their organisations. CRP’s Specialist Workplace Coordinator, Parma Sira, and Adrian Ward, a Senior Disability Consultant with our project partners Business Disability Forum, hosted a Q&A session at the event, providing members with an opportunity to receive specialist support and advice on specific challenges they might be experiencing.

It was great to hear so many of our members taking a proactive approach to disability inclusiveness, such as UCL working closely with CamdenAbility to recruit local residents with disabilities onto their apprenticeship schemes.

The meeting was part of a series of free CamdenAbility Employer Network Events taking place throughout 2017. The next event, hosted by City Lit, brings the network together for training session on neurodiversity.

To find out more about the project, please contact Parma Sira.

On 10^th May we provided CRP Board Members and other public and private sector partners with first insights into the environmental impacts of electric freight vehicles, analysed as part of the FREVUE project, hosted by the City of London Corporation. Professor John Polak, Head of the Centre for Transport Studies at Imperial College, presented the findings that include results from the FREVUE project itself (over 80 electric freight vehicles deployed), an extrapolation of these results to model wider uptake levels, and the monetisation of results.

As Professor Polak concludes: “The FREVUE results show the huge opportunity to avoid significant costs associated with air pollution, in a way that is potentially attractive to business and the public sector alike.”

The environmental benefits of electric freight vehicles are significant. With zero tailpipe emissions, these vehicles lead to an absolute reduction in NOx and PMs, the two key pollutants in London. But importantly, they also offer the benefit of high reductions in CO2 emissions. Across the FREVUE project demonstrators, the CO2 emission reduction was on average 45%.

If, by 2021, 10% of the entire London freight fleet were electric, we could therefore save £881 million through reduced health impacts and lower costs to comply with legal obligations.

Full results will be shared at the FREVUE Final Conference on 21 June 2017 at Guildhall, City of London. To register for this event, please see: http://frevue.eu/newsroom/frevue-final-conference-registration-open/

For further information, please contact the FREVUE Coordinator, Tanja Dalle-Muenchmeyer, on tanjadallemuenchmeyer@crossriverpartnership.org.

On 5^th May 2017 the government published the long-awaited new draft Air Quality Plan for consultation. The plan aims at reducing nitrogen dioxide emissions in towns and cities and to thereby improve air quality.

Defra

The consultation is open until 15 June 2017 and responses will feed into the final plan due for publication by 31 July 2017. To respond, please see https://consult.defra.gov.uk/airquality/air-quality-plan-for-tackling-nitrogen-dioxide/.

The UK’s first ever National Clean Air Day will be on Thursday June 15th 2017. The aim of the Day is to help the public avoid and reduce air pollution, and to protect the health of families across the country.

Get involved:

Use parcel collection points close to home and avoid unnecessary deliveries to busy central London streets. Convenient parcel collection points can be found at www.clickcollect.london and promotional materials can be provided to your workplace by contacting CRP’s Air Quality Project Manager Brendon Harper.

Find health advice, ready-made communications materials, a pledge counter and even a virtual reality experience, all free to download at www.cleanairday.org.uk.

Please join CRP and our partners on June 15th and help improve air quality and public health.

Archives: News Articles

Construction and Social Value

Oxford Street West Report

CRP is recruiting!

CRP Board Meeting

CRP moves offices!

Groundwork London Wage Costs Offer

Recruit London in Camden

FREVUE Round Table on Environmental Impacts

New National Air Quality Plan

UK National Clean Air Day, 15 June 2017