Peer Review of the Greater Nottingham ESB

CFE has facilited a Peer Review of the Greater Nottingham Employment and Skills Board (GN ESB), bringing together delegates representing employment and skills partnerships from across the Core Cities. The Peer Review will be a two-way learning process, focusing on good practice and areas for improvement across four themes:

  • Leadership and governance
  • Customer focus and employer/community engagement
  • Resource and performance management
  • Organisation and people

Background

The Leitch Review (December 2006) and the Review of Sub-National Economic Development and Regeneration (July 2007) both advocated the development of Employment and Skills Boards (ESBs) ‘to strengthen the employer voice’ in influencing and informing the skills and employment agenda at sub-regional level.

The Greater Nottingham Employment and Skills Board was set up in September 2004 and ‘aims to provide a more practical focus for local strategic skills planning, local accountability of partners, and greater flexibility of funds.’ (Executive Overview of the Board).

This project consists of several stages:

  • Desk research to review key documents and background information.
  • Development of evaluation matrices to structure the review and ensure a common understanding of key indicators of a successful ESB.
  • Recruitment of a panel of Core Cities delegates to form the review team.
  • Individual interviews with board members and key stakeholders.
  • Roundtable discussions between delegates and board members, examining four themes.
  • A written report detailing findings and recommendations to inform a development plan for the board to take forward.

A case study of this project can be found here and the key outputs can be found here.