LAIN reflections on London’s missions and how unlocking LAIN’s potential is key to success

In this blog, we offer LAIN’s reflections on London’s new mission-based approach and explore the opportunities for anchor organisations and the anchor philosophy.     

The government outlined five national missions in its manifesto. Aligned with these, the London Partnership Board has agreed to establish six London missions to address the capital’s unique challenges. They are: 

• Growth 

• Housing Delivery 

• Energy and the Environment 

• Safety 

• Opportunity 

• Health 

For the growth mission,  the Mayor and London Councils are also developing a Growth Plan for London in collaboration with boroughs, businesses, and members of the London Anchor Institutions’ Network (LAIN). This plan promotes sustainable, inclusive economic growth by creating jobs, boosting wages and living standards, and addressing climate and ecological issues. 

Opportunities for the London Anchor Institutions' Network (LAIN) 

The missions provide a real opportunity to focus mind and resources on tackling the issues we know the city faces, as well as to demonstrate that when working in partnership we can deliver for the city and the rest of the UK. 

Mission-driven approaches have long been used to inspire innovation and radical change, encourage partnerships, foster collaboration and tackle the biggest challenges facing society.   

Missions are specific and focused on achieving real change- something we also aspire to in LAIN, working across organisations on a small number of big issues.  

With significant presence and influence in the city, our signatories have pledged to leverage their procurement, recruitment and estate management capacity to tackle inequalities and address the climate emergency.   

As such we’re well placed to contribute to London’s missions.  

Our work to create a fairer, greener, more prosperous London is focussed on creating the right social, environmental and economic conditions for London and its communities to thrive.  

The focus of each of the missions is still being agreed and yet to be discussed by the London Partnership Board, but there are some clear examples where the network can contribute to some of the missions: 

• Growth – As a network, collectively we spend billions of pounds each year procuring goods and services. We’re committed to using our procurement power for good. This includes spending more with small, london-based and diverse-owned businesses to boost the local economy.  We’ve awarded over £2.7bn in contracts to small businesses in the past three years, supporting a resilient and growing economy. And we plan to do more. Our members are reserving contracts for small businesses and streamlining the bidding process so more local businesses and supply chains can benefit.  

• Energy and the environment – our members are working to reach net zero by decarbonising their estates, utilising green technologies, electrifying fleets and embedding green skills in their workforces. So far, members have trained 7,000 staff in carbon literacy and sustainability. We have some inspiring examples of good practice for instance,

  • learn how LED light and heat pumps have been integrated into a grade 2 listed church in this short video or,

  • how this London college is going greener.  

• Opportunity – as a network we employ over half a million people. We support over 4000 apprentices each year and our members have transferred over £2.8m in apprenticeship levy to small businesses to boost earn –as –you learn opportunities in London.  We’re committed to helping more people from underrepresented backgrounds into good work paying at least the London Living Wage. Through our membership 26,000 workers benefit from London Living Wage rises each year. We’re creating more inclusive workplaces from the perspective of both disability and ethnicity and closing our gender, ethnicity and disability pay gaps.  

• Health - Improving health outcomes for London’s communities is not purely the job of the NHS. The evidence shows that tackling economic inequalities also improves health outcomes. Communities want access to good work with fair pay, and career progression in inclusive workplaces. Good work and good health are intrinsically linked. Given the sheer scale of their workforces and their commitment to good work, LAIN members are well placed to support better economic and health outcomes for Londoners. 

  Next steps 

LAIN is a trailblazing, peer-driven, practical approach that fosters joint problem solving and a collective exploration of how we each, as anchor institutions, can do better. And there is always more we can do. 

London’s anchors have made an important commitment to Londoners – that we will strive to create more good jobs, boost the economy and achieve net zero, and get there quicker by working together. 

Through LAIN’s working groups - the engine room of our network - LAIN will continue using collaboration, shared learning and problem solving to address deeply rooted inequalities in our city and create a fairer, greener more prosperous London.