The London Development Agency (LDA) has awarded its 'Improving Enterprise Support to People with Disabilities' project contract to the London Enabled4Enterprise Consortium that inlcudes Head for Business, Leonard Cheshire Disability and Northern Pinetree Trust.

At its core the project recognises that the inclusion of disabled people is vital not only for London's economic success but also for London's stature as a leading world class city of the twenty first century.

The contract objective is to improve the awareness of disability and deliver some solutions for London enterprise agencies to support disabled entrepreneurs more effectively.

The two year plan proposed by the London Enabled4Enterprise Consortium values and prioritises diversity, inclusion and quality and will be driven by an action-research approach. The project will be delivered in a number of phases:

Phase 1

• Create a Stakeholder map of enterprise support provision across London.
• Conduct a skills audit of 200 pan-London enterprise support agency stakeholders.
• Produce a barriers report from the findings.
• Establish the Enterprise Consultancy Group (representatives based outside London whose function will be to provide enterprise sector and professional standards oversight).
• Establish the Disabled Entrepreneurs Group - (to review and influence disability equality as it relates to all aspects of the project).

Phase 2

• Development of training solutions and training toolkits.
• Delivery of training.
• Establish Enterprise Agency Network (to forge joint working and sharing of good practice).

Phase 3

• Refinement of training and toolkits.
• Evaluation and dissemination.