Mid and East Antrim Labour Market Partnership - 2022/23 Action Plan

Mid and East Antrim Labour Market Partnership 2022/23 Action Plan

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Contents Background to the Labour Market Partnership .................................................4 Approach to developing the MEA Labour Market Partnership 2022/23 Action Plan .......5 LMP strategic planning methodology ............................................................5 Findings from the consultation process and feedback from Employers.....................7 Findings from the Statistical Audit ...............................................................9 Mid and East Antrim LMP 2022/23 Action Plan ............................................... 16 Action Plan ........................................................................................ 17

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Mid and East Antrim Labour Market Partnership

2022/23 Action Plan

Background to the Labour Market Partnership Employability NI (ENI) was established by the Department for Communities (DFC) to design, procure and implement a fresh suite of employability provisions/initiatives to support people into meaningful employment.

Employability NI has the following objectives: •

Economically Inactive – To reduce the number of customers who are economically inactive due to a disability and/or health condition or because they have family or caring responsibilities by assisting them to enter into employment or to move them closer to the labour market;

•

Long Term Unemployed – To reduce the number of customers who are long term unemployed by assisting them to enter employment;

•

Disability – To provide support to workers with a disability and or a health condition to prevent them falling out of employment;

•

Skilled Labour Supply – To put in place a first class service for employers that facilitates their access to a suitable skilled labour supply;

•

Economic Shock - To provide support to customers who are in danger of falling out of employment suddenly due to significant labour market changes.

An integral element of Employability NI is the formation of Labour Market Partnerships (LMP) in each Council district which build collaborative multi-agency partnerships to: •

Understand local market needs

•

Improve employability outcomes

•

Reduce economic inactivity

•

Improve local labour market conditions

•

Design and deliver targeted interventions.

MEA Labour Market Partnership consists of representatives from Department for Communities (JBO), Northern Regional College, Galgorm Resort and Spa, Northern Health and Social Care Trust, Northern Ireland Union of Supported Employment, MEA Inter-Ethnic Forum, Mid and East Antrim Advice Services, MEA Manufacturing Task Force, Local Enterprise Agencies, The Prince’s Trust and Education Authority.

To facilitate the formation of its LMP, Mid and East Antrim Borough Council (MEA) appointed Food for Thought to provide consultancy assistance with the development of an LMP Action Plan for 2022/23, and to assist with the design of the LMP structures and terms of reference.

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Mid and East Antrim Labour Market Partnership

2022/23 Action Plan

Approach to developing the MEA Labour Market Partnership 2022/23 Action Plan LMP strategic planning methodology The plan has been developed through two key stages: Stage One: Strategic Assessment – consisting of: •

a desk-based review of existing local and regional strategies and policies;

•

a review of the statistical evidence relating to the health of the labour market and nature of economic activity in the MEA region;

•

a series of interviews and workshops with 18 stakeholder groups and over 50 senior leaders representing all relevant key stakeholders with an interest in the labour market and employability issues in the region.

Stage Two: Action Plan Development – building on the findings from Stage One, a series of “turning the curve” workshops were held with MEA Council officers and the MEA LMP reference group to: •

Understand emerging priorities and key themes;

•

Perform a “turn the curve” review on key performance metrics to define relevant interventions that can deliver a positive impact and outcomes;

•

Agree a draft Action Plan and budget for approval.

Figure 3 below sets out the approach taken to the development of the 2022/23 LMP Action Plan.

Figure 3: MEA LMP Action Plan approach

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Mid and East Antrim Labour Market Partnership

2022/23 Action Plan

The key outcomes and deliverables from this assessment process are the Strategic Action Plan for 2022/23 containing a wide range of new initiatives to be piloted with a summary detailed as follows: Strategic Priority 1 Key Activities:

Strategic Priority 2 Key Activities:

Strategic Priority 3 Key Activities:

To form and successfully deliver the functions of the local Labour Market Partnership SP1.1: Regular LMP meetings SP1.2: Council management and administration resource assigned SP1.3: Research study into the profile and needs of the MEA economically inactive SP1.4: Clean Tech sectoral skills strategy SP1.5: Development of the 2023 – 2026 MEA LMP Strategic Plan and Annual Action Plan for 2023-2024 To improve employability outcomes and/or labour market conditions locally SP2.1: Community design and led skills/employability interventions SP2.2: Employer led sectoral skills strategies SP2.3: Access all Areas employability programme SP2.4: MEA Enterprise pathways SP2.5: Cleantech Hub/Hydrogen Economy Skills Level 5 (Train the trainer) SP2.6: Reboot and return – Women Returners Programme To support delivery of Employability NI SP3.1: LMP and Employability NI Communication Plan SP3.2: Health and Employability Events SP3.3: NI Apprenticeship week SP3.4: Hospitality Takeover Days SP3.5: Cleantech Takeover Day SP3.6: Future First Career Pathways

The learnings from 2022/23 will be used to inform the development of future Action Plans.

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Mid and East Antrim Labour Market Partnership

2022/23 Action Plan

Findings from the consultation process and feedback from Employers In developing its LMP Action Plan for 2022/23, MEA has been keen to ensure extensive engagement with a wide range of stakeholders able to offer useful opinion and perspective on the employability, skills and labour market priorities and needs in the MEA area.

In the course of developing the 2022/23 Action Plan, the original consultation plan to engage at least 15 key stakeholders was expanded to include over 18 stakeholder groups and in excess of 50 senior business and community leaders to ensure the LMP Action Planning process secured input from a broad range of perspectives from relevant parties with an interest in the labour market and employability issues in the MEA region. Figure 4 below summarises the stakeholder groups involved.

Figure 4: LMP stakeholder consultation groups

Feedback from Employers Effective engagement with MEA’s manufacturing sector was achieved through consultation with the MEA Manufacturing Task Force (MTF) Skills Sub-Group, along with direct engagement with a number of manufacturing businesses based in MEA. From these discussions it was clear there are a high level of unfilled vacancies in the manufacturing sector, with skills gaps and recruitment issues at all levels across the sector. In a round-table poll conducted by the MTF skills subgroup in December 2021, 75% of attendees considered attracting skills and talent to be a top priority for business recovery in 2022, with several businesses identifying the need for improved female representation in the sector.

Manufacturers also referenced ongoing challenges in supply chain and logistics sector, and whilst some of the larger road haulage companies have a level of increased success from their ability to offer internal training and development, many of the Small and Medium (SME) Business operators in the region continue to experience difficulty in sourcing qualified drivers, forklift operators and senior supply chain roles.

A similar high level of demand for people and skills exists in MEA’s Health and Social Care sector, and it was noted at the time of researching this report that over 53% of

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Mid and East Antrim Labour Market Partnership

2022/23 Action Plan

MEA job vacancies listed on www.jobcentreonline.com related to care work, reflecting a sector under significant pressure as a result of Covid-19.

Discussions with business leaders in the Tourism and Hospitality sector confirmed difficulties in recruiting staff. Confidence in the sector is very low as a consequence of job security issues arising from Covid lock-down restrictions that have impacted this sector in particular, and business leaders are concerned the sector will be unable to increase staffing levels as business volumes begin to ramp up in the post- Covid recovery period.

In general, employers expressed a recognition that in the context of low unemployment and an increasing demand for resource: •

Investment will be needed in new and emerging digital manufacturing skills to improve productivity and efficiency;

•

Flexibility will be needed to reduce barriers to employment, particularly for potential employees who have been previously economically inactive as a consequence of personal circumstances that constrain their ability to engage in traditional work patterns (e.g. caring responsibilities, health concerns and disabilities);

•

Hybrid working models are anticipated to be retained/further developed within the ‘new normal’ labour environment and positions that offer job seekers flexibility are likely to be seen as more attractive. Improved digital skills will be important to support the opportunities that increased remote working might bring;

•

In many sectors, greater female participation is needed to improve diversity and gender balance.

Employers reference a historically low level of engagement with Jobs and Benefits Offices (JBO) and acknowledge that Covid-19 restrictions have significantly impeded JBO work coach interaction with industry. In this context the MEA LMP is seen as a significant opportunity to improve collaboration across the supply chain.

Employers consider they are ill-informed in respect of the current employability schemes that exist to support employers and participants in their journey towards improved employment outcomes. On several occasions during stakeholder engagement workshops, employer participants (who consider themselves to be wellengaged in employability matters) expressed surprise at new information learned simply through the consultation exercise. This endorses the value the LMP approach will bring, and demonstrates a need for improved communication and promotion of existing employability schemes.

Employers also cite they have difficulty in understanding the make-up of the economically inactive and consider there is a need for further research to understand the skills, aspirations and challenges faced by key cohorts of MEA’s economically inactive if tailored solutions are to be developed that promote and support access to employment.

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Mid and East Antrim Labour Market Partnership

2022/23 Action Plan

Findings from the Statistical Audit Overview of the Mid and East Antrim labour market Despite being a highly rural and second least populated Local Government District in Northern Ireland (139,443 residents), MEA is the fifth most economically active council area in Northern Ireland with over 74% of the working population actively contributing to a successful local economy1.

The region is home to over five thousand registered businesses, with 98.7% of these being local, indigenous SMEs. The MEA economy is estimated to be worth over £2bn (GVA) with manufacturing, agriculture, retail, and social care being four of its key employment sectors.

Figure 5 below illustrates the profile of MEA’s working age population.

Source: NISRA, Food for Thought bespoke data request, 2020

Figure 5: MEA’s Working Age Population Profile

Employability challenges Unemployment in the region is relatively low at 2.3%, although Covid-19 has had an impact and has caused an increase in job benefit claimants in the last two years.

Over one quarter (25.6%) of the adult working age population are economically inactive, with almost a third of that figure relating to the students living in the region (6,000 people).

Health and disability is the most significant cause of economic inactivity in the region – excluding students, this group represents 47% of the economically inactive (estimated 7,000 people).

Family caring commitments and early retirees make up a further 40% of the economically inactive (excluding students).

1 Compared

to a Northern Ireland average of 73%

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Mid and East Antrim Labour Market Partnership

2022/23 Action Plan

Job claimants Similar to many other Council regions, Covid-19 caused a significant spike in job benefit claimants in early 2020, when the claimant numbers rose from a pre-Covid baseline of 2,380 to a peak of 4,235 in May 2020 – a 78% increase.

Source: NISRA, Claimant Count Monthly Data

Figure 6: MEA Job Claimant numbers The ending of the Furlough scheme in September 2021 had no negative impact on employment and claimant numbers have fallen on a gradual basis over the past 18 months.

However, despite a reported high number of unfilled job vacancies and strong employer demand for workers in MEA, the claimant numbers have remained persistently high at some 30% above pre-Covid levels, with an additional 700 claims being made.

The Executive’s policy decision not to enforce Universal Credit conditionality requirements is suspected as a key factor influencing this trend, and although conditionality rules were reinstated in December 2021, it remains the case that full enforcement procedures have yet to be applied.

Addressing this persistently elevated job claimant number will be a priority focus point for MEA LMP’s 2022/23 Action Plan.

Qualification achievements Percentage of residents aged 16 - 64 with no qualifications Figure 7 shows a clear correlation between the level of economic activity in a given Council region, and the percentage of working age residents with no qualifications.

MEA is Northern Ireland’s best performing Council region in relation to the percentage of residents with no qualifications, with only 6.1% of the working age population holding no formal qualifications2.

2 Compared

to a Northern Ireland average of 12.7%

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Mid and East Antrim Labour Market Partnership

2022/23 Action Plan

Source: NISRA, Labour Force Survey, 2020

Figure 7: Correlation of economic activity and % no qualifications In consideration of higher qualifications, it could be argued that MEA over-indexes on the percentage of residents achieving below NVQ level 4 and at the expense of the percentage of residents holding higher qualifications (see figures 8a, and 8b respectively).

Source: NISRA, Labour Force Survey, 2020

Source: NISRA, Labour Force Survey, 2020

Figure 8a: Below NVQ level 4

Figure 8b: Level 4 and above

The above statistics would support a view that investment in upskilling could help drive improved economic activity and lead to MEA residents achieving higher paid, better quality jobs.

Better quality jobs With regard to median full time pay rates, MEA ranks as one of the lowest paid regions in Northern Ireland, second only to Causeway Coast and Glens.

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Mid and East Antrim Labour Market Partnership

2022/23 Action Plan Figure 9: Median pay rates by Council (Source: NISRA 2018)

Pay rates in the region have shown very little growth over time, with the Newsletter recently reporting the region had one of the UK’s slowest salary increases with a rise of just 14% since 20143.

Figure 10 shows that over the last four years, MEA median pay rates have barely increased (0.2%), whilst Northern Ireland median pay has grown by almost ten and a half percent during the same period.

Source: NISRA, Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings, 2020

Figure 10: MEA Median Full Time Pay

This differential rate of change in pay rates is leading to a growing MEA pay gap relative to the Northern Ireland median.

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https://www.newsletter.co.uk/business/mid-east-antrim-among-worst-in-uk-for-pay-rises-similar-to-scottish-isles-3325544

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Mid and East Antrim Labour Market Partnership

2022/23 Action Plan

Source: Food for Thought analysis: NISRA, Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings, 2020

Figure 11: MEA’s growing pay gap

It will be important for MEA’s LMP Action Plan to support investment in new and emerging sectors that are likely to generate better quality, higher paid jobs (e.g.

Clean energy and hydrogen economy technologies).

Recent trends in MEA economic inactivity MEA has suffered a number of significant economic shocks in recent years as a consequence of closures and redundancies in its manufacturing sector, including Michelin (2015), JTI (2015), and Wrightbus (2019). Despite these events, in the years prior to Covid-19 the region had made significant improvement in a reduction of economic inactivity, with rates falling by 2.3% from a recent peak of 26.2% to 23.9% in 2019.

However, as Figure 12 shows, the Covid-19 pandemic has had a negative impact on economic inactivity in the region, largely reversing recent progress and causing a 1.7% adverse change from 2019 to 2020.

Source: NISRA, Labour Force Survey

Figure 12: MEA economic inactivity rates

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Mid and East Antrim Labour Market Partnership

2022/23 Action Plan

Previously ranked as the fourth most economically active region, MEA now ranks in fifth place - largely as a consequence of Covid-19 albeit the region remains 1.4% better than the Northern Ireland average.

Figure 13: Economic inactivity by LGD Reversing the negative impact of Covid-19 will be a key objective for the MEA LMP Action Plan.

Economic Activity Gender Gap An analysis of MEA economic activity by gender shows a growing gender gap driven by a steady decrease in female economic participation over time.

Source: NISRA, Labour Force Annual Report

Figure 14: MEA’s growing economic activity gender gap

As at 2020, the gender gap stood at 12.9%, which is significantly higher than the Northern Ireland average of 9%.

Whilst the growth in the gender gap levelled off between 2019 and 2020, this was driven by a reduction in male economic activity – female economic activity continues in a downward trend at a year-on-year rate of -1.7%.

The 2022/23 Action Plan provides an opportunity for the MEA LMP to turn the curve on this trend by investing in targeted initiatives that encourage women to return to work.

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Mid and East Antrim Labour Market Partnership

2022/23 Action Plan

Disability Employment Gap This review has conducted an analysis of the Disability Employment Gap across the eleven council regions – calculated as the difference in employment rates for those individuals with a recorded disability, compared to those with none.

Figure 15 shows that MEA is one of the highest performing regions in Northern Ireland, with the third smallest Disability Employment Gap of any Council at 36.3%.

Source: NISRA, Labour Market Status, 2020

Figure 15: MEA’s disability employment gap

MEA has clearly been successful with a range of existing programmes to support the employability status of people with disabilities, including: •

Stride - a programme delivered by USEL designed to help people living with a disability or health-related condition who are out of work move towards employment or further education;

•

Verve - a training and employment programme delivered by the NOW Group that is open to anyone over 16 who has a learning difficulty, learning disability, autism or associated health condition and would like support in gaining employment.

Although MEA currently enjoys a strong performance relative to other council regions in Northern Ireland, it is recognised that a significant gap (8.4%) continues to exist to the UK average, and MEA will seek to ensure inclusive programmes are designed that provide opportunity for all, with ring-fenced provisions made for those with a disability or suffering from long term illness.

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Mid and East Antrim Labour Market Partnership

2022/23 Action Plan

Mid and East Antrim LMP 2022/23 Action Plan In developing its Action Plan, MEA has opted to focus on priorities that will best support post-Covid economic recovery in the region. “Turning the Curve” exercises have been performed on a wide range of measures, and four key metrics have been chosen to drive the 2022/23 LMP Action Plan, namely: 1. Supporting job claimants back to the workplace - to underpin Post-Covid economic growth; 2. Improving access to better quality jobs – addressing the growing pay gap trend in MEA through upskilling; 3. Reversing the negative impact Covid has on the economically inactive – through inclusive programmes that provide opportunity for all, with ring-fenced provision for disability/long term sick; 4. Addressing the growing gender gap in economic activity – by targeting female participation programmes.

The MEA LMP Action Plan has also been designed to align with the Strategic Priorities defined by DfC in the development of the LMP programme, namely:

•

Strategic Priority 1 – To form and successfully deliver the functions of the local Labour Market Partnership for the area - actions and associated costs relating to the formation and administration of the LMP, and its ability to determine future labour market needs;

•

Strategic Priority 2 – To improve employability outcomes and/or labour market conditions locally - Local initiatives to “turn the curve” and address specific points of need as identified in this strategic review;

•

Strategic Priority 3 – To support delivery of Employability NI - actions that can support the more effective delivery of Employability NI e.g. promotion and referral to existing regional initiatives.

Mid and East Antrim Labour Market Partnership Strategic Action Plan for 2022/23 is structured as follows:

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Mid and East Antrim Labour Market Partnership

2022/23 Action Plan

Action Plan Strategic Priority 1:

To form and successfully deliver the functions of the local Labour Market Partnership for the area

Indicators:

% of LMP members feel supported & informed in their role % LMP members better informed on future skills requirement for Cleantech sector (LMP)

Theme LMP delivery development

Aim and Description and

Future skills needs

Key Activities

Effective delivery of the LMP Action Plan through the Regular LMP meetings scheduled, and sub-structures defined formation of the LMP, and the sub-groups to oversee the with clear Terms of Reference.

2022/23 Action Plan.

Management and administrative resource appointed by the Council.

Stakeholder consultation has confirmed that employers and delivery partners have a poor understanding of the MEA economically inactive beyond a basic level of analysis.

Understanding the ’target market’ is critical to shape future interventions and LMP programme planning.

Recruit an appropriate organisation to complete an in-depth research study of the economically inactive to gain better insight and allow intervention schemes to be tailored to meet the needs of target markets.

Cleantech Hub Skills strategy Developing a unique approach to a new skills pathway opening up vocational training routes and on-the-job training to candidates in an emerging industry.

Appoint a specialist skills training consultancy to develop a future Cleantech skills training and SME accelerator programme course roadmap in consultation with Council and local industry and to inform future LMP Action Plans.

Review end of year progress and develop a new 3-year strategic plan and annual action plan for 2023-2024

Review the 2022/23 plan; the outputs from SP1.3 and develop forward LMP Strategic Plan 2023-2026 and annual Action Plan for 2023-2024.

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Mid and East Antrim Labour Market Partnership

2022/23 Action Plan

Strategic Priority 2: To improve employability outcomes and/or labour market conditions locally Indicators:

# Job Benefit Claimant Count; % Economic Inactivity; % Female economic activity; £ MEA Full Time Median Annual Pay.

Theme

Aim and Description

Key Activities

Supporting Job Claimants Back to the Workplace

Access All Areas Packaged support programme in partnership with employers, DfC, Disability and employer organisations to better connect people with disabilities and long-term health issues who are unemployed/economically inactive with placement, work tasters and employment opportunities.

Brokerage service to connect employers with those with disabilities/long-term health conditions.

Pilot new community/employer designed and led Community/employer design skills/employability interventions at the point of need skills/employability interventions. aimed at long term unemployed. Facilitation and training in the community to develop problem-solving skills locally to enable the design of pilot skills and employment interventions tailored to local needs.

Improving Access to Better Quality Jobs

Improving Access to Better Quality Jobs

and

led

Employment/Skills Academies Intensive training interventions focused on developing practical industry knowledge and skills are proposed, targeting the unemployed, under-employed, those at risk of redundancy and those who want to skill up. By providing skilling up opportunities those who are under-employed can move into better jobs and open positions at entry level.

Transport Academy

Clean Tech Hub targeting participants who want to upskill and transition towards better quality jobs.

Support MEA as the province’s leading region for the hydrogen economy and for clean tech, supporting the regional skills ecosystem by upskilling additional trainers, technicians and new industry entrants.

Deliver Train the Trainer (Level 5) in KnowHy Hydrogen Production

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Hospitality/Tourism Academy Female Advanced Manufacturing Skills Academy Fibre Skills Academy

Mid and East Antrim Labour Market Partnership

2022/23 Action Plan

Reversing the negative impact COVID has on the economically inactive

MEA Enterprise Pathway Provision of enhanced enterprise development support for the unemployed/economically inactive, tailored to address individual needs and barriers, enabling participants to commence test trading. Will ‘wraparound’, complement and be additional to existing Go For It support.

Addressing the growing gender gap in economic activity

Women Returners Programme Women Returners Programme Tailored women returners interventions will enable the target group to build their confidence to re-enter or enter the world of work. Delivery will be via a mix of outreach events and a longer-term engagement programme to inspire and motivate women interested in returning to work, and get them started on the returning journey. Intervention can support returners to move past their gap, understand how to approach looking for the right position, build confidence and more.

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Individualised enterprise pathway to support participants to explore and test new business ideas, improve enterprise skills, develop new networks commence test trading and progress to starting a business.

Mid and East Antrim Labour Market Partnership

2022/23 Action Plan

Strategic Priority 3: To support delivery of Employability NI (ENI) Indicators: • Theme

# employers better informed.

Aim and Description

Key Activities

Increased MEA LMPs strategic review and stakeholder awareness of engagement exercise has evidenced that industry employability and awareness of Employability NI and available support skills programmes schemes is low. and career The LMP will increase employer and participant pathways awareness of employability programmes through a communication plan agreed with LMP and DfC/DfE. Increased awareness of employability and skills programmes and career pathways

Develop and agree a communication plan with DfC, DfE and LMP and ensure campaigns align to coincide with programme launches, recruitment dates etc. targeting participants and employers.

Events used to support those seeking work to move Health and Employability Events into employment, training or education.

Additionally to showcase work of LMP, NI Apprenticeship Week (NIAW) 2023 Apprenticeships and Employability NI. Hospitality Takeover Days Event(s) will offer the opportunity for residents and young people to connect with employers and Clean Tech Takeover Day improve their knowledge of career pathways and opportunities.

Future First will give behind the scenes access to a range of local sectors for a pilot groups of young people (15-16) who are at risk of leaving education with no clear destination or becoming NEET (Not in Education, Employment or Training).

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Mid and East Antrim Labour Market Partnership 2022/23 Action Plan

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