Happy Halloween and welcome to the October 2018 edition of the Employability in Scotland e-bulletin
It has been a busy month for the Scottish Government Employability Team and as we head towards the cold winter season, we would like to share with you some of the key highlights from October.
As you know, the effective design, development and implementation of Fair Start Scotland has been a key priority over the past few years. We are pleased to announce that the Scottish Government has been shortlisted for the Project and Programme award at the Scottish Public Service Awards for Fair Start Scotland. The Project Management approach taken to deliver the service recognised the crucial role that partners and stakeholders have in establishing devolved employment support in Scotland that is the flexible, tailored and responsive to people’s needs. The winners will be announced in December, so fingers crossed.
This autumn, as part of a Scottish Government initiative, ACAS are running a series of 2 hour key point sessions on the topic of Pregnancy & Maternity throughout Scotland. There are a range of dates available and you can sign up for Acas essentials: Maternity – doing the right thing for your employees here.
The 14th national procurement conference, Procurex, took place on the 23rd October. Over 1,500 delegates attended, and participated in training sessions and talks from some key speakers including the Minister for Business, Fair Work and Skills who delivered the Ministerial address and some of Scotland’s leading public procurement experts. Breakout sessions included ‘Why should we address the Fair Work practices of those working on public contracts?’ and ‘Employerability – and how to increase it’.
The Scottish Government recognises that fair work is good for everyone as it drives innovation, productivity and inclusive growth. We are proud that Scotland has the highest proportion of people paid the living wage of any UK nation and are continuing to encourage many more businesses to commit to doing the same for their employees. Monday 5th November is the beginning of Living Wage week and will see Scottish Government Ministers celebrating with Employers in Scotland, the benefits to their staff, business and the wider economy of paying the real Living Wage. Please look out for updates and news on the Living Wage throughout the week.
Please don’t forget to keep in touch. We are always happy to receive your case studies, examples of good practice and your contributions for the Employability in Scotland website and e-bulletin.
Julia
