Welcome to the September 2016 edition of the Employability in Scotland e-bulletin
September has flown by, and it hardly seems any time at all since we issued the August e-bulletin.
This month saw Jamie Hepburn, Minister for Employability and Training announce details of the two new transitional employment services at the annual Employability & Skills Conference, run by the Learning and Work Institute.
Mr Hepburn updated conference attendees, that in one of the first exercises of devolved powers under the Scotland Act 2016, the Scottish Government will begin to deliver new employment support programmes from April 2017.
The two new services will provide employment support to disabled people and those with long term health conditions;
-
Work First Scotland will deliver employment support for up to 3,300 disabled people, working with existing DWP providers of Work Choice in Scotland.
- The procurement process is already underway to secure contracts with the existing Work Choice providers and we expect contacts to be signed later this autumn -
Work Able Scotland, managed by Skills Development Scotland, will ensure up to 1,500 starts for people with a health condition who want to enter work.
- Skills Development Scotland is inviting bidders to deliver Work Able Scotland. Contracts are currently posted on Public Procurement Scotland - with a closing date for bids of 20 October. During this time questions can be asked via the portal.
These 12 month transitional arrangements are ahead of a full Scottish programme of employment support commencing from April 2018 and will provide continuity of support for those who need it most.
On 21st September, Mr Hepburn also published a blog on Scotland’s Economy – Supporting Employability. This reflects the interest shown in how the Scottish Government will take forward its newly devolved responsibilities on employment support – particularly as regards to conditions and sanctions that accompany the UK Government’s approach to these programmes. You can read the blog here.
The Scottish Devolved Employability Services Advisory Group also held their 9th meeting on 21st September, with discussion centring on specialist support for disabled customers and their potential – the minutes will be posted here, so watch this space!
Our Partnership Team are grateful for all those organisations who have supported us in work to gather person-centred insight to inform the development of the Scottish approach to employment services. We will share details of this work with you in next month’s bulletin.
Finally, 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.
Best wishes
