Welcome to the Festive 2019 edition of the Employability in Scotland e-bulletin.
As 2019 draws to a close and we head towards the festive season, we would like to share with you some of the key highlights in our end of year edition of the e-bulletin.
A Helping Hand to Change Lives
This year, Fair Start Scotland, Scotland’s first fully devolved employment service entered its second year of providing support to people who want help to find and remain in work. The service continues to support even more people in achieving their potential - with the last set of statistics (published 27 Nov 2019) showing that more than 16,000 people are already taking the opportunity of help to find work and more than 4,000 participants started a job after joining the service. We appreciate the effort of many of our partners in the third sector, local government, Jobcentre Plus and the NHS in continuing to raise awareness and promote the service to people who may wish to choose to take part – so please do continue with this as it really is an opportunity to access support that can change lives.
In November, we published the first Fair Start Scotland Annual Report and an Evaluation Report of the first year of operation. Over 1,000 FSS participants were surveyed as part of the Evaluation with results showing that:
- 92% of people who have used the service feel they were treated with dignity and respect.
- 80% felt they had a choice about the type of support they received
- 78% felt the support offered improved their quality of life and wellbeing.
There is however, more to do, and we are looking forward to working in partnership over the coming year to ensure that individuals who are eligible, are aware of the service and can make an informed decision on whether to take part.
Partnership Working
In December 2018, Scottish Government and Local Government agreed the Partnership Working Agreement for Employability which was signed by Jamie Hepburn MSP, Minister for Fair Work, Employability and Skills and Councillor Kelly Parry – the COSLA Community Wellbeing spokesperson. In the subsequent year, good progress has been made in developing our shared vision for better employability services in a Fairer Scotland.
We remain committed to continuous improvement and by working closely with Fair Start Scotland service providers and DWP, we have developed a more tailored FSS offer for individuals from a Minority Ethnic background. This was recently piloted in Glasgow, with a joint information session delivered to individuals, with more than 80% deciding to take part. A combination of 1-1 support and group work which encourages peer support will be delivered, and the results monitored carefully. This pilot initiative will be now be expanded further across Glasgow and also in Edinburgh.
We have continued to work closely with our Third Sector partners, including establishing an Employability Stakeholder Group in 2019 to support the development of No One Left Behind. Chaired by Anna Fowlie from SCVO and including representation from a wide range of Third Sector Employability organisations and other partners, this group brings together expertise which will drive the strategic direction of employability in Scotland, developing a system that puts people at the centre. We have further strengthened our relationships with Third Sector umbrella organisations, and have worked closely with the Third Sector Employability Forum, SCVO and others, to ensure that we maintain strong third sector links.
The £12 million investment for the Parental Employability Support Fund (PESF) has been notified to each of the 32 Local Authorities - this aims to support low income parents to access or progress in work. The recent Programme for Government announced a PESF boost to ensure greater alignment between Early Learning and Childcare expansion and employability.
Other highlights from this year include:
The Scottish Government (SG) Recruitment and Retention Plan for Disabled People published on 29 August set out the actions the we will take as an employer to support more disabled people into work our organisation and to enable existing disabled employees to thrive and succeed at work.
We also published the Scottish Government response to the consultation on increasing the employment of disabled people in the public sector. The consultation focussed on whether we should introduce public sector employment targets for disabled people, as well as other measures to improve the employment of disabled people in the public sector, including the improvement of data collection and usage of this information.
Back in June, we were delighted to celebrate all of the great work happening across the Employability Sector, through promotion of UK Employability Day with the theme of ‘Closing the Gaps’. We used social media channels to join in and share some of the work that was happening across Scotland to support people into employment – so please do continue to share your good practice and success with us.
In more recent news
Consultation on replacement of European Structural Funds
If the UK leaves the EU, it will no longer receive support from the European Structural Funds. The purpose of these funds is to “invest in job creation and a sustainable and healthy European economy and environment.”. In Scotland, they have played a vital role in reducing disparities across different parts of the country for over 40 years.
The Scottish Government is seeking views through a consultation on how best to develop our own thinking on how any replacement funding vehicle can best meet the needs of our citizens, our businesses and our communities. The consultation closes on 12 February 2020.
Fair Start Scotland Statistics
The ninth set of statistics for devolved Scottish employability services were published on Wednesday 27 November 2019. This edition reflects statistics to the end of September 2019; covering the first 18 months of Fair Start Scotland, along with the first 15 months of the Health and Work Support Pilot.
Fair Start Scotland Statistics Fair Start Scotland Posters
We now have A4 size Fair Start Scotland (FSS) posters available to help us promote the service so please let us know if you would like any of these for yourself or your networks. We also have a variety of FSS marketing materials available (postcards, business cards, and leaflets) via our toolkit on the Employability in Scotland website or please contact: FairStart-Marketing@gov.scot if you would like us to send out hard copies of these materials.
Living Wage Week
Living Wage Week is the annual celebration of the living wage movement, which this year took place from 11 – 17 November. Lots of organisations promoted their living wage accreditation to staff, stakeholders and the general public.
During Living Wage week, the Minister for Business, Fair Work and Skills visited ‘Delight Supported Living’ who are an accredited living wage employer to announce the new real living wage of £9.30 per hour.
