Welcome to the June edition of the Employability in Scotland e-bulletin.
There’s been plenty of dreich, dour and rainy days as we prepare to pull the curtain on June of 2017, but that hasn’t dampened the spirits here in the Scottish Government as we continue to assess bids to deliver Fair Start Scotland, the full Scottish Employment Support Service, that will support people with disabilities and those most disadvantaged in the labour market move into and sustain fair work from April 2018.
In other news, the Minister for Employability and Training, Jamie Hepburn MSP, launched the Employability Innovation and Integration Fund on 15 June, on a visit to the new Edinburgh Wellbeing Works campus, which is one of three to be rolled out by the Shaw Trust under the devolved employment programme Work First Scotland.
A copy of the press release can be found here.
The £2.5 million Fund, which will operate until March 2019, is seeking proposals from public bodies responsible for delivering community planning partnership priorities to develop and test collaborative innovative approaches that demonstrate how the integration and/or alignment of employability and skills training services with health and social care, justice and/or housing services would contribute to an area's regeneration or development and help more people into work.
The Fund recognises that the Third sector makes a significant contribution to supporting harder to help groups and encourages collaboration with appropriate third sector partners.
If you would like more information on the Employability Innovation and Integration Fund including an application form, please send an email to employabilityiif@gov.scot
All bids to the Fund must be returned by Thursday 27 July 2017 and discussed with local authority Local Employability Leads to help avoid any duplication.
On 27 June the Minister then attended the last meeting of the Scottish Devolved Employment Service Advisory Group, that has, since its inception in 2015, been a key partner in helping the Scottish Government develop and influence new employment support services in Scotland. The experience and expertise brought by the group has been invaluable to the Scottish Government on this journey. Massive thank you to the Chair, Professor Alan McGregor, and all involved. For more information on the contribution the group has made, see the Employability in Scotland website.
Speaking of the Employability in Scotland website, the front page has been edited to highlight a link to the Employment Support for Disabled People section.
This section will be updated regularly as the Scottish Government moves forward with A Fairer Scotland for Disabled People: Our Delivery Plan to 2021 for the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. There will be significant activity in this Ministerial priority and you can keep up to speed with all the developments on the Employability in Scotland website.
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.