Scotland's Economy

Employability services

November 23, 2016 by admin No Comments | Category Uncategorized

The third sector plays a significant role in delivering employability services in Scotland.

Whether it is delivering end-to-end services across the employability pipeline, or providing specialist support for clients with particular needs, the sector has particular strengths in recognising the needs of the individual and is versatile in pulling together the multiple layers of support that many people need to find and sustain a job.

Too often, the services we provide have been constrained by conflicting policy decisions or funding restrictions or frustrated by duplication of effort. Where we lack common drivers and clear definitions then activities end up being driven by contracts and eligibility criteria rather than by the needs of the individual.

Better integration and alignment of policy and resources for employability gives us an opportunity to dramatically improve the services we provide. The opportunity to redesign the Scottish service for long term unemployed people and those with health conditions and disabilities gives us the chance to strengthen existing partnerships, build new partnerships and focus on existing good practice from the third sector, such as recognising the role of health and wellbeing in sustaining employment, and the need to have common goals for criminal justice and employability and working across different sectors to achieve theses aims.

To achieve better integration and alignment we need to work across the broad range of partners delivering employability support to agree common recording and measurement frameworks to avoid duplication of effort. We need to be able to concentrate the resource on front line services rather than the bureaucracy of delivery.

The third sector strongly believe that we need a clear vision of what we are trying to achieve and we need to trust our partners to work in the best interests of our clients. This is why the third sector will continue to play a pivotal role in delivering Scotland’s employability services.

Alastair Cameron

Chair, Third Sector Employability Forum

.@JamieHepburn announces details of the first contract awarded under newly devolved employment support powers #SGEmploySum16 pic.twitter.com/oYIusMieiw

— Scottish Government Finance and Economy (@scotgoveconomy) November 23, 2016

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