EMPLOYABILITYAND SKILLS SCOTLAND

Transcription

1 EMPLOYABILITYAND SKILLS SCOTLAND 17 SEPTEMBER, HIGHLAND SUITE, CARLTON HOTEL, EDINBURGH 18 September, South Hall Complex, Edinburgh First University, Edinburgh Organised by: Final Programme Supported by:

2 Employability and Skills Scotland 2013 Programme: Tuesday 17 Sepember 16:45 17:30 Arrival, refreshments, registration Location: Carlton Hotel 17:30 Welcome to Employability Location: Highland Suite and Skills Scotland Chair: Sally Magnusson, Journalist, broardcaster and writer 17:30 18:00 Key questions about jobs skills and Location: Highland Suite unemployment in Scotland Martin Sime, Chief Executive, Scottish Council for Voluntary Organisations Amy Dalrymple, Policy and Research Manager, Scottish Chambers of Commerce Dave Moxham, Deputy General Secretary, Scottish Trades Union Congress 18:00 19:00 Question time debate Location: Highland Suite A vision for jobs, skills and employability in Scotland Angela Constance MSP, Scottish National Party and Minister for Youth Employment; Jenny Marra MSP, Scottish Labour s Shadow Minister for Youth Employment and Deputy Finance Shadow Minister 19:00 19:30 Convention delegate drinks reception Location: Carlton Hotel 1

3 Employability and Skills Scotland Programme: Wednesday 18 September 08:30 09:10 Registration, refreshments Location: Kirkland Room and exhibition viewing 09:10 09:15 Welcome and introductions Location: South Hall Rising to the challenges today Chair: Sally Magnusson, Journalist, broardcaster and writer 09:15 10:25 Panel plenary Location: South Hall Employablity and Skills today in Scotland the challenges Dave Simmonds OBE, Chief Executive, Inclusion Junior Johnson, Head of Work Programmes Division, Department for Work and Pensions Danny Logue, Operations Director, Skills Development Scotland Paul de Pellette, Director For Scotland, Ingeus John Dickie, Head of Child Poverty Action Group Scotland 10:25 10:45 They do things differently Location: South Hall Ciaran Boylan, Director, Locus Management on Northern Ireland s Steps 2 Success 10:45 11:00 Refreshments and exhibition viewing Location: Kirkland room 11:00 11:50 Breakout sessions 1 4 Session 1 Working together to help young people Location: South Hall Michelle Fenwick, City of Edinburgh Council Lucinda McAllister, Fife Council Heather Sim, Space Unlimited There s widespread commitment to help young people at this time of high unemployment at all levels, with local authorities putting additional resources into offering all young people leaving school worthwhile 2

4 opportunities. There is evidence that the Scottish approach is getting results. This session will look at two local authority initiatives: the Edinburgh Guarantee s cross-partner action to increase the number of opportunities for young people; and the Fife Youth Jobs Contract, through which five million pounds has been allocated by Fife Council to deliver up to 600 apprenticeships over the next three years. Alongside this, Space Unlimited will feed in the views of young people about how the transition from school to employment can be improved. Session 2 Responding to welfare changes Location: Bryce Room Professor Paul Spicker, Robert Gordon University John Dickie, Child Poverty Action Group Scotland This session will look at the current and anticipated impacts of welfare reforms on unemployed people and the communities where they live. Paul Spicker will examine the purposes of changes in the benefit system and the different messages about them, with suggestions about the direction of policy. There will be opportunity to discuss the responses at community level and from organisations which support unemployed people and help them in Scotland s contemporary labour market. Session 3 What works for employers Location: Red Room Amy Dalrymple, Scottish Chambers of Commerce Rhona McLinden, Capital City Partnership Susan Harkins, Business Gateway Employment programmes always want employers help; but a successful relationship depends understanding what employers need. Amy Dalrymple will present the employers perspective and argue that a joined-up approach is more likely to work for employers. Rhona McLinden and Susan Harkins will show how Edinburgh s employability partners have come together with business support services to provide an integrated small business support and employer service offer. They will outline the integration process involving Edinburgh Business Gateway advisers and employer engagement advisers to create a single integrated service which aims to unlock the latent vacancies which exists in the micro business sector. Session 4 EU Structural Funds in Location: Scott Room Shane Rankin, Scottish Government Following the close of the consultation on strategy, governance and delivery for the progamme of the Structural Funds in Scotland, Shane Rankin will reflect on the comments received and the options available for inclusion in the operational programmes and the partnership agreement with the Commission. 3

5 11:50 12:40 Breakout sessions 5 8 Session 5 Getting results for people with ill health and Location: South Hall Disability Colin Lindsay, Strathclyde University Peter Purves, Into Work People with disabilities are at the epicentre of UK welfare reform. Outcomes from the Work Programme for people on Employment Support Allowance (ESA) and the question of supporting people who complete the programme without getting work focus attention again on what works for people with health and disabilities. Colin Lindsay, who has studied disability benefits and welfare reform in depth, will draw on the experiences of previous programmes and consider whether the lessons about condition management have been learnt. Peter Purves, drawing on the practice of Into Work, will explore the efficacy of the supported employment model, opening up the debate on how stable and enhanced investment in localised specialist provision is the way forward. Session 6 Working together in Glasgow Location: Bryce Room David Coyne, Glasgow City Council Catriona Lindsay, Department for Work and Pensions This session offers insights into the processes of joint work in Glasgow around the Commonwealth Games and welfare reform. There are plenty of opportunities for jobs and regeneration from the Commonwealth Games in 2014; and the city knows it will benefit most through co-operation with national agencies like Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) and the Jobcentre Plus offices, as well as with local organisations. The same spirit has been applied to planning for the introduction of current welfare reform measures. For both DWP and the city council there are big advantages in making sure awareness and knowledge is widespread. David Coyne and Catriona Lindsay will compare and contrast. Session 7 Skills which jobseekers need in the modern Location: Red Room labour market Paul Bivand, Inclusion Marion Davis, One Parent Families Scotland Paul Bivand will present Inclusion s analysis of prospects in the Scottish labour market, of Jobcentre Plus and Work Programme performance and of occupations which are rising and falling. He will use this to comment on the skills which are likely to make most difference for getting into work. Marion Davis will add to this from the experience of supporting lone parents, emphasising the importance of a long-term approach to building human capital and obtaining skills which can give security in the labour market. 4

6 Session 8 Shifting the employment barriers Location: Scott Room for people with convictions Dughall Laing, Recruit with Conviction Richard Thomson, Recruit with Conviction A workshop led by Recruit with Conviction on the barriers to employment for people with criminal records and the current once-in-a-generation opportunity to make meaningful changes to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act The consultation on the act offers the first time in a generation to make a meaningful change in the legislation to support the employability and integration of ex-offenders. Recruit With Conviction Directors will review what works for people with convictions, using examples, as well as asking for input into the consultation in order to seek a uniquely Scottish solution so that new legislation will support people with a criminal record to start work and stop crime. 12:40 13:35 Lunch and exhibition viewing Location: Kirkland room 13:35 14:25 Breakout sessions 9 12 Session 9 Plans for Universal Credit Location: South Hall Paul Kilner, Department for Work and Pensions Under Universal Credit six key benefits are to be combined into a single payment which will ensure that claimants are always better off in work. The major changes required for this have started and will take place over the four years to This workshop will hear progress to date and the emerging findings from the early implementation phase. Session 10 Colleges responding to change Location: Bryce Room Martin Laidlaw, Fife College Margaret Gilroy, Clyde College This is a time of change for Scotland s further education colleges, especially those going through merger processes. For all of them, terms of funding linked to Regional Outcomes Agreements can be expected to encourage and help strengthen the sector s local links with employers and community planning processes. Will students and employers notice the difference? For employability providers opportunities for co-operation with local partnerships are balanced by anxiety over whether some smaller-scale links with communities may get lost in larger institutions. Martin Laidlaw and Margaret Gilroy will give a progress report. Session 11 Creating job opportunities job creation Location: Red Room within the Third Sector 5

7 Alex McTier, Glasgow University Mike Finlayson, Forth Sector While unemployment remains stubbornly high, there is continuing interest in how best to create employment opportunities specifically for unemployed people. With the support of the Scottish Government s Community Jobs Scotland, the voluntary sector has extensive experience of a programme which is widely valued. Alex McTier will present the core findings of the evaluation published by Training Employment Research Unit and his own reflections on how the programme has developed since then. With years of experience which pre-dates the Community Jobs Scotland, Forth Sector has its own unique approach to creating social enterprises which sustain jobs which are suitable for people with disabilities. Mike Finlayson will share the challenges of recruiting and training people with disabilities and helping them move on while at the same time keeping an eye on the bottom line. Session 12 Project Search: this really works! Location: Scott Room Norma Curran, Values in Action Maura Lynch, Scottish Consortium for Learning Disability When done well, supported employment can deliver quality meaningful outcomes for disabled people who want to work. Key things that people tell us they need are: benefits advice; an employment plan; job-finding support; help to talk to employers; support on/off the job; a career. Supported employment is designed to deliver all of these services in an individualised way. Project SEARCH is a dynamic approach that uses some of the supported employment techniques and delivers fantastic results it consistently achieves 60 per cent success. Disabled people can achieve great things when supported well and this presentation will show you how! 14:25 15:15 Breakout sessions Session 13 Experiences of the Employability Fund roll out Location: South Hall Hazel Mathieson, Skills Development Scotland The creation and rapid roll-out of the Employability Fund by Skills Development Scoland was one of the events of the year, promising new ways of matching funded programmes to local needs. Hazel Mathieson will explain the thinking behind the process and talk about the outcomes of the tendering process. Local partnerships will comment from the point of view of those who made bids and who can observe the benefits on the ground of integration with other local delivery. Session 14 Support from Jobcentres, including Flexible Location: Bryce Room Support Fund 6

8 Jim McGonigle, District Manager for East and South East Scotland, Department for Work and Pensions Jobcentres are at the core of the employability agenda and their services continue to evolve with the changing times. This session will give an update, including on the new Claimant Commitment, digitalisation, support for Work Programmes completers, employer engagement initiatives and the Flexible Support Fund. Session 15 Future of skills provision Location: Red Room Andre Reibig, Scottish Funding Council Margaret Gilroy, Clyde College Skills and employability have a direct impact on life chances, the performance of our economy and on unemployment. Andre Reibig supports the joint SDS/SFC Skills Committee which aims to contribute to creating a learning system that is accessible to all, enhances the employability of learners and increases the demand for skills among employers and individuals. He is well placed to give an overview of the direction in which skills policy is going and the consequences of these changes for colleges and training providers and employers. Margaret Gilroy will bring to this the view from one of the merged colleges. Session 16 Keeping people in work Location: Scott Room Luke Jeavons, Ingeus Cathy Lang, Access to Industry The Work Programme broke new ground by rewarding providers whose clients stay in employment not just for six months but for two years so there is a lot if interest in what factors matter for keeping people in work. Luke Jeavons of Ingeus will look through what analysis of Ingeus data can tell us about this and related topics. Cathy Lang of Access to Industry will comment on the support offered to people with challenging backgrounds, such as substance abuse factors, when they get work. 15:15 15:30 Afternoon refreshments Location: Kirkland room and exhibition viewing 15:30 15:45 How well are we all doing? Location: South Hall Feedback from the breakout sessions 15:45 16:45 Panel Plenary Location: South Hall Employability and Skills looking ahead 7

9 Rona Sweeney, Deputy Director, Employability and Skills, Scottish Government Richard Cornish, Works Services Director Scotland, Department for Work and Pensions Jim Rafferty, Chief Executive, Capital City Partnership Laurie Russell, Chief Executive, The Wise Group Satwat Rehman, Director, One Parent Families Scotland 16:45 Convention close 8