1. Employability & Skills Scotland Hazel Mathieson Head of National Operations 18 th September 2013

2. Skills Development Scotland Intended Outcomes from EF Improved efficiency from new model for commissioning of pre-employment provision Improved positive progression from nationally funded employability training towards and into employment Provision focused on client need and responsive to local labour market demand Participants better able to demonstrate their skills to employers

3. Skills Development Scotland

4. Progress to date From June, EF Starts have been steadily increasing. Split by Stage at end of P4 –Stage 2 – 24.5% –Stage 3 – 46.6% –Stage 4 – 28.8% Split by age at end of P4 –16/17 – 61.8% –18-24 – 19.5% –25+ - 18.7% Just over 10% of total starts to date are College starts. Many new providers have taken time to source premises/staff. Too early to comment on outcomes/outputs. Some issues identified with suitability of referrals.

5. Skills Development Scotland Review of referral process -Support referral organisations in Core Skills Assessment -Work with referral organisations to identify what works -Share best practice -Feed into the EF formative evaluation

6. Skills Development Scotland Local Provider Forums Across the country mixed picture Some limited in scope and membership Some in need of revival Some areas have never had one Picture is improving

7. Skills Development Scotland Why Have a Provider Forum? Enable providers to network Share best practice Share expertise Keep up to date on employability policy developments Improve outcomes for participants Improve quality of provision across the board Ensure that provision fits with pipeline Support partnership working Review performance

8. Skills Development Scotland Membership and who leads? All organisations delivering learning and employability provision Local Authority SDS Department of Work and Pensions Local Employability Partnership All training providers including  Private sector  Third sector SDS will offer support to, initiate/revive/re-invigorate but... The LEP must take ownership

9. Skills Development Scotland Certificate of Work Readiness A qualification, developed by SDS, to help young people prove to employers that they are work ready A minimum of 190 hours work experience for the young person to complete and additional time spent with a training provider to develop their skills Made up of 5 SQA units including the SDS customised “Practical Work Place Skills” Unit Employers being central in assessing the young person throughout the work experience SCQF Credit Rated

10. Skills Development Scotland Key Points for Review of Commissioning of EF (Internal & External) Good Example of partnership working Clearer demand from LEP’s required – but very useful exercise Timescales too tight. Earlier clarity on policy guidelines for a new programme. Potential “conflict of interest” in decision making process – need more transparency. Introduce funding which is not annual. Further training/briefing for all involved.

11. Skills Development Scotland Challenges Going Forward Improving understanding of local needs/opportunities e.g local prospectus, Regional Skills Assessments going forward. Need to understand impact of work programme leavers on EF. Sharing information Conflict of interest.

12. Skills Development Scotland Questions