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Dundee employabllity projects
10/12/2008
Projects in Dundee supported by the Scottish Government's £435 million Fairer Scotland Fund are 'leading the way' in helping deliver jobs and financial advice to local people.
Communities Minister Stewart Maxwell hailed the efforts of the Dundee Partnership's Employability Programme on a visit to the city today.
The Programme involves local partners working together to overcome barriers to employment, one of the three key aims of the Fairer Scotland Fund, alongside regenerating disadvantaged communities and tackling poverty.
Speaking during his visit Mr Maxwell said:
"The Fairer Scotland Fund provides flexibility for Community Planning Partnerships to tackle local issues related to poverty and disadvantage in the most effective way.
"The initiatives I have seen today are an excellent example of the work going on across the country to reconnect those furthest from the labour market and provide advice for people facing financial difficulties.
"The strong and effective partnership in Dundee that is working across the public sector and with employers and communities means that services people need, to get into sustained work - like training and financial inclusion - are more connected and accessible.
"The Scottish Government is working hard to help people in these challenging economic times and it is exactly this kind of connection that we need to make sure that people who require support to get work or access to financial advice are not left behind."
Leader of Dundee City Council, Kevin Keenan, said:
"I am delighted that the Minister for Communities has come to Dundee to find out for himself how the council is using the Fairer Scotland Fund to transform the lives of people in the city.
"Our communities face real challenges and the work that is going on with them is finding ways to help, including support to find a job which can make a huge difference top individuals."
During his visit Stewart Maxwell met with representatives from the following groups:
- Financial Awareness Education
- Discovery Credit Union
- ICT Link Workers
- Crèche
- Skills for Success
- Youthbuild
- Support Employment
- Making Money Work
- Toolbox
The Fairer Scotland Fund is worth £435 million over 2008-11. The simplified fund, which replaced seven previous funding streams, has reduced the bureaucracy and monitoring requirements for Community Planning Partnerships in their work to tackle poverty and deprivation and gives them greater flexibility to direct cash towards projects that will make the biggest difference to people's lives - particularly those which help to improve employability, skills and self-confidence, to get at the root cause of poverty.
The Fairer Scotland Fund is also being used to support a range of other initiatives across the country, driven by local circumstances and priorities in each area. These include a shopmobility service in East Ayrshire, a benefits uptake and fuel poverty advice project for the elderly in Falkirk and a mentoring support project to help 'looked after' young people in Renfrewshire'.
Allocation of 75 per cent of the fund is based on area measures of deprivation from the Scottish Index of Multiple Deprivation (SIMD) 2006. 25 per cent of the fund's allocation is based on individual measures of deprivation using the income domain of SIMD 2006.
Dundee will receive £24.8 million from the Fairer Scotland Fund between 2008 and 2011.