« Previous | Contents | Next »
Listen
CHAPTER THREE: WHO ARE RAS'S PARTNERS AND HOW DO THEY WORK TOGETHER?
INTRODUCTION
3.1 This chapter provides an assessment of RAS's partnership arrangements with other agencies that it works with. It looks at partnership working from two perspectives- RAS partners and RAS customers.
3.2 The evaluation undertook qualitative interviews with 10 of RAS's partners (details in Appendix D) and 22 customers in Summer 2005. Our analysis seeks to highlight the themes emerging from the qualitative work. In addition, it includes individual observations and comments that offer useful insights or suggestions for improvement.
RAS PARTNERS VIEWS ON PARTNERSHIP
3.3 It is important to position RAS in relation to its strategic partners and to other related government interventions. In this way, it is possible to explore the extent to which different interventions complement one another and to investigate the potential for duplication. Partnership working is particularly important in the case of RAS, given the number of organisations in Scotland, in the UK and internationally that are involved in attracting in migrants ( Appendix C).
3.4 The evaluation covered partners views in 4 key areas:
- Partner working relationship and arrangements with RAS (including referral arrangements);
- The aims and objectives of RAS, including the extent to which RAS services duplicate services provided by other organisations;
- The extent to which RAS services meet its objectives; and
- How well RAS delivers its services including its marketing to key audiences.
3.5 This section will now consider each of these issues in turn. One of the objectives of this part of the study is to provide a baseline of current partnership working arrangements and to make recommendations on how these could be improved.
3.5 It should be borne in mind that these consultations were carried out in the summer of 2005 and that RAS was developing throughout this time, therefore several of the issues raised may no longer be valid and several of the suggested changes have now been made. This will be noted in this section where relevant.
Partner Views on the Aims and Objectives of RAS
3.6 During its first year RAS has contacted all possible partners. RAS met with a number of partner organisations to inform them about RAS, the services it offered and to explore potential synergies and opportunities for providing joint products, services and training.
3.7 RAS is in regular contact with many of the organisations listed in Appendix C, e.g. through attendance at meetings and events and as part of Fresh Talent. However, RAS has still to establish formal written partnership arrangements. At the moment, it only has an informal arrangement with TalentScotland to refer email enquiries (Talent Scotland pass on to RAS an average of about 100 enquiries per month about relocating to Scotland). In the future there is the possibility of RAS putting more formal partnership working arrangements in place, e.g. arrangements in writing to agree referral arrangements, identify priorities and targets and assign responsibilities, e.g. the education sector could refer students to RAS as part of promoting the new Fresh Talent: Working in Scotland scheme and encouraging students to come to Scotland.
3.8 Partners generally agreed that there is a need for an in migration information and advice service. In particular, information and advice that enable in migrants to make informed choices in relation to housing, schooling, employment, etc.
3.9 Partners considered that RAS complemented the services of their own organisations and that there is no other organisation in Scotland doing what RAS is trying to do, i.e. "pulling all the threads together" and acting as a "one stop shop" for those interested in moving to Scotland.
3.10 In some areas, RAS's role was not clearly understood, e.g. RAS's explicit role in encouraging students to come to Scotland and to stay on after their studies (several of the consultees thought that it was the role of the universities to encourage and help students to apply). It was felt that some "untidiness" was inevitable given the number of other organisations working on attracting people from abroad and that established protocols between organisations or sectors could avoid unnecessary duplication. For instance, regarding students, there could be clear demarcation of responsibilities such as RAS being responsible for providing advice and information on visa applications and the Fresh Talent: Working in Scotland scheme and the sector being responsible for other matters relating to their students.
3.11 Some consultees believed that what Scotland can do in this area will be limited because immigration is a reserved matter.
3.12 The focus of RAS targeting was questioned - in particular the value of a focus on expatriates and entrepreneurs. Expatriates were considered to be unlikely to need the services of RAS as they would likely have access to the information sources they needed. Entrepreneurs were considered to be a relatively small and difficult to reach target group and a focus on them would divert RAS resources from other target groups. A number of consultees suggested that RAS's main focus should be on skilled workers and employers, driven by Scottish business needs.
3.13 Partners also considered there could be an increasing role for RAS to actively promote Scotland's quality of life advantages - these ranged from relative lack of congestion to lower cost of living, and the opportunity to be part of the community.
The extent to which RAS services meets its objectives
3.14 A key theme was that RAS's services would benefit from a service that provided more detailed information that meets peoples' particular needs. One way of doing this would be to target RAS resources more explicitly e.g. on meeting business needs and on getting in-migrants into the right type of work faster - i.e. maximising their skills, or supporting those looking for high value added jobs (e.g. in financial services rather than in lower value added jobs of food and drink, hospitality etc).
3.15 The view was that RAS could usefully work with them and other partners to ensure that the information and advice of importance to in migrants seeking work, and employers seeking to recruit, was readily available. A number of information areas were highlighted:
- labour market analysis of conditions in various parts of the country to identify the worker and skills gaps in Scotland, perhaps in alliance with Futureskills Scotland;
- accreditation of qualifications i.e. how in migrants' previous education and work experience align with standards in Scotland;
- careers advice/employment opportunities;
- ESOL (English for Speakers of Other Languages) provision;
- needs of Scottish business such as practicalities of recruiting foreign workers; and
- specific facilities and services in different parts of the country, e.g. in at least one area of Scotland, some employers have arranged to sub-let accommodation owned by the Council to migrant workers at standard rentals.
3.16 Partners considered RAS has a greater incentive than others to encourage skilled workers to migrate to Scotland and it would be helpful if RAS took more of lead on co-ordinating this type of information. The advantage would be that workers with particular skills were being directed to the areas of the country that particularly needed them and that people were more fully informed about options open to them.
3.17 There was also a view that for some groups, e.g. refugees, that RAS should not provide a specialist service. The justification was that refugees are already well supported, some of the issues they raise could be complex, and expert advice would be needed.
3.18 In addition, a view held was that RAS should work with partners to actively gather intelligence on what skills are available and in what countries in order to inform their promotional activity and to be in a position to more directly assist employers meet skill shortages.
3.19 Partners also thought that RAS could have a role in facilitating employers who have had successful experiences recruiting from outwith Scotland to advise other employers of the benefits and encourage them to consider such recruitment.
3.20 The argument was also made that some migrants need support when they actually get to Scotland - to help them settle, and not leave because of a sense of isolation or inability to cope.
3.21 Two consultees thought that RAS needed different marketing channels for its different target groups, e.g. a website for low skilled workers was unlikely to be effective.
3.22 There was some concern that, given the relatively small size of RAS, it would be challenging, within existing resources, to provide a more tailored and/or targeted service.
Partners' views on service delivery
3.23 Partners had not necessarily used RAS services themselves and consequently were not always clear about how RAS delivered its services. Partners knew about the website interface, but not always about RAS's other activities or how RAS services were promoted.
3.24 Partners were aware that the early website had some teething problems, such as some of the links not working properly and not being easy to find. The website has been substantially improved since them and these problems have been addressed.
3.25 There was some concern that a 20-day target for responding to an enquiry was too long and suggestions were made that more pre-prepared standard responses would assist RAS to respond more quickly. Over the course of its first year, RAS had been able to build up a profile of the common types of enquiries and had been developing Frequently Asked Question sheets for the RAS web site and for use in responding to enquiries.
3.26 In general, RAS partners were complimentary about RAS's ability to address general relocation enquiries well. The partners considered that RAS provided a good service for "frequently asked " questions, but are less good on more complex enquiries, e.g. visa extensions, which they continue to pass on to the relevant partner organisation.
3.27 The employer tool kit was praised for its accuracy. However there was room for improvement - in particular in "selling" the idea to employers of recruiting overseas workers.
3.28 The Head of RAS responded to the issues raised by the partners. In particular she highlighted
- RAS has been proactive in contacting partner organisations;
- RAS has responded to criticisms and suggestions for improvement from partners, e.g. the development of the website. This will continue as the RAS develops its services over the remaining period of the pilot;
- The 20 day response target is in line with the Scottish Executive wide target and the requirements of the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act. Efforts are made to respond earlier than the target and, with the exception of a few months in early 2005, this is usually the case; and
- RAS would consider providing a more comprehensive and tailored service, but would require significantly more resources to deliver on this.
- RAS and partners have to recognise appropriate boundaries regarding immigration decisions and the role of the Home Office.
WHAT DO CUSTOMERS THINK OF HOW RAS WORKS WITH ITS PARTNERS?
3.29 This section examines customer views on RAS's connections with other organisations, and their views on and use of referral arrangements.
Customer perceptions of RAS' connections with other organisations
3.30 Half of customers agreed that RAS 'seems well connected to other organisations'. Fifty one per cent agreed with this statement, with 21% saying they 'strongly agree' and 30% saying 'slightly agree'. Only 7% of respondents disagreed with this statement. Results are illustrated in the figure below. Those who were referred on by RAS were more likely to agree with this statement (60% vs. 48% of those who were not referred on).
Figure 3.1 - Proportion of customers agreeing that RAS is well connected to other organisations
Base: All respondents (863)
Source: BMRB customer survey
What type of referrals are made?
3.31 The evaluation found that around a third (36%) were referred elsewhere by RAS. (Figure 3.1) Around a quarter of customers were referred to the Home Office. A third of these (32%) were about the Fresh Talent: Working in Scotland Scheme (para 2.20). with the remaining two thirds being mainly about visas or work permits.
3.32 In some cases RAS referred customers to other organisation web sites, or to pages on the ScotlandisthePlace web site- either to specific information or to links for other organisations. In other cases RAS provided full contact details for organisation.
Figure 3.2 - Type of referrals made by RAS
* proportions add up to more than 100% because this was a multi-coded question - i.e. customers could be referred to more than one source.
Base: All respondents (863)
Source: customer survey
To what extent do customers follow up referrals?
3.33 The evaluation found that two in five customers did not follow-up referrals (41%). The exception was referrals about the Fresh Talent: Working in Scotland Scheme where 63% of customers followed up this type of referral (source: customer survey).
3.34 Customers described two main reasons for not having followed up referrals:
- They had already made contact with the suggested source or visited their web site
- They were not ready to follow up the information provided. For example, one North American customer who was interested in working professionally in Scotland was waiting to receive a licence which would allow her to practice her profession in her home country. Until she received this, she did not feel ready to contact the equivalent professional body in Scotland to enquire about practising here (source: qualitative interviews).
Are customers satisfied with referrals?
3.35 There was a mixed response on the value of the referral experience. In some cases the experience was positive. In one case a woman seeking employment was referred to the Home Office for further advice on work visas. For her this referral was relevant and useful. In another case a woman who was looking for employment in Scotland was impressed when RAS gave her the full contact details of organisations.
"Here are the licensing agencies, here are the links to their websites, here are contacts, here are addresses… I thought 'Whoa, they're organised. They have an idea of what they're doing. This is amazing.'"
3.36 In other cases the referrals given were regarded as unhelpful. Some customers were directed back to pages on the ScotlandisthePlace web site, either to specific information or to links to other organisations. While some respondents welcomed the information, those who had already spent some time visiting the ScotlandisthePlace site, were not happy with this approach. They expected RAS to play a more active role in their efforts to relocate to Scotland or to provide other more direct assistance. For example, one Scottish employer, looking for practical advice about how to recruit engineers from abroad, was given no further contacts. Instead, he received a general suggestion to advertise in a foreign newspaper or contact an embassy - both things he had already thought about doing himself
"( RAS' response was) 'I suppose you'll maybe have to get an advert in a newspaper… but of course we've never done that before you know'. I was just left to sort of think it out myself."
3.37 Of customers who contacted the Home Office as a result of a referral, six in ten (60%) said they were satisfied by the service they received from the Home Office and seven in ten (73%) of customers that followed up the Fresh Talent: Working in Scotland referral were satisfied. 13 (source: customer survey).
3.38 Customers who received further information about relocation alongside referral details were generally positive about their correspondence with RAS. These customers considered that RAS's responses were useful, relevant and complete. For example, a woman emailed RAS to enquire about the Fresh Talent: Working in Scotland scheme and the application process for this. She received a telephone call in which a RAS adviser suggested she get in touch with the Home Office. During the same call, the RAS adviser took the opportunity to explain various other options for relocating to Scotland, went through the application process for the Fresh Talent: Working in Scotland scheme and explained where to get the necessary application forms. The customer reported that RAS's telephone call:
"was highly useful and highly relevant, and far exceeded my expectations. They were really helpful".
SUMMARY
3.39 The main conclusions from this chapter are:
Views from partners
RAS has made all of its key partners aware of its service and explored possible working arrangements. However, in its first year not all have understood its precise role.
- The partners considered that RAS complemented the services of their own organisations with no duplication of service.
- RAS has still to develop more formal arrangements with a number of partners, and to identify targets, priorities and assign responsibilities. RAS has the potential to help migrant workers to get into work in Scotland more quickly.
- The scope of the service was regarded as relatively limited with scope to have more focussed targeting, for example away from ex patriates and entrepreneurs.
- RAS partners were complimentary about RAS's ability to address general relocation enquiries well. They thought there was scope to improve the advice and information RAS gave on more complex areas, such as visa extensions, as well as scope to reduce the response time target to less than 20 days.
- There was some concern that given the relatively small size of RAS it may be challenging, within existing resources, to provide a more tailored and/or targeted service. However, partners thought RAS's services would benefit from a service that provided more detailed information tailored to meet peoples' particular needs and that RAS could usefully work with them to ensure that the information and advice of importance to in-migrants seeking work, and employers seeking to recruit, was readily available.
Views from customers
- Customers who were referred onto other organisations were on the whole satisfied with the referral. Those customers referred elsewhere were more likely than average to perceive that RAS was well connected to other organisations.
- Some customers found the referral contacts unhelpful - primarily because the contact was not new or because they had expected more specific details.
« Previous | Contents | Next »