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CHAPTER SIX: FINDINGS AND CONCLUSIONS

FINDINGS FROM THE PRIMARY RESEARCH

6.1 The evidence from this evaluation leads to a number of suggestions for developing RAS. All of these recommendations stem from the evidence gathered in this evaluation unless stated otherwise.

Referrals

• RAS partners are aware of the service offered by RAS and there does not seem to be any significant overlap in terms of service delivery. However, RAS would benefit from more formal arrangements with some of its key partners, e.g. the HE/ FE sector, Scottish Enterprise, Citizens Advice Scotland and the Scottish Development International to ensure that services are not being duplicated and to provide mutually beneficial referral arrangements.
• Some customers felt they received information they already knew or had found out for themselves. Where possible, RAS should check what information customers have already come across and prepare responses appropriately.
• Give extra information about each organisation customers are referred to (rather than just sending an email contact or web address), so that they know, in more detail, who they are being referred to.

Customer expectations

• Expectations are a major driver of satisfaction. Those who had high expectations of what RAS could deliver were the most disappointed. It is important to continually review publicity with customers to ensure unrealistic expectations are not generated through RAS communications.
• Review publicity activity carefully. Unless very tightly targeted, publicity materials will be read closely by those who are actively looking to work away from their home country. The qualitative interviews revealed that RAS customers looking for work can have high expectations about what an advisory service can deliver. Demand from such a group could easily create capacity problems for RAS.

Response times and capacity issues

• RAS is a small team that can encounter significant capacity problems, especially after successful promotional activity. However, RAS needs to respond more quickly to enquiries. In addition, the consistency of response times throughout the year should be improved. A failure to do this is likely to lead to higher levels of dissatisfaction among many RAS customers.
• In some ways RAS acts as an ambassador for Scotland. From the survey it is clear that those who are dis-satisfied with RAS also hold more negative views about opportunities in Scotland generally.
• During high capacity periods, RAS's automated first reply to e-mails should reflect an up-to-date expected response time.
• Some customers explained that all the information they needed to find out about relocating to other countries (like Canada) was available on-line, therefore they did not contact the organisations. If RAS provided similar on-line information 'packs' containing the general information that is requested by each customer group, this could potentially reduce the number of queries RAS receives, allowing more time to respond to specific information requests.
• Students seemed to contact RAS to check information on the website was still current, or to check to see if new information was available (specifically about the Fresh Talent: Working in Scotland scheme). When the website remained unchanged, some students began to doubt the validity of the information. RAS should consider regularly updating the website, even if no new information is available, or at least providing details of when each page was 'last updated'.

Target groups

• Students (especially in Scotland and the UK) appear to be contacting RAS mainly about the Fresh Talent: Working in Scotland scheme. However they are more likely to contact RAS by phone, than by email. It was suggested in the consultations that there are already sufficient sources of information for students including: HEIs, the British Council, and EducationUKScotland. All of these organisations have an incentive to increase the number of foreign students studying in Scotland. RAS does refer people who are enquiring about studying in Scotland (as distinct from those who are about to complete studies in Scotland and are enquiring about extending their stay) elsewhere. To avoid stakeholder confusion and to provide a clear message, there should be consideration of more clearly defining the type of students that RAS is targeting.
• DTZ's analysis in Chapter 4 showed that the pool of entrepreneurs is very small and therefore is difficult to adequately target. There also appeared to be limited success in attracting ex-patriates. However since the time of the survey the Scottish Executive has launched its strategy to attract disapora back to Scotland. The results of this campaign on the number of expatriates contacting RAS will be evaluated in due course.
• Employers who contacted RAS had very specific information requests. It may be difficult to offer this customer group generic information. This customer group may need a more dedicated or specialised service.
• Our research revealed that employers tended to find out about RAS themselves (normally through a web search). If employers are to be targeted there needs to be better marketing of RAS amongst this group.

Tailoring of service

• At the moment RAS is primarily a sign-posting and referral service. RAS should consider whether by giving what is considered to be generic responses they are likely to generate dis-satisfaction with a substantial minority of RAS customers who are looking for more specific information. These tend to be those RAS customers who are interested in working in Scotland.
• Customers who suggested that RAS needed to be more tailored to customers' needs tended to be highly skilled individuals with good levels of English. RAS should be considering a more proactive focus on attracting skilled workers and employers. This would involve providing a more detailed and tailored information to those that it is looking to attract to Scotland, e.g. provide tailored information and advice on accreditation, careers advice, job search, employers, accommodation, retraining, etc.
• RAS could do more to help people once they move to Scotland. For example RAS could do more to refer customers on to other agencies that can help them with particular issues, such as accommodation, gaining employment, networking and socialising, setting up new businesses etc.
• RAS could do more to find out about and provide information on local and regional differences in Scotland and how these impact on potential immigrants. Relevant topics might include higher and further education opportunities, regional skills shortages, how to find accommodation and local facilities. This was suggested by consultees, employers and workers we spoke to in the qualitative research.

It must be noted that each of these proposals would have significant resource implications for the RAS team.

CONCLUSIONS - THE WAY FORWARD

6.2 Our analysis suggests that RAS could benefit from some changes to its current mode of operation. It is a service that has developed quickly from its inception and continues to change to meet the needs of its customers and in response to the changing political environment. However, this research suggests that RAS must continue to reform to improve further its service provision. It will be a matter for policy makers, working with RAS, to decide on the way forward for RAS over the next two years.

6.3 In this context, we foresee a number of possible scenarios for the programme.

Scenario 1 - RAS continues as now. Under this scenario, we would expect similar results over the next two years of RAS's operation that we found this year, i.e. generally sound partnership arrangements and fair-to-good satisfaction ratings among customers, but a service that remains fairly basic and reactive and that would continue to confront capacity issues on a more regular basis as awareness of the service increases. Although there is nothing intrinsically wrong with this scenario, it would represent a missed opportunity for taking RAS to a higher level.

Scenario 2 - A more tailored service. This scenario involves RAS providing more detailed and tailored information to customers that better suits their needs. This would involve a more intensive level of support than is currently provided, with obvious resource implications. There could be a general information pack for standard enquiries (which should be defined to all staff) to save some resources, with more complex enquiries receiving more attention and liaison with other services, e.g. enquiries on accreditation, recruitment, visa extensions, etc. RAS is already beginning to do this to an extent, e.g. with responses to FAQs on its website,

Scenario 3 - A more targeted service. This scenario involves targeting RAS services at specific skills shortages and\or at particular countries. For instance, this could involve working with other organisations, such as Futureskills Scotland, the Home Office and research organisations, to identify the particular skills shortages in sectors of the Scottish economy and targeting resources to fill these gaps. It could also involve more explicit targeting of countries with close ties to Scotland that clearly have skilled workers and students who are interested in moving here, e.g. Poland and India. This scenario could also mean that the RAS's target groups are slimmed down to two or three, e.g. skilled workers and employers. This would mean that RAS resources are spread less thinly and the service plays a more demonstrable part in solving some of the difficulties of the Scottish economy. The problem with this strategy is that many potential skilled workers, students, entrepreneurs, etc. who are interested in moving to Scotland may not be identified or prioritised if they did not fall into a particular category.

Scenario 4 - RAS stops after 2007. This is the most radical scenario and would mean that the programme would stop after its pilot phase. It is predicated on the Scottish Executive deciding that the programme is not meeting its original aims and objectives and that funding could be better spent on other areas of the Fresh Talent initiative. However, Scotland is expected to decline in population terms and there are identifiable employment and skills gaps already in the Scottish economy that need to be filled. The removal of the one advisory service that is intended to act as a one-stop shop for all immigration enquiries would likely to have a negative impact on the achieving of these goals. The positive benefits of the programme would be lost if it was halted. However, the scenario could also mean that another agency is employed to carry out RAS's work post-2007 and it is no longer a Scottish Executive service. This agency could perhaps even be organised on a UK-wide basis. This would allow the service to continue, if not RAS, but the exact nature of this scenario is difficult to foresee at present.

6.4 These four scenarios are not mutually exclusive. We would recommend that the programme is restructured to take account of elements of Scenarios 2 and 3. A more tailored service would clearly be more beneficial to those considering moving to Scotland. This, combined with some element of targeting, would focus RAS's resources on those likely to immigrate who have the qualifications and skills likely to make a positive impact on the Scottish economy. A more explicit targeting of immigrants with the requisite skills is likely to become part of UK immigration policy as a consequence of the move towards a points-based system. It is for the RAS and the Fresh Talent Initiative more generally to consider how Scottish needs and flexibilities can be built into the new system.

6.5 As highlighted in this report, RAS has been forming over the last year and it has been changing to reflect people's concerns, including tailoring and targeting its service. Scenarios 2 and 3 though would see the service change quite markedly from now, with it being less of a general service trying to answer the enquiries of all those who contact it and much more proactive.

6.6 However, this does have resource implications and RAS would need to be considerably increased in terms of staff numbers in particular. In other countries, for example, entire Government departmental divisions work on this type of initiative. There are also some risks in this strategy, especially in providing a more limited service to those who do not fall into the target groups and potentially losing out on attracting some other groups and individuals who may have made a positive contribution to Scotland. Some flexibility would therefore be required to ensure that other important enquiries are not neglected or downplayed, e.g. the entrepreneur from a country outside the target group that is looking to open a new business in Scotland. There will need to be more training and guidance for frontline RAS staff to ensure that a more tailored and targeted service is effective and flexible.

6.7 The real measure of impact will depend on the extent to which potential migrants are encouraged to move to Scotland. Due to the infancy of the service, there is little information on the number of people moving to Scotland after using RAS.

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