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4 OBJECTIVES AND PRIORITIES
4.1 Programme vision
The overall vision of the ESF Programme for the Highlands & Islands area is to contribute towards sustainable growth in the size and skills of the region's workforce within the Lisbon jobs and growth framework, through developing the knowledge-based economy of the region. The Programme does not operate in isolation, but as Section 3.1 stressed, Structural Funds are intended to complement key domestic policies, particularly Smart Successful Highlands & Islands, the Workforce Plus (Employability Framework), the Regeneration Policy Statement and the Scottish Lifelong Learning Strategy. Both sustainable development and equal opportunities will remain key themes within all ESF activities.
The Programme cannot support all activities that can contribute to the above vision, but will concentrate support on those areas where additionality and added value can be clearly demonstrated, in line with identified regional priorities. The strategic vision of the Programme operates through three sets of interlocking objectives.
Objective 1: Increasing the Workforce
To broaden and increase sustainable participation in the Highlands & Islands workforce, particularly for groups which face severe and multiple disadvantages
Increasing the size of the workforce is important if the Highlands & Islands is to contribute to the Lisbon jobs and growth agenda. As the socio-economic background highlighted, trends in the region's population have emphasised the importance of ensuring that there is a large enough labour force to drive Highlands & Islands economic growth, an issue of particular importance given the demographic and population density trends in the region. This not only means supporting the training of groups which face barriers to entering the workforce but ensuring that they have the skills to gain sustainable employment. Sustainability is crucial - the aim is to make sure that beneficiaries not only get jobs, but that they also have the skills to support themselves in long-term employment. Given how limited are the Programme's resources, it is crucial that within this objective, funds should target those groups where support could make a particularly significant difference, notably those that face multiple or acute disadvantages as well as those that are not already well supported through other sources of policy support. It also needs to be sensitive to the local variations in the client groups and to the particular set of challenges facing each individual. In addition, the prevalence of under-employment in the region should be addressed with a view to assisting individuals to progress towards full-time, more sustainable employment, where appropriate.
Objective 2: Investing in the Workforce
To increase skills and earnings levels within the Highlands & Islands workforce in all sectors of the regional economy, with particular reference to priorities identified in the ERDF programme, fostering the growth of new enterprises and entrepreneurship
Improving the quality of the regional labour market can contribute directly to the productivity increases necessary to build on the region's currently strong employment rates by addressing skills gaps and shortages in critical sectors. This objective has several dimensions. It means that funding should concentrate on those parts of the workforce that are most at risk of losing their jobs - in other words, providing the skills necessary for sustainable employment. This would include ensuring low-skilled, low-paid, under-employed and migrant workers have the necessary skills to take advantage of opportunities for higher-quality, better-paid and more sustainable employment. It also includes targeted support to address persistent gender earnings gaps and under-representation in particular sectors and jobs. The objective also means that there is a need to target the higher-level management skills in the economy. As part of the enterprise sector, particular support is also required for managers of social enterprises to enable them to become more sustainable. It is important that this is done in parallel - and in close co-ordination with the region's ERDF programme - to ensure that changes to the size and skills level of the workforce is matched by increasing jobs supply to avoid wage inflation.
Objective 3: Access to Lifelong Learning
To widen access to lifelong learning, increasing the range of quality education and training provision available and participation rates
Underpinning the efforts to increase the size and skills levels of the workforce is the lifelong learning and training environment. The objective recognises that support for individuals must be made in parallel with improvements to the systems that will improve access of all to the training and support needed to enter, stay and proceed in the labour market. That not only means support for those within the lifelong learning and training sector - particularly in the higher and further education sector - and for improving their ability to reach out to all groups, but also investing in new methods, technologies and models for lifelong learning.
To address each of these objectives, and the key issues arising from the socio-economic analysis, the Programme will have three priorities, as set out in the diagram below.
4.2 Priority 1 - Increasing the Workforce
There have been real achievements over the last ten years in helping people move from welfare dependency into work. Employment rates in the Highlands & Islands have risen to historic highs, as the employment base has expanded. But the region continues to face significant challenges of economic inactivity, and disadvantage in opportunities for employment. The issue of employability, or tackling inactivity, has emerged as a major challenge as registered unemployment has fallen. Employers are now looking at non-traditional sources for their new employees and this has exposed the scale and significance of those who are on inactive benefits such as Income Support and Incapacity Benefit - this is particularly important in the Highlands & Islands were strong employment rates are leading to strong employment demand. Many of those who are on these benefits would like to work if they were given the appropriate support to help them overcome the barriers which prevent them making the transition from inactivity to employment. At the same time, much of the region is characterised by strong levels of under-employment as well as worklessness - the same challenge exists to increase full-time sustainable participation in the workforce, where appropriate for the individual.
The task for the Highlands & Islands in becoming more competitive is to help more of these people take the opportunities available in a stable or growing economy for sustained and well paid work. The Scottish Executive's Partnership for a Better Scotland makes clear that growing the economy is the top priority, but there is an equal commitment to Closing the Opportunity Gap. For most families, work is the best way out of poverty. It increases independence from government, encourages self reliance and builds confidence. That is why the first of the Closing the Opportunity Gap objectives is to increase the chances of sustained employment for vulnerable and disadvantaged groups. Smart Successful Highlands & Islands also makes it clear that tackling poverty, disadvantage and economic growth go hand in hand, not least in the context of producing sustainable economic communities in a region marked by peripherality and low population concentrations.
Against this socio-economic and policy background, the ESF Programme can make a high value-added contribution to supporting the region's employment growth through a priority focusing on the following aim:
to broaden and increase sustainable participation in the Highlands & Islands workforce, particularly for groups which face severe and multiple disadvantages
Although the region now has a relatively high employment rate, employment rates for some groups of individuals are significantly less than the rate for Scotland as a whole. These specific groups of individuals are experiencing multiple barriers to entering employment and retaining jobs, causing high levels of inactivity and economic inactivity relative to the rest of the population. Across the region, the composition of these groups varies at a local level, making it important for a locally-sensitive approach to be adopted in determining targets for support.
Low skills, poor or no qualifications, lack of self-confidence and work experience are some of the personal barriers common to many of the workless clients. They also often face barriers of employers perceptions and discrimination. The Workforce Plus (Employability) Strategy highlighted three particular adult groups where assistance needs to be focused - those routinely excluded from the labour market; those who are closer to employment but still may need some help; and those in low-paid and/or low-skilled work at risk of dropping out of the labour market at an early stage.
Each workless individual faces a unique combination of barriers determined by their own personal experience, characteristics and circumstances, that prevents them from entering and sustaining employment. These barriers must be overcome so that they can progress towards and into employment. The support that workless individuals receive on their transition to work must therefore be flexible enough to recognise and adapt to the different stages on their journey and the barriers that face them at any particular point. As the MORI 2005 beneficiary study highlighted, this support must be long term - from early engagement to progression in work - and must provide a joined up package of care to ensure that the appropriate agencies work together.
Engagement with those who are on inactive benefits is still seen to be poor, although there are examples of initiatives which do focus on inactive clients. However, these were mainly found to be uncoordinated with other services, with funding drawn from a range of sources, and often run by voluntary and charitable organisations. It is also true that the majority of the considerable funding available at a national level is centred on those who are fairly close to the labour market, leaving not only early engagement but also in-work support under-funded.
Strong emphasis will also be placed on returners to the labour market and those preparing to enter the labour market by providing a step by step path back into work. Specialised training will be available to assist older workers and women returners, as well as those who are physically and/or mentally disabled, lone parents, people with learning difficulties, the homeless, former offenders, drug addicts and those recovering from addiction, vulnerable young people and those living in isolated areas. Particular emphasis will also be given to helping with personal, educational (literacy and numeracy) and vocational skills which will help prepare individuals for more advanced programmes.
Under-employment and intermittent employment is another set of issues to be addressed by the Programme. Individuals experiencing persistent part-time employment wanting to move to full-time sustainable employment should be supported with skills training, where appropriate, as well as services that would assist in identifying longer-term job opportunities.
There are several ways of promoting appropriate training and learning routes. Project sponsors will need to ensure that specific training can best develop the employability of the individual and support progress into sustained employment. Early engagement, through, for example, outreach activities by local groups, with a client-centred, customised approach which meets the needs of the workless individual, have been clearly demonstrated as effective in helping overcome multiple and complex barriers. Specialist support services need to be available locally, and over a lengthy period to sustain the momentum and motivation of those with the greatest "distance to travel" to gain employment. It is therefore clearly important that local partnerships identify and join up local solutions for the problems faced by individuals in their area, and have responsibility for taking forward the necessary actions.
Equally important is having in-work support available for those who need it, as this would considerably increase the chances of an individual making a successful transition from inactivity to sustained employment. Without more focus on the sustainability, and also retention of a job, the cost and effort of getting an individual into a job is wasted if they leave within weeks of obtaining work. It makes sound economic sense to put more funding into supporting the client to stay in work, rather than returning them to benefits. It also saves the employer the cost and effort of having to go through the recruitment process yet again, and stops further damaging the individual's self esteem and motivation. In-work support can take many forms, from supported employment involving intensive work with job coaches, to practical help with financial issues, to a sympathetic ear at the end of a telephone. The important aspect of this in-work support is again that it must reflect the local conditions, in terms of the client groups who require support and the needs of employers in the area.
The Intermediate Labour Market approach is another means to provide this support. The combination of people undertaking real work on worthwhile projects often in their own communities while receiving training and being paid a wage is an integrated approach which has proved successful in the 2000 - 2006 programme.
Projects under this priority will need to address the barriers to accessing vocational training in the Highlands & Islands including lack of guidance, dispersed population, remote communities, long distances between centres and lack of training facilities and attitudinal barriers to those groups. It is widely recognised that people living in isolated areas can often be socially excluded from the world of training and learning. This priority will provide funding to strengthen the "bottom-up" approach to training and development within local communities. Financial assistance will be given to locally-based organisations delivering support to the target groups, the trainers and guidance officials within those organisations and the local community animateurs who will help develop community involvement and outreach activities.
4.3 Priority 2 - Investing in the Workforce
A healthy and sustainable labour market, characterised by a low unemployment rate, a high level of labour force participation and low skills shortages, is vital if the region is to meet current challenges of low pay, low growth, low productivity, under-employment and demography. Improving the quality of the regional labour market will contribute directly to the productivity increases necessary to build on the region's currently strong employment rates by addressing skills gaps and shortages in critical sectors and to concentrate development in target sectors in line with ERDF investment (and to minimise any overheating of the labour market). This would help to ensure that low-skilled, low-paid workers have the necessary skills and qualifications to take advantage of opportunities for higher-quality, better-paid and more sustainable employment. This includes migrant workers, for whom the challenge is not always relating to skills levels - particularly language skills - but to employer attitudes.
The range of factors affecting GDP/ GVA identified in the socio-economic analysis demonstrate the challenges faced for increasing skills and earnings. ESF intervention at this time must take advantage of the new opportunities through having a university based in the region for the first time for graduate employment, continuing professional development and research initiatives. This goal is a longer-term aspiration of the region, but Structural Funds can support this by targeting resources on key elements of this objective. Consequently, Priority 2 will have the following overarching aim:
to increase skills and earnings levels within the Highlands & Islands workforce in all sectors of the regional economy, with particular reference to priorities identified in the ERDF programme, fostering the growth of new enterprises and entrepreneurship
Activities in this priority will contribute to improved productivity in the economy, reduced skill mismatches and greater competitiveness. In a flexible labour market, changes to employment patterns reflect the skills required, and possessed, by the workforce. Flexibility in the supply of labour can be encouraged by creating opportunities for skills upgrading, retraining and continuing professional development. The promotion of a healthy labour market needs to ensure that:
- every individual has the information, opportunity and skills necessary to participate in the labour market;
- the whole workforce is encouraged to learn and develop, thereby improving its productivity and employability; and
- employers are able to recruit skilled workers and are satisfied with the skills of their employees.
Continuing professional development has been a problem for the region in the past, with few opportunities available locally. In some sectors, this has lead to severe shortages of qualified professionals, which can have a detrimental effect on the local community. New models of delivery which are suited to rural and remote provision, taking advantage of blended learning and e-learning opportunities, will be encouraged.
Motivated, high quality and appropriately skilled people are a fundamental requirement for innovation, increased productivity and growth. Scotland's record for getting people into apprenticeships, college and university is amongst the best in the world, but there is still a challenge in getting people to continue developing their skills and learning once in work - and the situation is exacerbated in the Highlands & Islands through lack of access. There is also a relatively low proportion of managers of SMEs with e-commerce skills or specific business qualifications Training must be structured in ways that maximise the potential benefit for enterprises or individuals and delivered in ways that fit with enterprise locations, operating environments and aligned with enterprise objectives, providing value to the individual in their career. The use of video conferencing and online provision will offer further options and flexibility. An important focus will be in providing training that responds to the changing demands of the labour market with an emphasis on using ICT to provide multi-skilled workers with transferable skills. Support will be given to improving the qualifications of employees in order to facilitate the introduction of advanced technology and new working methods within companies.
To promote the Highlands & Islands as a knowledge-based economy, this priority will also address workforce skills issues around encouraging new entrepreneurs, complementary to ERDF support to enhance and commercialise research capacity. Increasing the confidence and skills levels of entrepreneurs and new managers will be important, aiming for sustained increases in enterprise starts, enterprise innovation and enterprise growth.
The Highlands & Islands feature high proportions of SMEs and micro enterprises, with a higher rate of new enterprise starts compared to the Scottish average. However, there are high variations in this rate across the area, so providing the necessary skills training and support for entrepreneurship to encourage take-up and support new enterprises will be an important part of this priority. Similarly, levels of self-employment, under-employment, part-time and seasonal employment are all high in the area. Training provision must be flexible enough to suit individual needs and cater for very specific support requirements.
Activities will also take account of the gender pay gap in the UK, which is the worst in the EU. Gender segregation in employment still persists and high rates of low paid jobs are filled by females. In Scotland, 79% of part-time low- paid employees are female, and part-time workers are much less likely to undertake training or to progress into higher paid, higher skilled jobs. There is still a lack of women in senior posts. The problem is further compounded for minority ethnic working-age employees.
Lastly, training needs to vary significantly among different organisations - in the case of the social economy and voluntary sector, these needs have been recognised as a training priority by the Scottish Executive. To enable these organisations to continue their critical work in assisting the most vulnerable groups outside of the labour market (not least in support of Priority 1 activities), it is important that they are helped in developing a longer-term capacity for sustainable development. Consequently, support is needed to tackle the specific needs of social firms in gaining the commercial and enterprise skills required for future survival. The pump-priming and demonstration projects which ESF funding can support will enable voluntary organisations and social enterprises to understand better their needs and how to address them to become more self sustaining while offering worthwhile employment to their workforce.
The role of the social partners will be important during the lifetime of this Programme. They will be encouraged to work closely with employers and to develop their capacity building skills through ESF support. In particular, activities such as identifying good practice disseminating approaches and facilitating partnerships will enable the improved operation of the social partners more generally. In addition, they will be able to explore how better opportunities can be created to balance work and family life.
4.4 Priority 3 - Access to Lifelong Learning
Underpinning the efforts to increase the size and skills levels of the workforce is the lifelong learning and training environment. This priority recognises that support for individuals must be made in parallel with further improvements to learning networks to increase access to training and ensure learners can enter and proceed in the labour market. That means not only supporting those in lifelong learning and training, but reaching out to new groups of learners, particularly those who have been traditionally under-represented, and investing in new methods, technologies and models for lifelong learning.
Lifelong learning is a cross-cutting priority of domestic policy, as set out in the Scottish Executive's Lifelong Learning Strategy. Its aims are to address the opportunity gap between those who achieve their full potential and those who do not; the skills gaps between those in work and those who are not; and the productivity gap between Scotland and the leading economies of the world. Investment in quality assured learning offers benefits not only to the individual, but also to the Programme's central goal of contributing towards the competitiveness of the economy and the cohesiveness of the wider society.
The Structural Funds can make important, distinctive contributions with this priority aiming:
to widen access to lifelong learning, increasing the range of quality education and training provision available and participation rates
Lifelong learning is also a key feature in 'A Smart, Successful Highlands & Islands', which acknowledges the need to support a culture of lifelong learning among those in, and supplying, the labour market - and the ability to respond quickly and flexibly to new and emerging needs. With skills shortages in certain areas there is also a need to increase the number of people participating in the region's workforce.
One of the major challenges in the past has been local availability of education and training provision, particularly at more rural and island communities. Due to previous ERDF and ESF investment in education and training infrastructure, as well as in ICT facilities and online curriculum, there are now more opportunities for employers and employees across the Highlands & Islands - in colleges, learning centres, workplaces or studying at home. As a result, training provision and course materials funded through this priority should be accessible across a wider geographical coverage.
Lifelong learning in the Highlands & Islands is delivered through a number of different bodies. Learndirect Scotland and Careers Scotland have central roles in providing information, advice and guidance to learners and enterprises, while Futureskills Scotland analyses and provides the labour market intelligence that shapes policy in this area. Voluntary organisations also have a valuable role in bringing learning into the workplace and into communities through community learning and development programmes. Lastly, investment in education and training infrastructure through the UHI Millennium Institute network has provided greatly enhanced facilities in colleges and learning centres across the region, much of which was ERDF funded. This included education and training infrastructure, ICT connectivity and online provision. Learner support and engaging new learners have also been addressed through ADAPT and EQUAL initiatives, as well as previous ESF programmes, trialling new approaches for rural, sparsely populated areas.
This priority will build on this investment, ensuring that the potential for increased access to lifelong learning provision, particularly in more remote and under-represented communities, is realised. Activities will concentrate on issues of wider access, making it easier to enter, exit and return to learning at appropriate junctures. Progression routes from further to higher education within the UHI and college network will provide a valuable context for new lifelong learning activities, from basic access level courses through to continuing professional development and post graduate research. Blended learning options will ensure that learners are able to access the most appropriate mode of study, on as flexible a basis as possible and taking advantage of e-learning opportunities.
The range of curriculum offered needs to be developed, particularly in line with emerging sectoral needs, with a greater number of online courses for use at learning centres or for individual study. New and innovative uses of technology in lifelong learning should be further encouraged. An essential element will be provision of appropriate learner support, particularly for those in smaller communities, who may be isolated from other learners, and those who are engaged in online learning. Although it is not possible to guarantee the same facilities for those studying at smaller learning centres compared with larger colleges, the quality of online curriculum provision and learner support must not be compromised, so that the learning experience is equitable, irrespective of location.
Target groups are different for this priority from eventual beneficiaries. Outcomes will be the design and introduction of innovative products and approaches. ESF funds will be available from this priority for those offering new, innovative ways of attracting into learning those who have previously been unable to access lifelong learning because of a variety of barriers - and proving the support to sustain them in their learning.
This priority will, therefore, be one where flexibility and innovation are key. Access to post-school learning could be through a number of avenues, such as:
- Improving the motivation of groups which could benefit most from lifelong learning. To improve the skills and training of individuals, whether already in the workforce or not, it is first important to tackle the motivational issues that are limiting their participation. This could be as a result of a lack of knowledge of opportunities or access, or external restraints, such as cost. Equally important here will be extending learning opportunities to the workers and managers in SMEs by extending and upgrading e-skills and e-learning opportunities. Lifelong learning should also facilitate engagement from mature learners who would like to realise their potential but perhaps do not have the relevant formal qualifications or have taken a break in their education, through accreditation of prior learning and accreditation of prior experiential learning.
- Increasing the accessibility of existing lifelong learning infrastructure, especially to particularly disadvantaged groups. Lifelong learning participation is often affected by the ease with which potential beneficiaries can get access to course provision. Accessibility includes local availability and proximity, making full use of the network of learning centres, as well as time of day when provision is available, support services (eg childcare), duration and location.
- Developing innovative approaches to learning and investing in lifelong learning infrastructure. This is not simply an issue of extending the reach of existing lifelong learning provision, but finding new and more effective ways of targeting the groups that could benefit most. This will often require the development of imaginative approaches, both in terms of new materials or content of courses (eg to reflect different cultural and skills backgrounds) as well as their delivery, offering taster courses, piloting new training methods, developing new online content, e-learning, and the use of Gaelic and other languages or supporting particular groups. This could also include development of specialised skills training programmes and appropriate vocational qualifications to support research and development, courses and materials to encourage vocational training and continuing professional development.
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