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Opportunity Scotland: A Paper on Lifelong Learning |
| 4. Unemployed Learners |
| 4.1 Employers are more likely to take on people who have good basic skills and who have endeavoured to develop their skills and expand their experience whatever their circumstances. It is therefore essential that through periods of unemployment people are encouraged to continue learning for their own self-esteem and to enhance their chances of future success. In Scotland one adult in 32 over the age of 25 is unemployed. 44% of those have been unemployed for 6 months or more. This represents a total of 48,000 people - addressing their needs is essential if they are to be able to fulfil their potential and move away from the risk of exclusion. |
| New Deal for young unemployed people |
| 4.2 The New Deal is the cornerstone of the Government's Welfare to Work initiative, and represents a considerable investment of some £300 million over the lifetime of this Parliament. It is a unique programme, quite unlike previous schemes. It is based on an individually-centred approach to helping young people aged 18-24 who have been unemployed and claiming Jobseekers' Allowance for six months or more, to improve their prospects of securing and retaining sustainable employment. |
| 4.3 For a young person, the first, and key, element of the New Deal is the "gateway", a period of intensive help including advice, guidance and support in identifying the best way forward in overcoming the barriers which have prevented him/her securing employment. The gateway can last up to four months depending on an individual's needs. If New Deal clients are not able to move quickly into a job during this period, they will have the opportunity, with their Employment Service personal adviser, to consider and select the most appropriate from the following options: |
A job with an employer. Employers receive £750 towards the cost of
training and a subsidy of £60 per week for up to six months. The training can be provided
either through the employer or independently;
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| 4.4 Improving skills is recognised as the key to employability and each of the four options which young people can choose involves an element of education or training which leads to a recognised qualification. This aspect of the programme will play an important part in reintroducing some young people to learning as well as creating a more highly skilled workforce. |
| 4.5 In general, LECs are taking the lead in the delivery of the education and training elements of the New Deal, with the FE colleges being the most significant providers but with additional |
| provision coming from various other public and private sector training bodies. All of them bring experience that has been built up in working with unemployed young adults in a variety of ways in the past. The involvement of FE colleges with the New Deal includes participation in and delivery of the full-time education and training option as well as in the delivery of the training elements of the three other options. In recognition of this role, the Government made an additional £650,000 available in 1997-98 to assist colleges in establishing and developing appropriate New Deal courses etc. These college projects have included improving guidance provision and developing special courses such as basic skills provision. In one imaginative project at Anniesland College funds are being used to buy state-of-the-art call centre equipment to train students with the skills for this growing area of the service sector. |
| 4.6 A particular strength of the New Deal is that it is planned and delivered locally. There are 23 local delivery areas based on LEC boundaries. This arrangement allows local bodies to come together in an inclusive partnership to determine the needs of unemployed young people in their area. It also enables the delivery arrangements to build on strong existing networks and within a national framework to reflect local circumstances. The Government intends to encourage the sharing of good practice between all training and education providers by gathering, and disseminating, such information as widely as possible. It is clearly recognised that the experience gained by the providers, and indeed the young unemployed concerned, is used to ensure the ongoing improvement of all training provision. |
| 4.7 The New Deal programme also provides an effective recruitment channel by ensuring that candidates presented to employers are employable, motivated and right for the job. In addition, the employer's subsidy will help small firms in particular to grow their businesses. By mid-July 1998, a little over 3 months after the national launch of the programme 3,900 employers throughout Scotland had signed up to take on New Deal participants and over 2,300 companies had expressed a definite intention to do so. |
| New Deal Case Study A young woman left school at age 16 and went to college to study hairdressing for 2 years. When she decided that hairdressing was not for her, and was faced with trying to find a new career path, this proved difficult; after a spell of 7 months unemployment she became eligible for the New Deal. During the gateway stage of New Deal she was assigned her own personal adviser who provided her with intensive help and guidance tailored to her own particular circumstances. She explored with her personal adviser a number of options which might meet her own particular desires and needs. An opportunity to work as an upholsterer in the subsidised jobs option was identified as something which would match her aspirations. Under this option her employer was obliged to provide her with the equivalent of 1 day's training per week for 6 months working towards a recognised qualification. The employer received a grant of £750 to help meet the training costs. As no qualifications in upholstery were available in the area the local college and enterprise company have been working together to produce a qualification that will meet the requirements of the young woman and her employer. New Deal provides truly tailored opportunities for young people which involve partners working together to provide flexible, quality training which will enhance a young person's employability. |
| New Futures Fund |
| 4.8 The New Futures Fund, which was launched in May, is a unique initiative in Scotland to provide intensive support and help for young unemployed people suffering from serious disadvantage in looking for work. It is aimed at young adults primarily in the 16-34 age group, who have the potential to respond to intensive intervention, many of whom will have limited previous work experience. This group will include people with learning difficulties who lack basic skills and personal or social skills, those who have been demotivated or are disaffected, those with alcohol or drugs problems, ethnic minorities, ex-offenders, those who are homeless or with family or relationship problems, and the physically and mentally disabled. |
| 4.9 The New Futures Fund aims to help such people overcome barriers of confidence, motivation, substance abuse and homelessness, and to assist them in developing employability and work skills. The challenge is to equip these people for the world of work through the provision of intensive help. In many cases the individuals concerned will, for the first time in many years, be encouraged to participate in personal development, training and education. The opportunities afforded to them through the programme will give them a fresh start on the route of lifelong learning. |
| New Deal for Adults |
| 4.10 New Deal for the over 25s was launched nationally in June for people who have been unemployed for 2 years or more. In Scotland this will involve an investment of around £35 million over the lifetime of the Parliament. Participants will be able to take up a subsidised employment option where employers will receive a subsidy of £75 per week. There will also be access to work based training tailored to the needs of both individuals and the local labour market. This might include structured work experience with an employer or employed status training. For many this will be their first learning experience since leaving school. |
| 4.11 In addition there will be some pilots in Scotland involving further expenditure of around £10 million which will be aimed at those who have been unemployed for 12 months and 18 months. These pilots will provide a more intensive approach, modelled on the New Deal for 18-24 year olds, but targeted on the specific barriers facing the older client group. As part of the pilots, particular approaches will be developed for those aged over 50. |
| New Deal for Disabled People |
| 4.12 The New Deal for disabled people reflects our determination to help people who in the past have been excluded from playing a full and positive role in the community. This £195 million initiative across the UK aims to bring jobs, skills and opportunities to those who have been left out and let down. It will include support for innovative projects and the provision of personal advisers, initially in pilot areas (a pilot will operate in Lanarkshire from October 1998). |
| New Deal for Lone Parents |
| 4.13 The New Deal for Lone Parents is a £191 million programme which aims to help lone parents on Income Support across Great Britain who want to find a job. The initiative was launched in 8 areas including the Clyde Valley in July 1997. From April 1998, the service was made available to every lone parent in Great Britain with school age children seeking to claim Income Support for the first time. For existing Income Support claimants, the initiative will come into operation across the UK from October 1998. |
| Adult Training |
| 4.14 The Training for Work (TfW) programme will provide £64 million in 1998-99 for people aged 25 or over. People aged 18-24 who have been unemployed for 6 months and who would previously have been eligible for TfW will join the New Deal. We will review how TfW should be adapted to support the New Deal most effectively. There is scope for TfW to become more successful in helping adults into employment and achieving qualifications. We envisage that people who need particular help with literacy and numeracy and other pre-vocational skills will be targeted. There should be scope for customised training linked to particular industrial sectors and inward investment opportunities. |
| Glasgow Employment Zone |
| 4.15 We now have a Glasgow Employment Zone which is helping adults unemployed for a year into employment. The main objective of this zone is to improve the employment prospects of these people in an economically disadvantaged area. Glasgow, with 12% of the Scottish population, has over 20% of people aged 25 and over who have been out of work for a year or more. |
| 4.16 The Glasgow Employment Zone is offering 3 main options: |
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| The Learning for Work option will help people move into sustainable employment by developing the right skills within specific learning opportunities. A feature of Learning for Work is the individual learning account which participants can use to gain access to learning of their own choice. Opportunities to learn are not restricted to formal learning situations and work is under way with the Local Learning Partnership, Glasgow Learning Alliance, to develop proposals for learning within the Glasgow Employment Zone. |
| Glasgow Works Electronic Village (GDA) The Electronic Village, based in Castlemilk, is a project unique to the Glasgow Works programme. Not only does it continue the successful Glasgow Works pattern of enabling long-term unemployed people to return to the active labour market but enables access to state-of-the-art information technology for a community hitherto excluded from such opportunities. Begun in January 1998, the project provides work, training and personal development for 14 long-term unemployed people at any one time in a range of IT activities such as data processing, web page design and maintenance and photo scanning. This project, which is managed by the Castlemilk Economic Development Agency, will go some way towards providing a starting point for future co-ordinated activity, aimed at reducing Castlemilk's peripherality and lack of competitiveness through the increasing use of new technology. |
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