|2nd Round Approved DPs|

RE: Focus DP

Objectives
The DP was established under Theme A by the Equal Access to Employment Partnership (EAEP) to pilot innovative ways of delivering joined up, locally-based services to ensure that people at a distance from the labour market are able to enter and sustain employment.  Our vision is that "every adult in Glasgow, regardless of their age, gender, background, ethnicity, personal or health history should have the same opportunity as everyone else in the city to obtain and hold down meaningful, paid work". 

Target Groups
People with disabilities, ex offenders, drug and alcohol misusers, people facing social exclusion and the non-JSA jobless

Pilot Projects and Mainstreaming Outcomes  

Glasgow South West Regeneration Agency piloted the ‘What I need in Life’ (WIN) project. Win involved both service users and service providers to design and ultimately provide, a personal development programme tailored on the specific needs of people with mental health issues to help them move more effectively back to the labour market. The project secured funding from the Scottish Government to continue until March 2008 and has been included in a 2007-2013 ESF application.

Tomorrow’s People worked with medical staff in identified clinics within a local secondary care provision to assist patients to begin their journey back towards employment. The Secondary Care Service has now been mainstreamed into the South West Bridging Service.

Enable Scotland piloted a project to support the transition of individuals with learning disabilities in the Greater Easterhouse area, from education to employment by equipping them with the skills to compete for local jobs. As part of the transition programme Enable piloted for the first time in Scotland, the Big Plan project that has now been embedded into the general practice of the Lead Partner organisation, Employment Support Workers. Additionally the training has been rolled out to other partner organisations and actions have been taken to roll it out to schools.

Glasgow East Regeneration Agency (former GEDC) – piloted the GP and East Referral programme. The pilot provides support for clients most distant from the labour market, by developing a direct referral process linking local GPs and the GERA guidance and employability services. The Programme has now been mainstreamed into the East Bridging Service.

Glasgow South West Regeneration Agency (former Gorbals Initiative) delivered the developmental pilot ‘Option for Changes’. The project based an Employability Co-ordinator within two social work area teams in the South and South East Glasgow with the aim of raising the profile of and ultimately embed employability element in the service delivered by the two teams. Recommendations from the pilot are being taken forward by the Equal Access New Connection Team and integrated into the delivery of the City Strategy.

Royston Youth Action with the support from local voluntary organisations and Criminal Justice, piloted innovative actions targeting young people and adults in Royston area. The initiative aimed to offer the target groups unique training experiences, job relevant qualifications and volunteering / placements opportunities through their involvement in the services provided by social enterprise for individuals serving community service orders or who are unemployed. Aspects of the project have now been mainstreamed into the new programme, Positive Destinations.

Equal Access Glasgow in partnership with Health, Social Care and the Employers’ Coalition piloted the Dispelling the Myths and Encouraging Diversity projects (former Embracing Diversity). The pilots developed in conjunction, a series of seminars and master classes for disengaged employers on the benefits of employing diverse client groups. The activities produced a number of outputs, which include: a web site, a DVD, a hand book and a Diversity Management Toolkit to support both practitioners and employers. The project has received funding through Scottish Government Workforce Plus strategy to mainstream its outcomes across Glasgow and the Highlands region.

Glasgow City Council developed the Client Tracking System (Gtrac) database, a Glasgow-wide project, aiming to introduce a multi-agency client tracking system that allow service users to be tracked between as well as within agencies, on their journey towards the labour market. This will enable better planning of services and a more joined up and rationalised service delivery for the clients.
The database, which will be fully ready by April 08, has been integrated in the Glasgow City Strategy as a mandatory tool to track services in the Glasgow area and will be funded by the Scottish Government.

SITE developed an entirely new approach to helping visually impaired people into sustainable work. As a result of the Equal pilot, a new 2 year project – Focus on Employment – has been funded by Development and Regeneration Services. The new initiative seeks to engage with people on the blind and partially sighted register in Glasgow, as well as to build the capacity of employment services and employers to work with and employ this particular target group. The training pack developed by SITE during Action 2 of Equal is now being used to train staff across Jobcentre Plus, Local Regeneration Agencies, Bridging Services and the Full Employment Area.