Report To: Dundee Partnership Management Group

REPORT TO: DUNDEE PARTNERSHIP MANAGEMENT GROUP

REPORT ON: EMPLOYABILITY SERVICES REVIEW, PROGRESS TO DATE AND NEXT STEPS

REPORT BY: EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR CITY DEVELOPMENT

1. PURPOSE OF REPORT

1.1 To inform the Dundee Partnership Management Group of progress to date with the fundamental review of Employability Services in the city, advise of the proposals to progress this process and to seek the full commitment of the partnership to the next steps in taking forward the review.

2. RECOMMENDATIONS

2.1 It is recommended that the Dundee Partnership Management Group:

a) notes the progress made in the review of Employability Services to date and approves the proposed next steps for taking forward the review into the next phase

b) agrees to the establishment of Working Groups as set out in this report

c) endorses the commitment of the Dundee Partnership to improving employability outcomes and the collaborative approach outlined in this paper

3. FINANCIAL IMPLICATIONS

3.1 Any financial implications associated with the final design of the partnership’s approach towards employability will require to be considered at a later stage. However, the work being undertaken is mindful of the Partnership’s existing commitments to employability and the resource constraints looking ahead.

4. BACKGROUND

4.1 Rocket Science consultants were commissioned in June 2015 to review employability services delivered in Dundee across all of the relevant agencies and to assess the City Council’s “employability footprint”. The proposal to undertake the review was endorsed by the Dundee Partnership Employability Group in May 2015 and partners and other stakeholders in the city have been involved in the review process since this time.

4.2 Rocket Science has produced an Interim Report which sets out six main features of a new approach to employability in Dundee which will lead to improved outcomes. These features are:

a) creating a coherent design for a city wide ‘Dundee Employability Service’ which incorporates the services of all organisations and providers and assesses performance on outcomes achieved and the experience of employers and the individual clients

b) placing a detailed understanding of the labour market at the heart of the new design. The understanding of the current and emerging labour market will lead to all services being more responsive to employer need thus improving outcomes and the quality of the service

c) reframing the current ‘Dundee Pipeline’ to being a framework for all employability resources. This will provide the Employability Partnership with a practical way of understanding the current array of services and resources, where each provider fits in and who they need to relate to perform effectively and what needs to change to improve performance

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d) focusing the Dundee Partnership Employability Group on the active management of the performance of the whole service. All the main agencies and providers will report on their performance to this group in an open and transparent way

e) ensuring that the actions of each partner on service design, delivery and commissioning are carried out collaboratively to ensure that individual services make up a comprehensive and coherent whole

f) creating a shared Dundee wide approach to the development of a wide range of work experience and job placements which provide either destinations or stepping stones to permanent jobs for those seeking work

4.3 The Interim Report identifies areas for action and recommends that these be taken forward by Working Groups. The proposed working Groups and Actions are as follows:

Workstream Relevant Action Lead: partners 1 Labour Market Transforming the quality and value SDS: DCC, DWP/JCP, Intelligence of labour market intelligence Business Gateway, TSI School/employer engagement to enhance pupils career decision DYW Regional Group and awareness of opportunities 2 Strengthening the Realising the employment potential Rocket Science demand led approach of micro-businesses Strengthening the demand led DCC: Business Gateway, approach FSB, Chamber Effective targeting of those furthest 3 Integrating services from work for those furthest from DCC: NHS, DWP/JCP, TSI work Client co-design of services 4 Joint staff Ensuring the quality of the whole NHS: DCC, SDS, DWP/JCP, development service TSI Strengthening the demand led 5 Co-commissioning DCC: SDS, DWP/JCP approach SDS: DCC, Business 6 Supporting Supporting progression in work Gateway, FSB, Chamber of progression in work Commerce, DWP/JCP, TSI Ensuring the quality of the whole 7 Performance service DWP/JCP: DCC, SDS, NHS, measurement, Dundee and Angus College, management and Innovation Fund TS361 improvement Performance Management

4.4 The Interim Report has been circulated to the key strategic partners (Jobcentre Plus, Skills Development Scotland, Dundee and Angus College, Third Sector Interface, NHS Tayside, Chamber of Commerce) who have agreed, in principle, the way forward, the proposed actions and Working Groups.

4.5 The Interim Report and the findings to date were presented at the Dundee Partnership Forum on 28 October 2015 where a wide range of stakeholders engaged in workshop sessions which gave them the opportunity to influence and shape the approach.

4.6 The discussions from the Forum will feed into the final report which will be presented to Dundee Partnership Management Group for approval.

Next Steps

4.7 In order to move the review process to the next stage it is recommended that the proposals described below are taken forward by the Partnership.

Oversight Board

4.8 It is proposed that an Oversight Board, chaired by the City Council’s Chief Executive, should be established. Membership will be drawn from senior officers from Jobcentre Plus, Skills Development Scotland, Dundee and Angus College, NHS Tayside and the Third Sector. The Oversight Board will be responsible for ensuring that the Employability Service as a whole is developed and delivered, ensuring that Working Groups have an agreed work plan, timescales and milestones and to provide support if there are issues which the Working Groups are unable to resolve.

Working Groups

4.9 Draft briefs for the Working Groups have been circulated to stakeholders in the process. Partners have provided their views and comments on the draft briefs and have confirmed their willingness to commit to and participate in the Working Groups.

4.10 Skills Development Scotland has offered to take the lead and chair the Working Groups on Labour Market Intelligence and Joint Staff Development, DWP/Jobcentre Plus has offered to take the lead and chair the Working Group “Supporting Progression in Work”, NHS Tayside have offered to take the lead and chair the Working Group.

4.11 The Chairs of the remaining Working Groups will be agreed between partners.

4.12 The chairs for the Working Groups will be agreed by the beginning of December and the Working Groups will have had their initial meeting by January 2016 at the latest. It is the intention to have the work group tasks completed by April 2016 although the conclusions and recommendations from the workgroups will require an ongoing commitment to ensure that the employability service is delivered and refined in future.

4.13 In all cases, the Working Group tasks will be complete and the proposed new co-commissioning arrangements recommended in the report, subject to Partnership approval, will be ready to be implemented from April 2017. In the interim, the Partnership will seek to make improvements to services and advance implementation of the employability service wherever possible.

The Council’s “Employability Footprint”

4.14 As part of the review the consultants were asked to analyse and make recommendations on how Dundee City Council could maximise its own employability footprint.

4.15 The Interim Report identified four areas that the final report will address regarding potential actions by the Council:

 the Council as an employer  the Council as a provider of housing  the Council as a provider of key services for priority clients  the Council as a funder/commissioner of employability services

The Council as a Strategic Leader

4.16 The Interim Report also identified four areas where it is important for the Council to play a strategic leadership role:

a) the service design that has been developed has important implications in terms of physical infrastructure and staffing. Opportunities for service integration through

neighbourhood service centres have been identified. Given the current pressure on a range of relevant providers, Rocket Science have identified that there seems to be a scope for some ambitious thinking in terms of the co-location of services for people that are close to the labour market in the city centre and believe it would be worth discussing with DWP and SDS the scope to develop a new centre together with a range of related services

b) the Council is well placed to provide the leadership to drive the development of a city wide approach to providing a range of opportunities and support for those seeking work. Whilst it might be possible for the Council to, say, double the current number of Mas through its own employment, Rocket Science’s view is that this would miss a larger opportunity. Rocket Science will articulate clearly the scope for this and what it could involve in their next stage of work

c) the existence of two universities and a strong FE college provides the city with a great opportunity to draw on good practice elsewhere in terms of engagement both with schools and the most deprived communities

d) there are some powerful new approaches being developed to data management through the holding of ‘personal data stores’ by individuals. Data is held by the clients themselves and it is they who provide access to it by service providers. This transforms the problems around data sharing between organisations

Opportunities Provided by City Deal

4.17 The proposed City Deal provides an opportunity to support the new service design by exploring some significant changes by DWP. Rocket Science’s discussions with and involvement in other City Deals and their awareness of the flexibility now being displayed by DWP suggests that there are four ‘asks’ of DWP that should be included in a City Deal proposal:

 the scope for JCP staff to become part of an approach focused on building on the assets or strengths of people. This may have implications for the way DWP/JCP works and the use of sanctions

 the development of a career progression service for those that have found paid work make progress to higher skills and higher earnings

 a more substantial form of intensive support for those emerging from Work Programme

 the development of a significant early identification effort to identify those most at risk of long term unemployment

An Aspiration to Deliver a World Class Employability Service

4.18 Rocket Science’s view is that, given the good practice that exists and the commitment to transform the quality of the service, it is entirely reasonable for the Dundee Partnership to aspire to deliver a service which is on a par with the world’s best

4.19 The next stage of work to be undertaken by Rocket Science will include developing a “world class service” benchmark and consider how the current service matches up to it. They will also propose some key indicators that the Partnership can use to assess progress towards this world class status.

4.20 Rocket Science has been requested to produce a final report before the end of December 2015 and this will be reported to the Dundee Partnership Management Group in early 2016.

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