Question reference: S6W-00457
- Asked by: Sharon Dowey, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
- Date lodged: 3 June 2021
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Current status: Answered by Richard Lochhead on 14 June 2021
Question
To ask the Scottish Government what steps it is taking to improve work-related outcomes for referrals to the Fair Start Scotland service, and what its response is to reports that 89.8% of people referred to the service in South Ayrshire did not achieve a 26-week job outcome after their time in the programme.
Answer
The percentages quoted have been calculated using statistics published on the number of job outcomes, broken down by local authority area. These do not provide an accurate reflection of performance as they include participants who have not had time to reach outcomes.
Pre-employment support on Fair Start Scotland ordinarily lasts 12 months (it can last up to 18 months), and job outcomes will increase as more participants move through the service into, and sustain work over time. Job outcome rates can only be reported for those cohorts where enough time has passed in pre-employment support (12 months) and also for job outcomes to be achieved (6 months for the figures quoted).
The figures have also been calculated based on the number of referrals to the service. It is worth noting that Fair Start Scotland is completely voluntary, and not everyone who is referred will choose to participate.
As part of our continuous improvement activities and in line with our “test and learn” approach to employability support in Scotland, we continue to work with Providers to improve all aspects of the service.
Our key priority remains ensuring participants receive a quality service in their journey to finding and sustaining fair work, and we continue to work closely with local government, the third sector and other partners to ensure the right employment opportunities are sourced for participants.