Current status: Initiated by the Scottish Government. Answered by Richard Lochhead on 5 October 2021
To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on its plans for No One Left Behind, and its ambitions to reform employability services in Scotland.
The Scottish Government will continue to take forward our No One Left Behind approach to employability, which is based on partnership and collaboration to deliver joined-up person-centred services through transformational change.
No One Left Behind sees a departure from nationally commissioned programmes to a more localised commissioning approach, which supports local service delivery and a holistic package of support tailored to individual needs, aligning more closely with other services such as health, housing and justice, to drive better outcomes for individuals who want help to find work.
The first stage of implementation commenced in April 2019 when ‘Activity Agreements’ and ‘Scotland’s Employer Recruitment Incentive’ ceased and were replaced by a local allocation of No One Left Behind investment across the 32 local authority areas.
As outlined in the No One Left Behind Delivery Plan (24 Nov 2020), we will proceed with further implementation of No One Left Behind from April 2022 after a delay to take into account the circumstances of the pandemic. This means the employability programmes Community Jobs Scotland and Employability Fund will cease with funding transferring to No One Left Behind local governance arrangements.
This local governance approach allows Local Employability Partnerships (LEP’s), which involves a range of partners including Skills Development Scotland, Department for Work and Pensions, Colleges, NHS, the third sector and business representatives to work together with local communities to design and deliver services that best meet both individual and labour market needs in each local area.
We remain committed to working with partners in the public, private and third sector as we prepare for this change to ensure continuity of support and access to employability services for individuals.