E-bulletin 30 [July 2009]
E-bulletin 30 [July 2009]
Welcome to issue 30 of the Voluntary Sector Social Services Workforce Unit's e-bulletin.
You are receiving this because you subscribed to e-bulletins from the Workforce Unit. If you have problems viewing the e-bulletin, please go to our website.
Our bulletins will keep you up to date with the latest voluntary sector social services workforce development issues. If you have a workforce development event or initiative you would like to publicise please let us know and we will include it in future editions.
There have been a variety of different funding developments this month. We have listed these separately for your ease of use. We hope you find this helpful.
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Lisa Pattoni
Information and Communication Officer
lisa.pattoni@ccpscotland.org
Content
The Workforce Unit continues to go from strength to strength, being active in its work with and on behalf of voluntary sector social services. Our Annual Report 2008/09 is now available on our website. This highlights our key achievements from the past year, and the focus of our work for the future.
Updated from 2006, Understanding Qualifications Pathways, gives voluntary sector social services organisations a guide to qualifications for:
It aims to clarify the current themes, qualifications and policy direction that affect employers and employees in the voluntary sector social services.
The latest edition of Workforce News is now available. In this edition you will find:
If you have any comments or queries about the newsletter, please do not hesitate to contact us. You can email Laura Weir, Unit administrator, or telephone 01786 849 752
Sharing Practice: the shortcut to reinvent the tailor made wheel...
Do you have an idea or example of workforce practice that you want to tell others about? Have you adapted a tool and made it really work for your organiation? Are you looking at workforce development in an innovative way? Then we want to know about it!
The essence of identifying and sharing practice is to learn from others and to re-use knowledge - so that we can help create a culture where we learn from experience. If you want to share some examples, or discuss this further, then please get in touch
Remember that Workforce Unit staff can provide specialist advice and support on workforce development issues for voluntary sector social services. This includes information on qualifications, post-registration training and learning requirements, funding and much much more...
Our friendly staff are always happy to help. Please contact us with your enquiry on 01786 849 752 or email vswu.admin@ccpscotland.org
Can you spare half a day to help plan the next phase of SSKS?
NHS Education for Scotland and IRISS are aiming to make sure Social Skills Knowledge Scotland (SSKS) is an easy to use, interactive and indispensable part of the social services world and to help achieve this, they'd like the views of those who use it.
A consultation workshop is scheduled for 4 August 2009 (10am until 2pm including lunch) in the Mitchell Library in Glasgow to look at and comment on plans for the next phase of Social Services Knowledge Scotland. For more information please visit here.
14th to 16th September 2009 Venue: York Racecourse, York, England
The Dementia Services Development Centre's 3rd International Conference 'Facing the Future' is aimed at all those who support people with dementia, whether their background is in medicine, social care, planning or service provision.
The conference will address many important aspects of dementia care including the range of crucial issues raised by the National Dementia Strategy. During the conference, the DSDC team will be on hand to offer guidance and assistance, and there will be opportunities to visit over 30 exhibitors. To book your place please click here.
1st October, Thistle Hotel, Glasgow
Skills development will play a vital role in enabling SMEs and third sector organisations to become stronger, more efficient and innovating. This conference aims to provide practical advice, support and guidance on the options available to upskill yourself, or your employees and the routes to funding for skills. Places are free. For more information just register online or call 0161 217 2500
The University of Glasgow’s Faculty of Education and STRADA will be offering a brand new course this autumn, which has been designed specifically for those working within, or seeking, leadership positions in the addictions field. If you are interested in developing your leadership skills as well as gaining a University of Glasgow accredited qualification, please click here for further details.
10 September, Holiday Inn, Birmingham City
The National Autistic Society supported by The Hensley Group are running a one-day conference aimed at Social Care Professionals & Social Care Students to consider the issues around assessing adults on the autism spectrum. For further information click here and for a booking form click here.
The Scottish Government is funding the development of a knowledge management strategy and action plan for social services, to underpin the goals of Changing lives. The draft knowledge management strategy, 'Sharing Knowledge, Improving Practice, Changing Lives' can be found here
Your comments and feedback on this strategy are most welcome. You can submit your response through the online form. Alternatively you can email your comments to Susan Linder by 24th July.
The Mental Welfare Commission and Care Commission have released a report investigating the quality of care for people with dementia living in care homes in Scotland. As part of the report they interviewed 30 care home managers and spoke with 47 care staff to find out about the type and level of training for staff.
The key message was that people with dementia should be cared for by staff who have the skills, knowledge and training to provide effective care. The report noted that appropriate training for care home staff should include information about:
The report acknowledges that this requires the involvement of a number of different agencies and health professionals. Click here to read a full copy of 'Remember me, I'm still me'.
Many groups previously obtaining enhanced disclosure for their employees and volunteers working with vulnerable adults will again be able to access this level of disclosure check. Some examples of the positions affected include providing advocacy support services, befriending, social inclusion-type support, homelessness, and where services are provided due to age or condition i.e. due to disability, health or age-related circumstances.
The intention remains that eligibility for the higher levels of disclosure check should be proportionate in relation to the work to be undertaken. This change came into force on 29 June 2009.
The Justice Committee's amendment order comes into force this week after much campaigning by the sector. This will ensure that organisations providing social care services involving staff having unsupervised one-to-one contact with adults at risk can now get an enhanced disclosure check. For more information, please contact Disclosure Scotland or CRBS
The Social Care Institute for Excellence (SCIE) has published a new briefing specifically designed for home care providers, to address the implications and opportunities that personalisation brings.
The ‘Personalisation briefing for home care providers’ is one of a number of ‘At a glance’ guides that SCIE are producing to help commissioners and providers to deliver personalisation. The publication summarises the implications of personalisation for home care workers and managers; it also gives examples of new approaches being developed. Key messages include:
In addition, the briefing reiterates that capacity, recruitment and retention are increasingly important issues and personalisation has the potential to give home care providers a good opportunity to make work more interesting and rewarding.
The Workforce Unit has updated its guidance on funding that may be available to voluntary sector social services organisations for learning and development. It has updated information on additional adult Modern Apprenticeships and the 2009 Voluntary Sector Development Fund.
Get a copy of the Funding Guide.
On 18th June Fiona Hyslop, Education and Lifelong Learning Secretary, announced that an additional 1,250 adult apprenticeship opportunities will be made available for the social services sector. You can read the full press release from the Scottish Government here
The Workforce Unit welcomes this decision to open up the Modern Apprenticeship scheme to all ages of applicants and has been informed that these apprenticeships will be for SVQs at levels 3 and 4. No decision has yet been made on SVQ Level 2 apprenticeships.
Level 2 SVQs in Health and Social Care are not currently part of the Modern Apprenticeships framework. The revised framework for SVQ 2 will be discussed and submitted for approval in August to the Modern Apprenticeship Group. We will keep you informed of any new developments as and when they arise through the usual channels.
The Scottish Government has released information regarding the funding allocation (2009/2010) to assist with the continued implementation of the Adult Support and Protection (Scotland) Act 2007) for the period 1 April 2009 to 31 March 2010.
A total of £15.6m is to be made available to local authotities. An additional £0.4m will be allocated to the police for their specific functions in respect of the Act. The allocation to local authorities will be as follows:
The first round of recipients of the Third Sector Enterprise Fund have been announced. The Fund aims to help established third sector organisations to become more sustainable and increase their capacity and capability.
More information, guidance and application forms can be found here. There will also be support events held in Glasgow on 4th July, and Dundee 8th September. For more information email the Enterprise Fund Administrator or contact the relevant team member:
Grampian, Highlands & Islands (Including Argyll): Joanne Newton 01224 332 979
Rest of Scotland: Glen Buchanan 0141 305 4160; Mary Lyden 0141 305 4176; or Carol Kirk 0141 305 4132.
The Scottish Government has now published the application form, guidance and equality monitoring form for the 2009-2010 Voluntary Sector Development Fund (VSDF).
The forms and guidance are available to download from the Workforce Unit website. We've put them on the website as Word documents so that you can enter text directly into the forms if you want to.
Applications must be returned to the Scottish Government by Friday 4th September 2009.
If you have any queries on VSDF, please contact:
Mrs M Gwen Smith,Children,
Young People and Social Care - Workforce and Capacity,
Area 2 (c) North,
Victoria Quay,
Edinburgh,
EH6 6QQ.
Telephone: (0131) 244 3737
Email: Gwen.Smith@scotland.gsi.gov.uk
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