Welcome to the October edition of the Workforce Unit's e-bulletin.
Our bulletins aim to 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. If you have problems viewing the e-bulletin, please go to our website.
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Lisa Pattoni
Information and Communications Officer
lisa.pattoni@ccpscotland.org
Content
In Summer 2009 the Scottish Government announced that an additional 1,250 adult apprenticeship opportunities will be available for the social services sector. Health and Social Care MAs are now available at SVQ levels 2, 3 & 4, and are open to people of all ages this year. An additional 170 Modern Apprenticeships are available in 2009/10 for the Early Years sector for 16-19 year olds. Early Years MAs are at Childcare Learning and Development SVQ levels 3 & 4.
Modern Apprenticeship Framework documents explain how each apprenticeship programme works and the mandatory and optional outcomes which apply.The new Modern Apprenticeship framework will commence from 15 Oct and the old framework will still be valid until 14 Oct. You can view each of the Modern Apprenticeship Frameworks here.
Training providers have now been allocated their ‘quota’ of places and employers should urgently speak with local training providers to ensure you secure the places you need, if at all possible given the relatively small numbers in the system. A critical part of this is that Skills Development Scotland (the body which issues the contracts to training providers), in allocating the MAs to training providers, are keen to ensure that local employer needs are taken into account as far as possible. For example, if you require more MAs at SVQ Level 2 than at SVQ level 3, then you should ask your training provider if they are able to accommodate your needs.
Read a letter from the SSSC regarding the changes to the core skills for the Modern Apprenticeship Framework.
The Workforce Unit Funding Guide has been updated to reflect these changes and also includes some further information for applicants.
The latest edition of Workforce News is now available. This edition focuses on Sharing Practice, 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
6th October & 16th October, Jubilee House, Stirling
The Scottish Government has introduced new legislation to protect people from being harmed; The Adult Support and Protection (Scotland) Act.
'Tell Someone' is a resource pack, funded by the Scottish Government, which helps people to understand how the Act affects them and what they should do if they suspect harm is occurring to someone. In partnership with the Private Care Sector Workforce Initiative, the Workforce Unit is delivering a training course for trainers. This FREE training is available to all Care Commission registered adult care services in Scotland across the private and voluntary sectors.
Click here for further information
Click here for a full programme
You can book your place online, or contact Rona Montagneux at admin@workforceinitiative.co.uk
In 2008/09 The Workforce Unit carried out a significant piece of research into the effects of re tendering exercises on the voluntary sector social services workforce. Among many others, one of the key findings of the report; ‘A Gathering Storm', was that voluntary sector social care providers had difficulties in interpreting Transfer of Undertakings (Protection of Employment) Regulations 2006 (TUPE) and that employees received inconsistent information regarding their rights under ‘TUPE'.
The demand for information has been so great that the Workforce Unit has today launched a guidance document for Social Care Managers covering the basics of ‘TUPE’ legislation.
Download a copy of 'TUPE For Managers'
Monday 23rd November, Inverness
Following the success of the recent event for housing support providers in Dumfries, the Workforce Unit and Housing Support Enabling Unit are pleased to present a further event for housing support providers to be held in Inverness. This event will provide an opportunity for providers of housing support to:
Read a full programme for this event
Information sessions regarding the Professional Development Award in Practice Learning (Social Services) SCQF 10, are being held across the Tayforth area. The sessions are open to everyone, including potential candidates for the award, their managers, and people from the voluntary sector who just wish to find out more. Please come along and hear about the opportunities that are available and what is involved in undertaking the award. Sessions will be as follows:
Angus - Tuesday 27th October, 1-4.30pm (drop in), Bruce House, Arbroath
Contact Fran Deacon on 01241 435207 for more information.
Falkirk - Thursday 8th October, Haypark , Falkirk
Contact Vivian Fitsimmons on 01324 504028 for more information
Fife - Tuesday 20th October, 2-4pm, Ramsey Road, Kirkcaldy
Contact Jill Selfridge at jill.selfridge@fife.gov.uk)
Standards in Social Work Education, Working with the Standards,
Thursday 22nd October, Colonsay Resource Centre
Tayforth Learning Network are running a workshop to explore the assessment frameworks for the Social Work qualification. The aims of the event are:
Read the event flyer. To book your place, please contact Isobel Ovens, 01382 504194.
23rd October, 12-5pm, St Andrews Hospice, Airdrie
At this one off event organised by Support for Ordinary Living (SOL), Doug Smith, board member of Neighbours Inc and global conference speaker will share the inspiring story of how managing his own support has changed his life. Through the support of Neighbours Inc, Doug moved from living in an institution in the early 90s to a home of his own.
Read the event flyer. To book your place, or for more information please contact Gemma on 01698 276 206
The Tayforth Leadership Community was launched earlier this year by the Scottish Government and Tayforth Learning network. It is for those who have some leadership responsibility, work in the area of social services and want to come together with peers to support each other to develop and learn.
There are a number of different event arranged across the Tayforth area to look at the formation and running of Action Learning Sets (ALS). Action learning brings together around six participants, usually from different organisations and sectors, to work on and through their organisational and individual problems to explore alternatives for action. Please read here for more information.
If you want to get involved, please contact Jane Mudd.
October 8: Inverness, 12.30 - 3.15
October 20: Dundee, 9:30 - 1:00
October 23: Glasgow, 9:30 - 1:00
October 27: Dumfries, 10:00 - 1:30
Learning Connections has commissioned the development of guidance to support practitioners involved in community capacity building in Scotland. The guidance is aimed at staff who play a role in helping develop the skills and capacity of members of the community or community organisations. This includes people for whom community capacity building is part of a wider job.
The guidance Capacity for Change will go live on-line later this month. To promote the guidance, a series of events will be held during October. To find out more information about the events and book a place, click on the location and date that suits you best. Numbers are limited at each venue and places will be allocated on a first come first served basis.
26th October 2009 at the Royal College of Physicians, Edinburgh.
The SCQF Partnership is holding a free seminar to bring together all credit rating bodies in Scotland to launch the revised SCQF Handbook and identify the type of support materials required to promote the full use of the Framework.
This is an opportunity to discuss the kind of materials you think would be most useful in supporting you to fully implement the SCQF. This will also be your chance to pick up a copy of the revised SCQF Handbook: User Guide. To book your place at the event, complete and return the booking form to Lisa Thomson, SCQF Partnership.
Thursday 12 November, Dalhousie Building, University of Dundee, £75
The School of Education, Social Work and Community Education at the University of Dundee is holding a series of 4 seminars throughout 2009. The next in the series is titled 'Working with Traumatised Parents of Traumatised Children'.
This seminar, presented by Dr Guinevere Tufnell, will explore the mechanisms by which parents may experience secondary traumatic stress symptoms, how such a parental response by exacerbate the child's symptoms as well as giving examples of how to intervene effectively.
View the conference flyer and complete the booking form to book your place.
The Scottish Government has responded to concerns raised by voluntary sector providers about the re-tendering of social care services by setting up a programme of work to produce good practice guidance on social care procurement. The programme is being led by the Joint Improvement Team in association with the Scottish Procurement Directorate.
Information gathered from meetings with service users nationally, and separate meetings with council staff and with service providers in seven local authority areas is contributing to exploring procurement issues, identifying good practice and determining which areas require guidance. A second meeting of the National Reference group in September has considered reports of all of this consultation activity along with proposed outline contents for guidance material.
Full details of the reports presented to the reference group can be viewed on the JIT website.
The Scottish Government, the Convention of Scottish Local Authorities (COSLA), the Society of Local Authority Chief Executives (SOLACE) and the Scottish Council for Voluntary Organisations (SCVO), have issued a joint statement that represents efforts to strengthen local partnerships and encourage joint working in Community Planning Partnerships throughout Scotland. Read the statement here.
These broad principles are being developed for social care through the work of the Joint Improvement Team discussed in the section above.
Implementing Telecare - An Action Guide. This Guide has been developed jointly by the Joint Improvement Team and the University of Glasgow Business School. The purpose of this Guide is to support those responsible for implementing Telecare throughout Scotland through the sharing of practical tools and examples.
The guide offers a step-by-step approach to the task of re-designing health and social care service delivery using the support of Telecare technology. It also covers some of the common barriers to successful implementation identified during reviews of a number of Partnership’s local telecare projects undertaken during 2008.
Finance Secretary, John Swinney, announced in his draft budget for 2010-11 that direct Scottish government spending on the development of the country’s social care workforce and capacity will fall next year.
The Scottish Government will spend £61m on social care workforce and capacity in 2010-11, compared with £63.5m this year. The largest proportion of the budget supports workforce development in the social care sector and sponsorship of the Scottish Children's Reporters Administration and Scottish Social Services Council. It also supports the operation of four Learning Networks across Scotland; working with employers and practitioners to support ongoing learning and development, Centers for Excellence; providing training and support for the workforce on specialist areas such as dealing with drug and alcohol issues, the Workforce Unit and the Voluntary Sector Development Fund.
Further details of exactly how this is broken down have not yet been released. The Workforce Unit will update stakeholders on this matter through the usual channels as and when information becomes available.
The Future Jobs Fund was announced in the last Budget and is a UK-wide fund of around £1 billion to support the creation of jobs for long term unemployed young people and others who face significant disadvantage in the labour market. It is a challenge fund which invites organisations to submit bids for funding.
In July 2009, SCVO reported that over 200 voluntary organisations from across Scotland had joined a collective bid to provide six month posts for 16-24 year olds who have been unemployed for nearly a year through this. All jobs will be coordinated through Job Centre Plus. It has now been confirmed that the voluntary sector consortium will provide 1020 jobs in the first 6 months. This makes the consortium's allocation the biggest in Scotland and one of the largest in the UK.
These are the first jobs rolled out under the initiative although the bidding process will continue month by month and more jobs will be created up to April 2011 and SCVO are putting together another bid for funds at the end of October. Organisations who think they could offer a placement should get in touch with Donna Mackinnon at SCVO by the 9th of October.
The Scottish Independent Advocacy Alliance promotes, supports and defends the principles and practice of independent advocacy across Scotland and has recently published its guidelines for non-instructed advocacy.This document lays out guidance for advocates when advocating for an individual who may lack capacity, for example, someone in advanced stages of dementia or someone with severe learning difficulties, or for someone who has severe communication difficulties. This is known as non‑instructed advocacy.
The responsibilities for organisations in the use of non-instructed advocacy are the same as for instructed advocacy and can be found in the Code of Practice for Independent Advocacy.
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