Implementation review of transitional employment services 2017

10. Next Steps

On 4 ^th October 2017, the Minister for Employability and Training Jamie Hepburn confirmed that in April 2018 Fair Start Scotland will be delivered by a mix of public, private and third sector organisations in the nine contract package areas across Scotland. This new partnership approach will see more than half of the provision delivered by supported businesses, third sector organisations and public sector bodies in Scotland.

The announcement was made by way of a statement to the Scottish Parliament ^[1] and a Scottish Government News Release ^[2] .

The next steps to deliver Fair Start Scotland include:

• Establishing and maintaining robust and effective governance of Fair Start Scotland through development to delivery, with consistently high quality and effective support; accurate information shared in an open way; those participating feeling they were treated with dignity and respect and their views were valued; and aligned and co-ordinated decision making within and between Scottish Government and DWP.
• Embedding the new level of joint working that exists between Scottish and UK Governments, where Scottish and UK Ministers have agreed to develop a Joint Operating Framework to underpin, enhance and improve the continuing operational interaction between DWP and Scottish Government. This will focus on alignment between reserved and devolved services in Scotland to ensure they are accessible and transparent to people who need to access them; encouraging shared learning; and drawing on the wealth of existing experience in DWP and Scottish Government.
• Scottish Government and DWP working collaboratively on the co-production of operational guidance and materials on Fair Start Scotland for disseminating to JCP Work Coaches, and doing so earlier than was the case for 2017 transitional programmes.
• Scottish Government identifying 2017 lessons learned and monitoring transitional and performance data to inform planning and performance management for the Fair Start Scotland service.
• Scottish Government developing a Fair Start Scotland referral strategy with DWP to plan, assess and monitor volumes of referrals expected and delivered.
• A collaborative approach with Scottish Government, DWP, Fair Start Scotland partners and successful providers in the Fair Start Scotland mobilisation phase from conception through to completion.
• Extensive mobilisation planning and activity is already underway, involving Fair Start Scotland providers and the Scottish Government Performance and Operational Support Team. These plans will be used to identify and agree the workstreams, critical activities and detailed IT developments required to support service delivery.
• Issuing detailed and consistent Operational Guidance to Fair Start Scotland providers to ensure clarity on performance reporting and monitoring systems. This guidance will support providers in their delivery of Fair Start Scotland and provide clear performance and delivery indicators against which Scottish Government will monitor their performance.