Employment Service (Hansard, 20 June 2000)

§ Dr. Reid

The aim of the Employment Service is to help people without jobs find work and employers to fill their vacancies. The Employment Service in Scotland makes a significant contribution to an efficient and flexible labour market and to meeting the Government's objectives of high and stable employment and growth, opportunity for all and social inclusion. Its main priority is to help people faced with particular difficulties in the labour market move from welfare and economic inactivity into sustainable employment. It is taking forward an ambitious programme of technological change and business improvement and is preparing for the merger with the Benefits Agency in 2001. I am announcing today the targets we have set for the Employment Service in Scotland for 2000–01, which relate to its four key objectives.

Vision and Purpose

The Employment Service in Scotland aims to make a major contribution to an efficient and flexible labour market and to the Government's objectives of high and stable levels of employment and growth, opportunity for all and social inclusion. The Employment Service in Scotland works closely with employers, and with its private, public and voluntary sector partners to provide a quality service for all people without a job and to promote employment opportunities for all who can work. It aims to attract a diverse range of vacancies and to fill those vacancies quickly by matching the right people and skills with the right jobs. Its main priority is to help individuals facing particular difficulty in the labour market to move from welfare and economic inactivity into sustainable employment. It does this through correct application of the JSA regime, delivery of the New Deals and the pilot ONE service, and through the provision of appropriate advice training and support. The Agency has achieved much over the past three years. The challenge and opportunity now facing it is to sustain continuous improvement in its services to jobseekers and employers and to make these services more accessible and relevant to customer needs, through effective use of modern technology and close working with a wide range of partners.

Aim

To help people without jobs find work and employers to fill their vacancies.

Objective A

To help all people without jobs, and particularly those on welfare and at a disadvantage in the labour market, to find and keep work by providing appropriate information, advice, training and support and by encouraging employers to open more opportunities to them.

Targets

1.To help 20,292 participants in the New Deals and the Glasgow Employment Zone, directly or in partnership with others.
2.To help 11,200 people with disabilities into work, directly or in partnership with others.
3.To help 33,335 disadvantaged jobseekers into work, directly or in partnership with others.
4.To help 91,875 people from welfare into work, directly or in partnership with others.
5.To help 169,325 jobless people into work, directly or in partnership with others.

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Objective B

To ensure that the rights and relevant labour market responsibilities of people on JSA and other benefits are fulfilled, while helping to combat fraud and abuse of the benefits system.

Target

To ensure that the relevant labour market responsibilities of people on JSA are fulfilled in 94 per cent. of cases checked.

Objective C

To harness new technology, the pursuit of excellence and continuous improvement to deliver effective, efficient and accessible services to all people without jobs and to employers in Jobcentres and increasingly through other locations and means of communications.

Targets

1. To achieve a 91 per cent. customer service level for jobseekers.
2. To introduce the Learning and Work Bank, new Labour Market System, touch screen kiosks and a single national telephone number for employers by March 2001.

Objective D

To deliver services to all ES customers in a way which respects individual differences, helps to overcome disadvantages due to ethnicity, gender, age or disability and achieves the best possible outcome for all.