Welfare to Work Scotland 2008

Venue: Hilton Glasgow Grosvenor Hotel
Date(s): 29 April 2008 - 30 April 2008

The convention was a balanced mix of in-depth policy discussions and case studies of innovative practice throughout Scotland, offering something for everyone involved in improving the employability of local people.

Key themes

• Increasing employment rates – is progress being made on employment for Scotland’s priority groups?
  
• Are mainstream programmes such as the New Deal providing the right type of help to those who need it most?
  
• Eradicating child poverty – how can Scotland increase employment and reduce child poverty in the most deprived areas?
  
• What more needs to be done to reach the UK’s child poverty target?
  
• Welfare reform – how should the Government continue with ‘localising’ welfare reform?
  
• What do Scotland’s City Strategy pilots offer in the way of innovative delivery models?
  
• Improving skills and job quality – does the workforce have the skills to meet the needs of Scottish employers?
  
• What can be said of job quality and how will this improve or decline in the future? How will the Leitch Review of skills and the new skills agency affect skills provision in Scotland?

Keynote speakers:

• Fiona Hyslop MSP, Cabinet Secretary for Education and Lifelong Learning
• Rt. Hon. Stephen Timms MP, Minister of State For Employment and Welfare Reform
• Alan Cave, Delivery Director, Department for Work and Pensions

  Convention programme