VOLUNTARY organisations have reacted angrily this week to moves to prevent them from directly applying for £56.7m in European funding for employment initiatives.
A report has been sent to the government recommending that a remaining £56.7m of the 2007 to 2012 European Social Fund (ESF) for all of Scotland, (Highlands and Islands ESF funding is seperate), should be allocated to the Scottish Funding Council, the STUC, Skills Development Scotland and Community Planning Partnerships (CPPs).
Third sector organisations will therefore only be able to apply for funding through CPPs, preventing them from directly accessing funding for national employment initiatives.
Since the £237m fund opened in 2007, the third sector has received significant amounts for its work to improve employability skills in Scotland.
Just last week, Third Force News revealed £10m in ESF funding for third sector bodies in the lowlands and uplands of Scotland.
It included grants for national voluntary organisations such as Action for Children, Barnardo’s, Enable Scotland, Kibble Education and Care, Momentum, ProjectScotland, The Tullochan Trust and The Wise Group.
The awards included £1.2m to deliver in work training for young people working in six month jobs through the Scottish voluntary sector consortium’s Future Jobs Fund programme.
The Scottish Council for Voluntary Organisations (SCVO) this week urged the government to reconsider and ensure that third sector employment initiatives are given equal priority as other providers.
Donna Mackinnon, director of employment with SCVO, said: “Scotland’s third sector has played a vital role in supporting employment for a number of years, in particular we’ve taken an innovative approach to provision of services designed to support those most disadvantaged in the labour market.
“It is inconceivable that the sector is now being pushed out of applying for the funds that are designed to help boost this activity.
“Third sector organisations operate in all of these priority industries, straddling a cross section of society. What many people don’t realise is that the third sector is also economically competitive, contributing as much to the economy each year as tourism, for example.”
Tom Watson, director of Fairbridge in Scotland, said: “Since 2000, Fairbridge in Scotland has received £1.8m of ESF funding.
“This has enabled us to provide intensive support to 2,410 of Scotland’s most vulnerable and disengaged young people, and to foster real outcomes among many of them – returning to education, finding a job, gaining a qualification and making more of their lives.
“Although other statutory funding streams are available, and we have successfully applied for many of these, the amount we can raise is limited because of the innovative nature of our work. Mainstream provision also passes by many of these young people.”
The Scottish Government is yet to decide on whether or not to approve the strategy recommended by the ESF Programme Monitoring Committee.
However, the report from the ESF Programme Monitoring Committee for the lowlands and uplands of Scotland suggested that the remaining funds in the programme designed to promote jobs and skills, be focused on key areas that will help the Scottish economy grow over the next three years.
The report states: “Getting people into work remains the most urgent priority for the Scottish Government and for our society, but, in addressing this, ESF has to look towards the future skills requirement of a prosperous economy.”
It highlights seven priority sectors with potential to help the Scottish economy grow – these being universities, creative industries, energy, financial and businesses services, food and drink, life sciences and tourism. It argues that promoting employment in these industries would be best served through the four identified providers.
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