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Last updated: 18 December 2009
Dear Colleague,
It’s been an intense period for the Task Force since we last wrote to you in September. We’ve launched three publications, two others are imminent, and have been busy progressing PSA 16 and working to get the Link Up Link In message out to the frontline.
We are also delighted that we will have a new Director General, Rolande Anderson, to take us into the new year.
Like you, we’re looking forward to a well earned break, and a chance to recharge before refocusing our efforts in January. On behalf of all of us in the Task Force, have a very happy Christmas.
Ann Watt and Chris Cuthbert, Deputy Directors
Campbell Robb, Director General of the Office of the Third Sector and Social Exclusion Task Force, will be leaving the Cabinet Office on 18 December to take up the position of Chief Executive at Shelter. We would like to thank Campbell for his leadership and support since September and wish him all the best in his new position.
Rolande Anderson will succeed Campbell as Director General for the Third Sector and Social Exclusion, as of 21 December. Rolande is currently the Director General for Transformation and Corporate Services at the Office for National Statistics. Her previous roles have included Director of the Government Office for the South East and innovation and skills lead at the Department of Trade and Industry.
Read more about Rolande Anderson’s appointment
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The SETF has published a new study Learning from the Past: Tackling worklessness and the social impacts of the recession. It argues that dealing with the social impacts of recession is crucial in preventing the long-term worklessness that the country has seen in the past. It was published on 15 December alongside an evidence pack that sets out the data related to the past and current economic context.
The report outlines how previous recessions have resulted in not just rising unemployment, but also increases in crime, mental health problems and family and relationship breakdown. It highlights the social impacts of previous recessions and how this time round despite steeper falls in GDP, labour market effects have been less severe than in the past.
We also commissioned the National Centre for Social Research (NatCen) to conduct a study exploring the impact of job loss and job insecurity on social disadvantage.
Read more about Learning from the Past
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On 7 December, the SETF, together with other Departments across Government, published a new delivery strategy on mental health and employment. Work, Recovery and Inclusion (WRI) sets out a high level vision to support people in contact with secondary mental health services into work. This strategy forms part of the SETF’s latest work on the Socially Excluded Adults Public Service Agreement (PSA 16) which aims to support vulnerable adults into a home and a job.
WRI is also part of the Government's new approach to mental health which includes the New Horizons framework and Working Our Way to Better Mental Health, the new National Strategy for Mental Health and Employment.
The strategy looks to a future where people who are in contact with secondary mental health services are helped to get jobs, where they are equally valued for their contributions to the workplace, and where having a mental health condition is not seen as a barrier to work.
Read more about Work, Recovery and Inclusion
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The Access to Primary Health Care project team is nearing the end of its research analysis on improving access to, and the quality of, primary health care for the most vulnerable in our society. This follows months of consultation with service users, commissioners and healthcare providers.
The report is due to be published in late January 2010.
Read more about the Access to Primary Health Care project
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The SETF, with support from the DCSF and the National Care Advisory Service, launched Realising Young Potential: supporting care leavers into education, employment and training in November.
The report aims to support local authority Leaving Care Teams and their partners to further help young people who have left care to access education, employment and training (EET). It includes 10 recommendations, with agreed actions and practical examples of how some local authorities are addressing issues identified in the report. To implement this report, Government Offices, with support from NCAS, will agree how best to work with approximately 30 local areas to improve EET outcomes for care leavers.
Read the Realising Young Potential report
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We have commissioned the National Centre for Social Research (NatCen) to examine the importance of the roles and responsibilities of lead professionals working with the PSA 16 client groups. Their report looks at how frontline staff with ‘lead’ responsibilities for vulnerable groups (such as Care Co-ordinators, Offender Managers and Personal Advisors) can most effectively deliver ‘home and job’ outcomes for their clients.
Alongside this, we have produced a short document that provides further context and includes proposed actions for lead professionals and the other partners involved in supporting the lead professional role.
The report is expected to be published on the SETF website later this month.
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The SETF has been out and about at recent conferences. At the National Children and Adult Services (NCAS) annual conference in Harrogate in October, we held a joint workshop with Remploy on Valuing Employment Now: Real Jobs for People with Learning Disabilities to highlight this recent cross Government strategy.
At the Community Care Live: Children and Families conference in London in November we held a workshop session on our report Realising Young Potential: supporting care leavers into education, employment and training.
We have also spoken at a range of other events. For example: a SITRA event on housing related support; Space East’s supported housing conference; Community Care’s looked after children conference; and Inside Government’s annual social exclusion conference.
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Link Up Link In aims to support frontline staff to join up so that they can better deliver outcomes for vulnerable groups and support the aims of PSA 16.
Since launching Link Up Link In in September, seven regional events have taken place across the country to disseminate the message and resources to frontline professionals. Events have been held in the West Midlands, Yorkshire and Humber, the South East and the South West, with over 750 attendees. The East Midlands have also held two of their five local events in Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire.
The remaining regional launch events will be held early next year.
Visit the Link Up Link In website
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