The provision of employment services is currently reserved to the UK Government, and delivered in Scotland by Jobcentre Plus, an agency of the Department for Work and Pensions.
While employment services are reserved, training for employment is a shared responsibility between the UK and Scottish Governments. Employment is also impacted by a broad range of devolved policy areas, including skills, health, regeneration, and childcare.
The National Conversation is promoting a dialogue on the future of the devolution settlement generally. Within this context, the question of devolution of employment (and possibly also benefits) services has been raised with UK Ministers. The integration of employment and skills services is a shared agenda between the Department for Work and Pensions and the Scottish Government. As such, it offers an opportunity to demonstrate how devolution could work effectively in practice.
This strategy acknowledges that that a key factor in moving people out of poverty is through work
A Strategy to Reduce the Proportion of Young People not in Education, Employment or Training in Scotland
Sets out the short and long term targets in relation to economic growth
This Strategy is a framework to show how all of the constituent parts of the education and learning systems can contribute to giving Scotland a skills base that is world class.
This concordat sets out the terms of a new relationship between the Scottish Government and local government, based on mutual respect and partnership.
Part of the UK Government’s ongoing programme of welfare reform and focuses on reducing dependency on benefits and supporting more people into employment
This Framework sets out further priorities for action and investment to deliver improvement in: reducing income inequalities; introducing longer-term; msures to tackle poverty and the drivers of low income; supporting those experiencing poverty or at risk of falling into poverty; making the tax credits and benefits system work better for Scotland.