As a busy local authority in one of Britain’s most economically important cities, the remit of Aberdeen City Council is vast and varied. The pace is fast and our daily business covers an incredibly diverse range of areas.
In this environment, having a clear vision and defined sense of purpose is essential and we have that through our Local Outcome Improvement Plan (LOIP).
The LOIP sets out how Community Planning Aberdeen, the city’s Community Planning Partnership, will work together to improve outcomes for local people and communities. The vision set out in the LOIP is that Aberdeen will be ‘a place where all people can prosper’ by 2026.
To realise this ambition, the ongoing commitment to our city’s young workforce is crucial. We want every young person to have the opportunity to fulfil their potential and the strong collaboration with the DYW North East board is vital.
The work of the board is invaluable in helping to maximise the impact of the rich resource across our city to help ensure that our young people have the skill sets required to support a thriving local economy. Strong partnership working is a central strand, as is the commitment of each partner to play their individual role.
As a local authority we can help provide a direct link from employers to the future workforce but we also take our responsibilities as employers extremely seriously.
Colleagues in our people and organisation cluster have developed a number of foundation, modern and graduate apprenticeships across a range of job roles and areas. We are proud to be supporting 32 pupils from Aberdeen schools to undertake placements as part of their foundation apprenticeship in areas across the council.
The apprentices continue to impress with their enthusiasm and energy and we anticipate even higher numbers next year.
Our modern apprenticeships offer young people aged 16-24 an opportunity to undertake an apprenticeship which combines learning with on the job experience, whilst earning a salary.
Another important element is our delivery of The Career Ready programme. More Council mentors than ever before have commenced their journey and the programme provides a great opportunity to promote Aberdeen City Council as an employer of choice. In particular, the focus will be on growth areas and areas of sustained demand such as early years, teaching and social care.
Earlier this year, the Council extended its guaranteed interview scheme to include key groups and ensure young people have a platform for success in the job market.
In addition, the No One Left Behind initiative delivered by our business and skills team, working alongside third sector partners and SDS, ensures young people who have left school without a positive destination can still access employability support.
No One Left Behind has been created to support some of Scotland’s most vulnerable people to move forward, identify their career goals and work towards realising them.
While this new programme is open to people of all working ages, the team’s focus at this early stage is on the younger members of Aberdeen’s population.
As a council and corporate parent we have not only an aspiration but also a legal duty to support our care experienced young people. As part of this we are working to develop an internship programme within the authority to help them build work and life skills needed to build CVs, gain valuable work experience and get a real flavour of the opportunities the council can offer.
As part of the LOIP we are also working to increase the number of care experienced young people employed by public sector partners and, while this is in the early stages, the opportunities and potential gains are significant.
All of these strands and many others are being woven together to create the fabric of a city which cares about the next generation and values the role young people have to play in a bright, vibrant future for Aberdeen. Together with our partners we are determined to turn the vision of a place where all people can prosper into a reality.
