The Scottish Government is focusing on ‘leveling up’ it’s workforce according to Head of Investment, Kat Feldinger. 

Speaking at the Scotland Development Conference Feldinger spoke about the devaluation of vocational education saying that it was previously seen as “second hand” and “not on parity” with the academic route, but this has “changed massively in the last 5-10 years, we now have over 30,000 modern apprentices and we also have foundation apprentices that start earlier in life.”  [emaillocker id=”71749″]

The recent opening of a large Barclays head office in Glasgow has been hailed a sign of the strength of Scotland’s talent by Leon MacPherson, Manager Director of Location Strategy and Transformation at the company. He declared: “The key single most important reason we chose to build a strategic campus in Glasgow is the talent pool.”

Macpherson cited the need for locations to offer “talent, diversity and good connections with local businesses, and all of those are on offer in Glasgow.”  

Launching in 2020, the 6-acre campus site will provide 5,000 jobs in the region, increasing to 7,000 over the course of the next few years. MacPherson remarked on the broad set of roles being housed at the Glasgow site, making use of the diversity of skills which the country has to offer.

Ann Allen, Director of Estates and Commercial Services at the University of Glasgow, spoke about the necessity of inclusivity to preserve the ‘talent chain’ for companies like Barclays, which in turn will drive economic growth. She highlighted the importance of “ensuring that talent from areas of multiple deprivation have that opportunity.”  

Allen also spoke to the need to ensure that University’s engage with the community, as they aim to create an “open campus” with their new ongoing £1bn estate development programme. Discussing the need to engage the community during the consultation period in redevelopments she said: “Using the built environment we can support great talent, but only with the right thinking, the right working and collaboration together.”

Kevin Scarlett, Chief Executive at River Clyde Homes, a social housing provider with 5,800 homes across Scotland, spoke about how they were engaging with communities and their workforce to become “more than a landlord”, outlining their vision as “improving lives and places”. 

Initiatives by River Clyde Homes include their “commitment to excellence” which sees them reinvest 1% of turnover into improving staff skills and “working in communities” by providing six days a year to allow employees to engage in volunteering. Scarlett commented that their commitment to “skill up in the Clyde area” has allowed them to have “some of the highest customer satisfaction of any social housing provider in Scotland.”

Edinburgh has the highest educated population in the UK, claimed Andrew Kerr, Chief Executive Officer of Edinburgh City Council, and £25m of their £1.3bn City Region Deal is dedicated to creating new skills for an already highly educated population. Kerr remarked on the incredible expansion of the city stating “growth dominates the strategic landscape for Edinburgh”, and he noted both the rapid economic growth and the 7,000 new people that arrive in Edinburgh every year.  

Kerr announced that West Edinburgh economic plan to direct developers and investors was being created to capitalize of the expansion of the city. A new waterfront park and 4,000-5,000 homes in the Granton district of Edinburgh are also being developed by the council. 

He also divulged the Council’s plans to use the Land Commission to share land across the public sector to maximize utility, as previously it was often wasted. The Chief Executive also revealing the upcoming announcement of a Vision for Edinburgh plan in the Autumn which will have the local authority’s plans up until 2050. Kerr stressed the importance of a long-term Local Development Plans, saying they were “giving people a measure of certainty, no matter how uncertain the landscape is we’re dealing with.”

Martin McKay, the Executive Director of Regeneration for the Clyde Gateway in Glasgow, echoed the sentiments of others saying that the core (the core of what?) was “people, place and jobs”. He discussed the regeneration of the deprived region, which involved investing heavily in promoting STEM skills in the area, and the construction of 6,000 new homes. 

McKay also discussed the classification of the area as a “green regeneration district”, achieved by utilising district heating and cooling and geothermal energy. Kerr also referenced similar development in Edinburgh which is targeting to be “carbon neutral by 2030”, which includes building new houses to passive house standards, extending tram lines and creating a new low emission zone in the city.

The University of Glasgow’s Allen also discussed how to achieve long term climate goals: “We have to stop being reliant on driving for an hour to get to work “

MacPherson agreed, discussing how the Barclay’s “campus” model for Glasgow was adapting to changing patterns in the way people live and work. Macpherson described how people “want to bring their whole selves” to work, integrating working and living space and allowing more flexible approaches to the working day.

Scarlett summed up the “pride, belonging and human connection” that is needed to create strong work forces and communities. Feldinger agreed whilst highlighting the Scottish Government’s focus on “building at a human scale.” 

She referenced the fact that Scotland was the only place in the UK to account for socioeconomic status under the Equalities Act. 

The panel discussed the many ways that Scotland is as Feldinger put it, a “modern and progressive economy” but also how it is embracing the future of the workforce and community. [/emaillocker]