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Welfare Reform
Learning to get back to work
| Date: | Thursday 16 February 2006 |
| Venue: | Abbey Community Centre, 34 Great Smith Street, London |
| Ref: | C13-04/02/06 |
| Fee*: | £270 Statutory/Private Organisations £225 NIACE Members for the first applicant and £150 for subsequent Member applicants from the same organisation * Includes Lunch, tea/coffee |
[Background & Aims] [Audience] [Programme]
Background & Aims
A central goal of the Department for Work and Pensions is to raise the employment rate and to help people move from welfare into paid employment. Those receiving Incapacity Benefits are a prime focus of the forthcoming Green Paper on Welfare Reform which seeks to change a system that too often has incentivised claimants to remove themselves permanently from the workforce.
Any new approach will represent a significant educational challenge - to motivate people to re-engage with the labour market and to enhance their skills so as to improve employability. This conference is an opportunity to assess what is already in place to help meet the needs of those at some distance from the labour market - and what more needs to be done to meet the challenges of reform.
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Audience
The event will be of interest to people working in further education, adult and community learning, work-based and work-place learning organisations, Jobcentres and Jobcentre Plus, information, advice and guidance services, local government and the voluntary sector who are concerned to help people find ways of realising more of their potential in the labour force and overcome welfare dependency.
 | Business Support Organisations |
| Businesses and Employers |
| CBI Offices |
| Chambers of Commerce |
| Community Groups |
| Education Business Links |
| Education Consultants |
| Employment Service |
| FE Colleges |
| Government Departments with responsibilities for education, skills and economic development |
| Higher Education Funding Council |
| Jobcentre Plus |
| Learning and Skills Councils |
| Learning Partnerships |
| Local Educational Authorities |
| nextstep |
| Organisations supporting equality of opportunity and social inclusion |
| Probation Service |
| Professional Associations |
| QCA and Awarding Bodies |
| Regional Development Agencies |
| School Sixth Forms |
| Sector Skills Councils |
| Small Business Service |
| Trade Unions |
| Training Organisations |
| Training Providers |
| Ufi/Learndirect |
| Universities |
| Voluntary Groups |
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Programme
| 09:45 | Arrival and Registration (Tea/Coffee available) |
| 10:15 | Welcome and Introduction to the
Day Alastair Thomson, Senior Policy Officer, NIACE |
| 10:30 | Keynote Address Rt. Hon Margaret Hodge M.P, Minister of State, Department for Work and Pensions |
| 11:00 | Questions and Discussion |
| 11:10 | Response to the Keynote Address Marilyn Howard, Policy Manager, Disability Rights Commission |
| 11:35 | Tea/Coffee Break |
| 11:50 | The Role of Skills in Welfare
Reform David Simmonds, Director, Centre for Economic and Social Inclusion |
| 12:10 | First Level 2 Learning for
Every Adult Mark Corney, Director, MC Consultancy |
| 12:30 | Adult Learners on the Margins
and Routes into Learning and Work Dr. Christine Nightingale, Development Officer – Inclusive Learning, NIACE |
| 12:50 | Questions to the Panel |
| 13:05 | Lunch |
| 13:45 | Implications of Reform for
Older Learners and Older Workers Professor Stephen McNair, Director, Centre for Research into the Older Workforce, University of Surrey Nigel Pendleton, Business Development Co-ordinator – Diversity, JobcentrePlus, North Yorkshire District |
| 15:00 | Discussion Groups |
| 15:40 | Panel Discussion Feedback from Discussions Groups |
| 16:00 | Close of Conference (Tea/Coffee available) |
This programme is correct at the time of going to press. The organisers reserve the right to make changes to the published programme in the event of one or more of the advertised speakers being unable to attend. Delegates will have no claim against NIACE in respect of such changes.
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