In the Spotlight

Community Benefits Outcome Community Engagement - Supplier Financial Donation

Report by - Brake Bros

Brake Bros had been successfully awarded the contract for Frozen Foods.  As part of the contract Brake Bros had agreed to provide Community Benefits in the form of a financial donation.  The total amount due for the timeframe was £19K. 

After various discussions with relevant departments it was deemed appropriate that the donation (19K) should be given to support the Council's Food Strategy and the introduction of the Food Pantries scheme across the City.

The City has a range of community led organisations that provide food support to people experiencing food poverty and destitution. These come in the form of Foodbanks of which there are 50 main delivery points, Community Food Organisations and more recently the Food Pantries Scheme, to name a few. 

These organisations rely on surplus food and donations. By far the largest provider of surplus food in the UK is FareShare. Move On runs the FareShare Glasgow and the West of Scotland service and has been operating since 2009. There are approximately 280 community food member organisations throughout the region, of which 101 are in Glasgow.

Community Benefits Outcome - Apprenticeship - Civil Engineering

Report by - Mott McDonald

Following the successful award for the Provision of a Lead Consult and a Team of Multi Disciplinary Professional Consultants at the Charing Cross Keys Project. Mott McDonald advertised for an additional apprentice. The successful candidate was interviewed and appointed to the role.

The apprenticeship role is in civil engineering and the successful employee has been working on a variety of UK and international projects.  The role is largely in the production of engineering design drawings and 3D models. The successful candidate also attends Kelvin College one day a week and is expected to achieve his HNC in June 2021.

The successful candidate has also entered onto the Mott MacDonald apprenticeship programme which he should complete in 2021/22 after achieving EngTech with the Institution of Civil Engineers.

The successful candidate has stated: "I have been working at Mott MacDonald and have gained a vast amount of experience in that time. I am currently completing the second year of my HNC at Glasgow Kelvin College and working through my SVQ, aiming to have both complete by June 2021.

After achieving this I am hoping to start at University in September 2021 and start my application process for the Institution of Civil Engineers EngTech qualification by the end of 2021. I look forward to the challenges my goals will bring and am excited to progress further in my apprenticeship with Mott MacDonald."

Community Benefits Outcome - Level 3 Modern Apprentice - Driving Goods Vehicles

Report by - M8 Recovery

M8 recovery was successfully awarded the contract for the Vehicle and Plant recovery Services. A job for a Light Recovery Driver was advertised and the role was appointed in August 2020. The successful candidate was a 23-year-old single parent of 2 small children whose previous employment prior to taking the job was mostly casual agency work.

Whilst working in his role and with support from M8 Recovery the employee worked towards an SVQ in Driving Goods Vehicles. He worked in his own time studying for both SVQ and MA. Through all his hard work the employee has recently successfully completed a Level 3 Modern Apprenticeship in Driving Goods Vehicles at SCQF Level 6.

This has been very positive for the employee and has given him the stepping-stones to advance further with his driving qualifications and career within the business which M8 Recovery are fully supportive of.

The successful employee has stated: "From the start I really loved working here and there is a real feel of family with everyone that works here."

Community Benefits Outcome - Skills and Training

Report by - Stannah Lifts

Following the successful award for the Stair lifts, Access lifts, Track Hoist Systems and Slings (Framework) Stannah got to work straight away to fulfilling their Community Benefit obligations. Stannah had chosen a variety of outcomes which were mainly based around the Skills and TrainingTheme.

After discussions with the Strategic Lead for Education Stannah decided to work in partnership with the Education Department on the Bridges to Employment Programme. The programme was developed to help support Glasgow Young People (YP) be better prepared to move into the world of work.

The Bridges to Employment objective is  to engage in partnerships with employers that are willing to work with young people from Glasgow schools over a period of time with the ultimate outcome of a full-time modern apprentice or permanent position within the business.

The programme was adapted to align with the community benefits that Stannah Lifts committed to, and at  the same time the needs of course of education and ultimately the young people. The programme was broken down into five stages:-

Stage 1

The nomination stage. It is normally 4 schools with 5 young people per school and the young people are selected by the school dependent on their interest in the field and their aspirations.

It must be noted that not all young people that take part at the beginning would be keen to follow through the full 5 stage process, interest drops and there may only be 6-8 young people left in the process.

With Stannah there were 4 schools interested with 6 young people moving onto the next stage.

Stage 2

Was a workplace visit for the young people where they carried out a tour of the branch, a career event where they were given a presentation and videos on the Stannah brand and the business operating units in the UK and worldwide, and included a question and answer session.

Stage 3

Involved work experience placement and assessment for the young people. The assessment involved a mock test which was sat under exam conditions and was structured around the test used for Stannah's apprentice application stage.

No preferential treatment was given to the young people. Feedback was given to all the young people on their placements and their completed assessments. 5 of the young people selected moved to the interview stage.

Stage 4

Was the interview stage for the remaining young people. The young people had to apply for the role the same way as any individual would have to and all were interviewed under normal interview conditions. This allowed the young people to learn about the interview process from completing application forms to being able to handle interview situations with the view to achieving a job at the end of the process.

Stage 5

Was the recruitment stage whereby one of the remaining candidates was offered the role that had already been created by Stannah. Stannah had created a Modern Apprenticeship role in Lift Engineering.

The young person, from Hillpark Secondary School, was delighted to accept the role, the first part of the young person's training will be a 4 week experience in Andover.

Community Benefits Outcome - Career Events

Report by - Levenseat Limited

As part of its tender submission Levenseat had agreed to commit to a variety of Career Events within Glasgow schools. Through discussions with the Strategic Lead for Education, the Supplier identified a real passion and enthusiasm for carrying out the Career Events within the ASL (Additional Support for Learning) schools.

Since the tender award, Levenseat has been working closely with both Cardinal Winning and Parkhill secondary school, two of the ASL schools in the east end of Glasgow.

The format and structure of the Career Events were agreed with the Education representative with input from the ASL schools involved.

The member of staff from Levenseat who carried out the Career Events had prior involvement with young people with additional support needs so was well equipped and knowledgeable about how to present to the audience.

Cardinal Winning was the first school that Levenseat worked with. Throughout their time at the school Levenseat has contributed to forming a recycling group within the school delivering some very interesting workshops about how  to recycle, and making them aware not only of the problem of the landfill but also of how recycled materials can become a source of wealth for the communities.

Levenseat approached our young people with videos, cartoons and even a digital book that proved to be very effective to pass the message on to the young people. The addition of hands on workshops has also been a winning move.

Since then, the young people in the school have started a very active recycling program involving not only members of staff and other young people but the whole community.

Following the advice of Levenseat the young people have collected plastic bottles and cans and used them through a Return, Reward, Recycle scheme in two main supermarkets. The scheme allowed them to return Cans or plastic bottle and obtain vouchers to spend in the supermarket.

The vouchers have then been used  to buy items to help different causes, such as fill up the in school foodbank, buy items for Helping People In Need (Glasgow) as part of voluntary work for Duke of Edinburgh, create hampers for poorer families in the community during Christmas time and to finance an enterprise in the school. They use the vouchers to stock the tuck shop, so ALL the sales are profit for the school residential fund.

Following the success of the scheme at Cardinal Winning, the recycling group prepared a PowerPoint to present to Parkhill Secondary to share good practice. Levenseat was just starting the sessions with the young people in Parkhill school, so the event was organised to share good practice and was deemed very beneficial for both the schools.

After the session a series of workshops started in Parkhill, aiming to create a recycling culture and forming a new group of young people that could implement a similar system to the one in CardinalWinning.

The response was very positive, the young people understood the importance for the planet, enjoyed  and actively took part in the workshops and prepared a poster to introduce the program to the entire school.

The Council Representative stated:

"The response has been very positive, the young people have a greater understanding of recycling and its importance for the planet, they enjoyed and actively took part in the workshops and prepared a poster to introduce the program to the entire school. We hope to continue the collaboration with Levenseat and achieve more goals in the future."

Community Benefit Outcome - Recruitment and Employment (Priority Group)

Report By - Lightways (Contractors) Limited

As part of their tender submission Lightways had originally committed to a variety of Community Engagement activities which were being planned out. Then Lightways had made a request that they wanted to be considered.

This request involved substituting some  of their previous choices and replacing them with a New Start Job from a Priority Group.

During the time that Lightways was working on the GCC contract, one of the on the job Supervisors had noticed that the same individual would turn up at each location every day and would ask questions about the work they were doing. This was mentioned to Lightways Management who were interested to know more.

Lightways Management soon discovered that the individual, since leaving school in 2017, had been out of work for a year before starting employment doing ground works/civils work.

This spell of employment lasted around  a year or so and the individual then tried their hand at demolition. The individual had another spell of unemployment, and it was during in this time he had taken a keen interest in the works Lightways were undertaking throughout Glasgow, replacing deteriorated lighting columns.

The individual would check the Scottish Roads Works Register for locations of the work and arrive at the location each day, questioning the guys as they worked and taking a keen interest in how works were carried out.

The individual is an avid collector of road lighting luminaires, attends conventions and has his own lighting social media account, and the individual admitted that Street Lighting was a real passion and had been for some time.  When asked how long he had been interested in Street Lighting the response was, from approximately the age of 4 years old when he used to sit and watch as the lights came on at night and wondered how this happened and looked in awe as the lights burned different shades and wanted to learn more.

After further discussions Lightways decided to offer the individual the position of a street lighting labourer. Lightways was aware that the individual had autism and by changing some of their processes and breaking down tasks they would be able to support the individual in the working environment. The individual is employed full time and long term by Lightways and has become a valued member of the street lighting team.

The individual has stated:

"that he absolutely loves his job. He openly says this is his dream job. He doesn't struggle to get out of bed in the mornings like he used to and noted that overall improvements in his life have been noticeable. These range from his concentration improving, his motivation to better himself and his overall confidence. The individual also described this as one of his happiest moments."

Lightways representative has stated:

"Before we employed Lewis, he would spend his days observing our operatives carrying out Street Lighting replacement works throughout Glasgow. In August 2021 we decided to offer Lewis a position as a street lighting labourer, we knew he had autism and that he sometimes found it difficult to concentrate and focus, he has progressed well within the company, given clear instruction and structured tasks he copes very well and his overall confidence and ability to concentrate and focus has improved tenfold."

Community Benefit Outcome - Recruitment and Employment (Priority Group)

Report By - Aspire Industrial Services Limited

Carly initially came to Aspire as a Modern Apprentice and recently completed S6 at St. Rochs Secondary in Robroyston on the advice of her Guidance Teacher. To build her confidence we started a part time job for her throughout the summer prior to her College Commencement. She however decided that she was not ready to start college and that she was unsure of what she wanted to do. This was no surprise as Carly as well as her parents had advised she struggled meeting new people after a tough year in lockdown and spending her full S6 year at home. We decided to keep Carly on a permanent 30 hour contract as full time was too difficult for travel to Hillington. During this period she became an apprentice to our Brand Manager Anna.  She is fully trained on digital print, embroidery and still in training for screen print and sublimination.   Carly is currently responsible for branding the products where required on this contract. She has also been an integral part of creating ideas in particular when looking at S6 Leaver Prints and Outdoor Events.

Her future plans were to become a dental nurse, however she has excelled so much in the job role and found a talent and skill she had never thought of.  Carly is currently doing her driving lessons and increased her contract to full time 39 hours from April with a £12 per hour salary at 18.  This is in line with the Branding Team at Aspire.

"This job has meant I could afford driving lessons much earlier than I thought and my new salary will mean I will be able to afford my own car when I pass my driving test!  I like working in Aspire because I spend every day doing something different and learning something new." 

Carly Healy, Branding Team

"Carly has been a great addition to the Aspire Branding Team.  She is so thorough in all aspects of her work and takes such care in quality and presentation.  She also brings new ideas when we are creating branding or social media posts for our younger customer base.   Our Brand Manager, Anna has nothing but praise and enthusiasm for the continuous development of Carlys role at Aspire and we look forward to providing updates over the three year term."

Claire Donnelly, Managing Director