The Institute for Public Policy Research is a leftwing thinktank based in London in the UK. It was founded in 1988 and is an independent registered charity. IPPR has offices in Newcastle, Manchester, and Edinburgh.  

This is what they have to say about the future of work in Scotland.

The world of work in 2030 will be very different to that in 2017. People are more likely to be working longer, and will often have multiple jobs, with multiple employers and in multiple careers. Over 2.5 million adults of working age in Scotland today (nearly 80 per cent) will still be of working age by 2030. At the same time, over 46 per cent of jobs (1.2 million) in Scotland are at high risk of automation. We will therefore need a skills system ready to work with people throughout their careers.

There have been improvements in the Scottish labour market in recent years in terms of pay and productivity, while qualification levels have been steadily improving and are higher than levels in the UK as a whole. However, Scotland continues to have lower rates of in-work progression and lower rates of productivity than the UK as a whole, and pay rates, although increasing, have reduced in real terms and are still behind rates in the UK overall.

Within the skills system, there are gaps and overlaps in provisions, with a clear gap in mid-career provision, which employers are not addressing. While we have the best record within the UK nations for employers investing in training, there is still much to be improved on, with too many employers adopting a low-skill business model.

We make a number of recommendations in this report, which include a proposal for a new Open Institute of Technology (OIT) for Scotland, to provide a flexible and transferable mid-career learning route, as well as a focus on in-work progression, productivity and pay outcomes and tests of demand from classroom to boardroom.

By making changes now, we can ensure the skills system is at the centre of supporting Scotland’s economy through the short- and long-term challenges it faces, and delivering the inclusive economic growth we wish to see.

IPPR has set up a landmark Commission to rethink economic policy for post-Brexit Britain.

The economy belongs to us all, but it is not working for everyone. Half of all households have seen no meaningful improvement in their incomes for more than a decade. Only London and the South East have seen a full recovery in economic output since the financial crisis. In a new IPPR poll only a fifth of the public said they think the way the economy works is fair.

The UK economy also suffers from significant structural weaknesses – low and declining investment, low productivity, a large balance of trade deficit and major fiscal and carbon gaps.

These problems suggest that the foundations of our economy need to be rethought. We need a new national economic vision and policy that can generate sustainable growth and broadly-shared prosperity.

The Commission on Economic Justice therefore aims to rewrite the rules for the post-Brexit economy. It brings together people from across society – from business and trade unions, civil society organisations and academia –, to examine the challenges facing the UK economy and make practical recommendations for its reform.

​The Commission is non-party-political and has been welcomed by both Government and Opposition. Commissioners come from both sides in the EU referendum campaign.

The Commission will last for two years, publishing its final report in autumn 2018.

The European Youth Forum has lodged a complaint against the Belgian government, seeking to ban unpaid internships.

From the Executive Summary.

Young people entering the job market are in a precarious economic position. Across Europe, and in Belgium those who wish to enter into the professional world are faced with the de facto mandate that in order to gain experience and build the connections that will enable them to find paid professional work in the future, they must complete several internships.

Yet many of these internships are unpaid or underpaid, forcing some young people to rely on their savings or their parents and shutting others out of the process entirely.

This Complaint asks the Committee to consider the legal situation for unpaid interns in Belgium in light of the European Social Charter and find that Belgium is not in conformity with the Charter. Specifically, the provisions in Belgian law that enable unpaid internships, and the lack of enforcement of provisions that aim to curtail them, violate Articles 4 and 7 of the Charter, which provide for fair remuneration and the protection of young people, respectively.

The European Youth Forum report is downloadable below:

A former homeless man is calling for more regular counts of rough sleepers in Worcester after an ‘unprecedented rise’ in the number of cases. Mr Suggs is planning a vigil to mark anniversary of rough sleeper Cardon Banfield's death.

Mr Banfield died alone in his tent yards from a riverbank footpath, and he could only be identified by his DNA. It was only the smell of Cardon Banfield's decomposing body which led to him being found after a hotel customer raised the alarm. Mr Banfield of no fixed abode was found near Worcestershire County Cricket Club by a club steward on July 5 2016. 

Concerns have been raised about the plight of rough sleepers. 

An inquest into the 74-year-old’s death was held at Worcestershire Coroner’s Court in Stourport. However local campaigners feel there should be an investigation into the systematic failures by the Local Authority's Housing Department who cut the comprehensive Outreach Team 3 months prior to Cardon's body being discovered. The investigation they say, should ask CCP to justify why their Outreach Team did not find Cardon and probe Maggs Day Centre into revealing why they didn't share information about Cardon when he visited the Centre before his death.

Hugo Sugg, who lives in Worcester city centre has launched a campaign called ‘Somewhere in Summer’ pushing for more regular monitoring of numbers of rough sleepers in the city to provide accurate, up-to-date information about their plight, the state of their health and their access to support services.

Mr. Suggs’ goal he said is 'to raise awareness about youth homelessness and change attitudes'.

Information courtesy of Worcester News

The Government has been criticised for leaving pensioners in a state of “total confusion” about why some are not receiving the full state pension. The new flat rate state pension, which is £159.55 a week for this tax year, was introduced in April 2016 and is available to anyone who has built up 35 qualifying years’ worth of National Insurance credits.

The reason is often because they were contracted out – sometimes without their knowledge – at some point in their career. This meant they paid a reduced rate of national insurance in exchange for a lower state pension.

 People who paid NIC's were not told at the time that if they were contracted out without their knowledge it would cost them income in later life. 

Many people who chopped and changed jobs would find it impossible to even find out as over the course of forty years firms with merge, close down or go bust. Trying to find out anything would be pretty much impossible. 

Elizabeth Anderson of the iPaper has done an excellent article on this. Click here to read more: 

London and South East England are set to account for 40 percent of the economy by the end of the next parliament’s mandate, said Britain’s trade union body TUC in a written statement. That’s up from 37.5 percent in 2015 and 33 percent in 1997, and a sign of an unbalanced economy according to TUC. London alone now accounts for 25 percent of the entire economy (with just 15 percent of the population).

Street League is excited to announce a new partnership with Laurent Koscielny, the Arsenal Captain and Premier League defender. In February 2017, Koscielny signed up to become an Epic Ambassador for Street League, the UK charity which uses the power of sports to tackle youth unemployment.

Laurent Koscielny is a French footballer who plays as a centre-back for English Premier League club Arsenal and the France national football team. 

Following reports that increasing numbers of ex-service personnel are forced to rely on foodbanks - SNP candidate Dr Eilidh Whitford has condemned the Tory government’s failed austerity agenda.

A former Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders private told today’s (Monday) Daily Record that he was struggling to get enough work on a zero hours-type contract, forced into homelessness and reliant on foodbanks after leaving the forces.   

Veteran Cammy Macleod – a co-ordinator of the - said: “The fact our veterans are being forced to use foodbanks is a horrifying indictment of modern Britain.

” Commenting Dr Eilidh Whitford, candidate for Banff and Buchan said: “Our brave veterans have enough to deal with when they return to civilian life and it is truly shameful that the Tories have turned their backs on so many who have fought for this country, leaving them to rely on emergency food supplies.

Next week on 17th & 18th May the ExCeL, London will host Europe's largest, most exciting business event, The Business Show. This is a show like no other say the organisers, featuring an incredible speaker line-up, 170 masterclasses on a range of critical business topics, 350 unique exhibitors, 250 educational seminars, 4 specially tailored zones, 7 dynamic show features and much much more!

Image: The Business Show - trade stands galore.

VISITING THE SHOW

SHOW OPENING TIMES

Wednesday 17th May 10am - 6pm
Thursday 18th May 10am - 5pm

LOCATION

ExCeL London
Royal Victoria Dock
London
E16 1XL

ExCeL London is located 10 minutes from Canary Wharf, in the heart of London's Royal Docks.

There is easy access to the venue - with three onsite DLR (Docklands Light Railway) stations, easy access to London Underground (Jubilee Line - three stops away on the DLR from Canning Town for ExCeL east entrance), parking for 3,700 cars and an international airport 5-minutes away

The Jubilee Line is recommended as the quickest route towards ExCeL and ICC London from Central London.

Alight at Canning Town to change onto the Docklands Light Railway (DLR) bound for Beckton. DLR trains toward the venue normally depart from platform 3.

Visitors should be aware that only DLR trains in the direction of Beckton serve ExCeL London - do not use DLR services in the direction of Woolwich Arsenal from Canning Town.

Image: The Business Show - seminars.

Meet Fred, the two foot tall cloth puppet that fights prejudice every day. He just wants to be a regular guy, part of the real world, to get a job and meet a girl, but when threatened with losing his PLA (Puppetry Living Allowance), Fred’s life begins to spiral out of his control. Contains strong language and puppet nudity.

Hijinx and Inclusion Hijinx is an inclusive theatre company based in Cardiff, all their productions include learning disabled performers alongside performers without learning disability. To support their work, they have a network of Academies around Wales that train learning disabled performers in a variety of skills. The Company provides this training because it is virtually impossible for an actor with learning disability to access more traditional drama schools or universities.

When ready, students from their Academies join the Company on their  professional productions. This ensures that our work is always of the highest quality, with all artists starting a process on an equal footing. Meet Fred features three of our performers with learning disability, all of whom were heavily involved in the devising of the production. 

Blind Summit

Based in London, Blind Summit is recognised as one of the UK’s most exciting companies working with puppetry. They have had huge success with productions such as The Table and Citizen Puppet, and often work with companies such as Complicite and ENO. Hijinx came into contact with Blind Summit in April 2014 when we invited them to run a week’s training in puppetry for our Academy students in Cardiff. We were joined by three of their artists, including Artistic Director Mark Down, it was during this week that the seed for making an inclusive production with a puppet was sown. 

The Process

‘...As we explored the concept of creating an inclusive show with a puppet, the parallels between life for a puppet, and the learning-disabled artists that we work with quickly became apparent. Just as many of the people that we work with rely on support in order to live an independent life, so Fred relies on his three puppeteers simply to exist. The relationship of dependence and interdependence that exists between Fred and his puppeteers is the exact same situation that many people with learning disability and disability in general face in their everyday life. Inevitably during a devising process it is the people that you have in the room that ultimately influence in what direction a piece may go, and crucially what their experience is of the world at any given time. As we were making this show, many of our learning disabled performers were living through the current overhaul of the benefits system by our wonderful Tory government...’

‘...We began to explore how life would be for Fred if he also lived in this environment, what would happen if Fred is threatened with losing his Puppetry Living Allowance, what would Fred be without his puppeteers, would he even survive? Suddenly, instead of the whimsical, light puppet show we had envisaged, we had a serious political message on our hands, but one that could be presented with hilarity and made seem all the more ridiculous when seen through the eyes of our puppet hero Fred...’

Image: Meet Fred

Following a successful run at Summerhall as part of the Edinburgh Fringe Festival in 2016, Meet Fred is touring extensively in 2017:

“Sharp, funny and vastly entertaining”, Lyn Gardner, The Guardian

Meet Fred Tour Dates 2017

Sir Bob Russell (Lib Dem) is back in the fray as prospective candidate for Colchester. Bob was first elected at the United Kingdom general election, 1997 and won subsequent re-election in 2001, 2005 and 2010; he was defeated in United Kingdom general election, 2015 by the Conservative MP Will Quince.

Sir Bob was knighted in the 2012 New Year Honours for public service. He holds the ceremonial position of High Steward of Colchester.

Sir Bob has a few miles under the keel these days - politely known as the 'grey hairs of wisdom'. However, it must be pointed out Bob was a very effective and vigorous constituency MP and he will certainly be giving the Conservatives something to worry about on June 8_^th.

Sir Bob has pledged to fight for affordable local housing and accommodation for the genuinely homeless and to help local parents. Last year violent crime increased by 25% and Bob wants to restore to the police funding and the support they need to do their job. And to give the NHS and hospitals the funding and the local control they need to be effective. Sir Bob has worked with the Armed Forces for many years and has always had a very positive relationship with those who serve.

The Lib Dems Colchester base is an ex. church close to a Co-op funeral home! An idea base one might say to communicate with those upstairs, and of course by that we don't mean those in the the House of Lords!  

Image: Colchester Liberal Democrats HQ.