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 

Community Benefit Outcome - Community Engagement - Financial Support

Report By - Clear Channel

As part of their Community Benefit commitments Clear Channel had agreed to provide 100 Community Engagement points- Financial Donation outcomes. The Supplier had a clear vision of what they wanted to provide and working with their partners "Trees for Cities" promptly engaged with GCC Education department to set the wheels in motion.

The project was to create and build 3 Edible playgrounds within local primary schools to encourage schoolchildren to grow and eat vegetables, as well as integrating into the school curriculum. Edible Playgrounds offer a lively, engaging, multi-sensory way to teach children about growing and eating healthy food. Aside from the physical health benefits that eating well brings, learning in an outdoor environment combats Nature Deficit Disorder and has been shown to increase mental health by boosting mood, confidence and self- esteem.

Furthermore, allowing the children to connect with nature develops attentiveness and self-reliance in the pupils, leading to more sustainable behaviours in the long term. Trees for Cities are a UK based charity working at a national and international scale to improve lives by planting trees in cities.

They get involved with local communities to cultivate lasting change in their neighbourhoods - whether it's revitalising forgotten spaces, creating healthier environments or getting people excited about growing, foraging and eating healthy food.

The project was in 4 stages: identifying the schools, Supplier carrying out the surveys, discussing the plans with the nominated schools and then the build itself. The 3 schools nominated for the project were

St Denis' Primary, G31 2RZ, Alexandra Parade Primary, G31 2TL and Anderston Primary, G3 8HY. The full project was completed in the Autumn of 2023.

In addition, due to the nature of the build, the supplier had to get admission to the schools at the weekend. This incurred a charge as permission had to be granted and the schools involved did not have the additional budget to cover the cost. The Supplier was more than happy to cover the cost which eased the pressure on the schools.

The Council Representative stated:

"A good community benefit for our schools and Thank you to Clear Channel for all their support in this fantastic project which will give these three schools a fantastic support as we work on the Glasgow Food Plan."

Community Benefit Outcome - Skills and Training

Report By - Covanburn Contract

As part of their Community Benefit commitments Covanburn agreed to provide a Work Experience Placement non-school outcome.

Covanburn had previously had experience working with The Bridges Programme and was very familiar with their work and wanted to work with them again in order to fulfill the outcome.

The Bridges Programmes is a specialist agency who supports the social, educational and economic integration of refugees, asylum seekers, migrants, and anyone for whom English is a second language, living in Glasgow. The Work Experience placement offered was a post in Administration and the offer was presented to The Bridges Programme to see if anyone would be willing to grab the opportunity.

The contact at The Bridges Programme had recommended an individual who had recently moved to Scotland from Hong Kong. The role was to shadow the Admin Office Manager and assist with Admin/Reception Duties. The placement began and was initially for 1 day a week for 6 weeks.

The individual was diligent and hardworking however she lacked confidence and had difficulty understanding the Scottish dialect. After a few weeks in the placement the supplier carried out telephone training with the individual.

Initially she was scared to answer the telephones but within a few weeks she was answering them within 2 rings.

The Supplier was fully supportive of her and were all on hand to help as sometimes the language barrier was tricky. At the end of the 6-week placement, the individual asked if she could continue the placement. The Supplier was delighted and was only too happy to honor her request as she had become an asset to the team.

Throughout her time spent in the placement her confidence had greatly increased so much so that she started to become interested in applying for jobs. The Supplier assisted the individual with updating her CV and she applied for a role she had spotted and felt confident enough to apply for.

She went for the job resulting in her application getting her an interview which resulted in her successfully being offered a full-time job.

Community Benefit Outcome - Skills and Training - Community Engagement - Financial Support

Report By - RJ McLeod

As part of their tender submission the Supplier had agreed to provide outcomes from the Skills and Training Theme and the Community Engagement Theme. Their outcomes included Work Experience and Community Engagement - Financial Donation. The Supplier has been a big supporter of Community Benefits and have always thought of new ways to do this. This outcome was no different.

Instead of providing separate Work Experience and donation to an organisation the supplier decided to fulfil the outcomes in another way. As they are in the construction industry they are aware of some of the difficulties for young people to get a step up to be able to work on a construction project. In order for anyone to work on a construction project a CSCS card must be obtained.

CSCS cards provide proof that individuals on construction sites have the appropriate training and qualifications for the job they are delivering. There is various level within the scheme depending on experience or role that the individual has. The supplier was looking to ensure that the young people received the entrance level card.

The Supplier had engaged with GCC Education department, the Strategic Lead for Community Engagement and the Community Benefits Officer to sought agreement for their proposal to combine both themes together in order that some young people can achieve a CSCS  card.

All parties agreed that this was an excellent way to fulfil their Community Benefit commitments and the Supplier set about putting the plan in action.

Young People from Lourdes Secondary and St Thomas Aquinas Secondary - Glasgow took part in the proposal as they had shown an interest in the opportunity. There were 6 young people who took part altogether.

The Supplier provided taxis to pick up the pupils from the schools and took them to the Training Centre, the suppliers in-house Training Officer provided a full day of CSCS Card training to 6 young people which provided and delivered targeted training. The Suppliers in- house Trainer is fully qualified to deliver the training and to provide the necessary information in order to get them through. The young people had to sit an exam at the end of the training. The supplier not only covered the cost of the travel and also paid for all the NPORS exam and CSCS cards and paid for and provided study literature to the young people to assist with their training and learning. They also provided additional support where required.

The young people who took part were very engaging and made the most of the opportunity that they were given. All 6 young people were successful and passed the CSCS card final exam and have received their certificates. This will help open doors to employment on construction sites in the UK and giving them confidence.

Community Benefit Outcome - Work Placement and Community Engagement

Report By - Bridgeman Arts

Bridgeman Arts were able to offer the opportunity to Sophie Somerville to volunteer within our organisation over the course of three months to gain an experience of our community engagement work, artistic techniques, event management application and event delivery with the aim that she will be able to develop the skills to make a meaningful contribution to the community arts sector thus increasing the reach and potential of our area of work.

Sophie is 20 years old and has tried an academic course, but she felt that this was not suited to her learning style or main area of interest and so was seeking ways to explore her own capacity as a creative practitioner. we felt that our community benefits deliverables would be an ideal opportunity for her and also for ourselves to potentially develop a future staff member.

Sophie took up the opportunity on 9 occasions where she engaged in approximately 60 hours of work placement activity. this included: artwork techniques, technical and structural building work, organising, administrative work, event delivery, public facing stewarding work experience and event logistics and tech.

Sophie has provided a statement below:

"My name is Sophie Somerville and I have been volunteering on a Bridgeman Arts programme. I approached the company in November 2023, but it was not until March 2024 that I was able to take up the opportunity. The Bridgeman Arts work during my programme was focused on parade arts development with a strong community arts focus and this work was an extension of my earlier experience in local community events so it was good to be involved in the making side of things with Bridgeman Arts.

Amongst other things, the placement opportunity gave me the chance to:

Develop some administrative knowledge and skills through cataloguing, keeping track and reporting on the arts materials and parts that we were designing. To learn about materials, specific tools and key components in costume, prop and public art manufacture to further develop my interest in this area of work.

This has been a very valuable experience for me, and I feel as though I can take a lot away from this - even some of the smaller things. I hope to continue to develop in this area and will continue to contribute to Bridgeman Arts work where I can."