Neath Port Talbot Council for Voluntary Service

It’s Scams Awareness Month during February and to raise awareness of mass marketed scams such as bogus lotteries, deceptive prize draws and sweepstakes, fake psychics and ‘miracle’ health cures, which cost the UK public £3.5 billion a year.

A leaflet has been developed, which provides information about the most common scams.  To order free copies of the leaflet please call 0800 389 3158 or e-mail oft@ecgroup.co.uk and quote the following reference COI1 OFT831.

Following the recent Launch of the Neath Port Talbot Adult Learner of the Year Awards, Please find attached a Nomination Form in both English and Welsh. The Nomination Form can be completed electronically. However, the form has to be signed by the Learner(s) and returned by mail to the address stated on the form. You may e-mail the form to l.grey1@neath-porttalbot.gov.uk but a hard copy with signature will need to follow. Nominations close on the 26 February 2010. Any queries, please do not hesitate to contact Lynette Grey on (01639)898581.

Date for the Diary

The Awards Presentation will take place on Thursday evening, 20 May 2010 at the Margam Orangery, Port Talbot.

Sponsorship

Please contact Lynette for further details.

Researching the needs of the Adult and Community Learning (ACL) Sector

The Department for Children, Education, Lifelong Learning and Skills (DCELLS) has commissioned a research project to review the needs of the ACL sector in Wales and identify the possibilities for effective support networks. These will support and promote the embedding of ESDGC into the delivery of learning and also at an organisational/institutional level. There are strategic and operational questions – please answer or skip over as appropriate. Deadline is Friday 22nd January.

Anonymity and confidentiality are guaranteed. It is an inclusive study and your participation is important. The work will contribute to future developments in ESDGC. Please take 5—10 minutes to complete the questionnaire.

A major new education Measure has been agreed by the National Assembly for Wales giving children and young people with special education needs (SEN) unprecedented rights of appeal with regard to their education. Source: Welsh Assembly Government Website

This document is a new skills and employment strategy and action Plan which builds upon and replaces the Skills and Employment Action Plan 2005. The strategy provides a response to the Leitch Review of Skills in the UK and the independent review of the mission and purpose of Further Education (Promise and Performance). This strategy describes the ‘One Wales’ ambition for a highly educated, skilled and high employment Wales. It builds on previous strategies and action plans including The Learning Country: Vision into Action, Wales: A Vibrant Economy, the Skills and Employment Action Plan of 2005, and Words Talk – Numbers Count, our Basic Skills Strategy (2005).

The strategy and action plan include: new approaches to funding; a more demand responsive skills and business support service; integrated skills and employment services delivered through partnership between the Assembly Government and Department of Work and Pensions; and the transformation of the learning network.

As the Webb Review noted, we must make best use of public funds and secure good value for money for our investment in ACL. In September 2008 we (Welsh Assembly Government) will publish for consultation a draft policy on ACL, to improve the way we plan, fund and deliver this type of learning, so that it better reflects local priorities. Neath Port Talbot CVS will provide details of the proposed consultation when it becomes available.

You can download a copy of the report.