Chamber and committees

I was interested in the initial comments that you all made about relationships with local employability partnerships. You used language such as “inconsistent communication issues” and “engagement issues”. Why do you think that is and how might we make that better?

Good morning, panel, and thank you for your answers so far. Dave, you said in your opening statement that provision varies across local authorities. How important are the partnership agreements that you mentioned in the final delivery of provision?

If you felt that there were issues or things that you were not quite on top of, would you raise them in those annual conversations?

I have not looked at the partnership agreements. Are they generally the same across the piece?

That is fine. What specific progress has been made in delivering on the recommendations of the 2022 review of supported employment?

Professor O’Connor specifically mentioned the cost of living crisis. Are things worse at present? Dr Bray, you are moving your head, so I will go to you first.

In your roles, what challenges do you face? Many of you have said that there are lots of factors at play. Will you tell us a bit more about that, from your point of view?

Thank you all for those answers.

Thank you for the very full answers that you have given so far—you have already answered a few of my questions. Can you both explain to the committee why the research is so important, why education, too, is important and how we can really help people?

What challenges do you both face in your research?