29 June is Employability Day, organised by the Employment Related Services Association (ERSA), which campaigns for better services for jobseekers and learners. This is the third such annual event; a key messaging pdf is available here.

The Welsh Government have launched their Working Wales tender, which will replace a number of existing programmes, including Jobs Growth Wales, ReAct, Traineeships and the Employability Skills Programme. The service aims to support people of all ages to overcome barriers and gain the skills to achieve and maintain good quality, sustainable employment. The provision will be funded for a period of up to seven years, will have an expected value in the first year of £56 million, and will be let in seven lots. 3SC are talking to a number of bidders and hope to be in a position to develop a delivery partnership as the bid progresses.

The Ministry of Justice (MoJ) have just released a prior information notice confirming their intention to open a procurement event for providers to register and prequalify for delivery through the Prison Education Dynamic Procurement System (DPS). The idea is that required provision can then be commissioned through call offs from the DPS. The MoJ have indicated that up to £100 million of provision will be commissioned via this approach; the tender event is planned to open on 6 August this year.