Press Release issued: 28 February 2011.
Glasgow City Council will today sign an agreement with Royal Strathclyde Blindcraft Industries (RSBi) and the Royal National Institute of Blind People that will aim to boost job opportunities for workers with sight loss.
Currently, the unemployment rate for blind people of working age is, at 76 per cent, far higher than the national average.
The new agreement came as Glasgow City Council has agreed to award a major contract to RSBi to provide state-of-the-art furniture for an upgrade of council offices throughout the city. This is in line with a new procurement policy adopted by the council last year which is aimed at giving people with disabilities the opportunity to enter the labour market.
Staff in the council's Development and Regeneration Services department in Exchange House will be the first to see a major reorganisation of office space and equipment. This is part of the council's plans to reduce the number of city centre buildings it uses from 18 to six, which will save £5.9m a year.
The contract is a major coup for RSBi, the manufacturing division of City Building (Glasgow). First founded as the Glasgow Blind Asylum in 1804 as a refuge where blind people could learn useful skills, it is now the UK's leading supported business, employing approximately 200 staff.
RSBi already supplies kitchens and furniture for all the new schools in Glasgow, the council's homeless persons unit and asylum seekers project, as well as several housing associations.
Cllr Gordon Matheson, leader of Glasgow City Council, said: "I am immensely proud of Glasgow City Council's track record in supporting RSBi and its employees and delighted to see this relationship grow and flourish. This contract recognises the unique contribution made by RSBi in providing real job opportunities for those with a significant level of disability and the first class quality of their work.
"I have always made it clear that I am determined to continue to focus on our priorities, including skills and the economy, and targeted support for the vulnerable. This agreement we are signing with RNIB underlines that commitment."
Willie Docherty, managing director of City Building (Glasgow), said: "We are proving that people with even severe disabilities can do skilled work to industry-standard and best-value quality criteria, and we're very pleased to be able to join with the council and RNIB to promote this."
John Legg, director of RNIB Scotland, said the agreement signed today puts Glasgow at the forefront of measures to integrate people with sight loss into the workforce.
"Not too long ago, people who were blind or partially sighted had a stark choice between a life on benefits or unskilled jobs such as weaving baskets or assembling cheap felt-pens," he said. "But today we know that, given the right support, workers with sight loss can achieve a great deal in the workplace.
"That's why we are very happy to work alongside Glasgow City Council and RSBi to ensure that we have sustainable, inclusive job-opportunities in place. This city is perhaps the most progressive in the UK in its commitment to helping blind and partially sighted people achieve their full potential."
Today's memorandum of understanding will be signed at the RSBi factory in Springburn by Cllr Gordon Matheson, Willie Docherty, Lesley-Anne Alexander (chief executive of RNIB) and Kevin Carey (chair of RNIB).