Make Young People Your Business
The final item of business today is a members’ business debate on motion S4M-05252, in the name of James Dornan, on the make young people your business campaign. The debate will be concluded without any questions being put.
Motion debated,
That the Parliament welcomes the Skills Development Scotland campaign, Make Young People Your Business; notes that the campaign highlights that only 25% of businesses in Scotland have recruited young people straight from school, college or university in the last two to three years; considers that there is a false perception that young people who come straight from education are not ready for the workplace and that this perception makes it harder for young people to gain work experience; further considers that this perception flies in the face of research, with the majority of those taking on young people finding them ready for the workplace, demonstrated in the UK Commission’s Employer Skills Survey 2011: Scotland’s Results, which noted that 68% of businesses found that school leavers were ready for work and 82% of further education college leavers and 86% of university leavers were ready for work; highlights the website at http://www.ourskillsforce.co.uk, which helps ensure that employers in Glasgow and across the country are aware of the financial support and assistance available to them, and welcomes efforts to encourage employers to help young people build their skills base by looking favourably on Scotland’s young people and the fresh talent that they bring with them.
17:32
I am delighted to be able to bring to the chamber a debate on the new Skills Development Scotland campaign called make young people your business.
There is no doubt that youth unemployment is one of the most pressing challenges that currently face Governments on both sides of the border and throughout Europe. In Spain, youth unemployment has just hit 60 per cent, and in the United Kingdom a quarter of young people believe that the recession has permanently damaged their future prospects.
While the UK Government continues to follow an austerity agenda that has been debunked by some of its most vociferous initial supporters, it has become clear that the Scottish Government is keen to take a different track.
The opportunities for all scheme, which guarantees a place in education, employment or training for every 16 to 19-year-old in Scotland, is an ambitious programme that is already achieving real results. A record number of pupils moved into positive destinations last year: 87.2 per cent of school leavers, up from 85.2 per cent the year before.
Langside College, in the heart of my constituency, is at the forefront of training our young people in the skills that they will need to progress through the jobs market. It draws more than 60 per cent of its student population from the immediate local area, and 36.4 per cent of its students are from one of Scotland’s 20 per cent most deprived data zones. That figure is more than 10 per cent higher than the national average. The college also has a progression-to-employment rate of more than 90 per cent for students who specialise in engineering or care.
The extension of the modern apprenticeships scheme—with 26,427 modern apprenticeships being delivered in the past year—shows commitment to ensuring that all youngsters get the best start in their working careers, whether from work or from further or higher education.
The number of unemployed young people in Scotland has also fallen. Last week’s figures from the Office for National Statistics showed that there was a fall in youth unemployment of 23,000 over the period from September to November 2012. That is a 4.8 per cent decrease and is the largest drop since those records began in 2006.
The work that is being done by the Scottish Government has led to Scotland’s unemployment rate being 19.9 per cent, compared with 21 per cent in the rest of the UK. Youth employment in Scotland is 55.1 per cent, which is higher than the rate of 51.8 per cent in the rest of the UK. Although I recognise that those statistics are encouraging, we cannot become complacent. The opportunities for all programme can become even more successful by working alongside the make young people your business campaign.
I have spoken before about my belief that all members should do all that they can to help young people into work. In my own small way, I have done that by hosting a youth jobs fair and my high school internship contest—I always feel as if someone should sing when I talk about “high school internship contest”. I am in the process of interviewing for interns and was interviewing yesterday. Last year, I thought that I was fortunate with the group of young kids who came before me, but this year the standard has, if anything, improved. Young people’s academic standard and commitment not only to their studies but to their wider community are lessons to us all. I have no doubt that the winner of the contest will bring much to my office, just as Campbell did last year.
There are many different ways that members can promote young people’s ability to work. I ask the Minister for Youth Employment to consider providing an information pack for MSPs to use in their constituencies, which could offer information on how to engage with local businesses to encourage recruitment of youngsters. It could also give further details of the make young people your business campaign and the employment recruitment initiative, which was announced in the draft budget and discussed in a previous debate.
The make young people your business campaign seeks to change the perception of businesses that have been reluctant to recruit young people straight from school, college or education. I suspect that the most pressing reason for that reluctance has been that the high level of unemployment has generally led to there being many more qualified applicants, many of whom have three or four more years of work experience.
However, the assessment of companies that have employed young people has been incredibly positive and most businesses have found that young people are well prepared for the world of work. That is a testament to Scotland’s great education and training system. It is important that we continue to publicise the fact that the involvement of young people in the workplace brings far more benefits than costs. That is apparent in the experiences of people like me and in the testimonials from businesses that continue to employ young people, including the John Lewis Partnership, a quarter of whose workforce is young people. It says that employing young people is
“a win-win because our young partners bring so many benefits to the business. They help us to adapt quickly to the latest trends and give us insights into new markets.”
Scottish Chambers of Commerce says:
“Young people can provide real benefits to Scottish businesses, bringing knowledge and enthusiasm. We are working hard to ensure that they are aware of their career opportunities, even in the smallest business.”
It is in small businesses that the benefits can be most seen. According to the Federation of Small Businesses, 94 per cent of all private sector enterprises in Scotland are microbusinesses with fewer than 10 employees, and they provide 29 per cent of all private sector employment.
Recruitment causes difficulties for small businesses and could be greatly enhanced by the our skillsforce pack that SDS has launched, which offers companies a range of programmes and financial assistance to help them to plan for and to recruit a skilled workforce. It is a great tool that is to be used in conjunction with the make young people your business campaign, as it matches skills sets with employers. The our skillsforce initiative also provides access to training and learning opportunities, in order that we continue to foster lifelong learning in the current workforce.
The young people of today will be the engineers, academics, joiners, electricians and—if they are unfortunate—politicians of the future. We have a responsibility to ensure that they continue to get opportunities to succeed. Within the framework of SDS, opportunities for all and the make young people your business campaign, the tools exist to help young people into work and to help businesses to employ and train them so that they can become the talented workforce of the future. I look forward to that vital work continuing and I hope for a positive response from the minister on my call for assistance for MSPs.
17:39
I thank James Dornan for bringing the debate to the chamber. Make young people your business encourages employers to recruit young people straight from school, college or university and simultaneously tries to remove businesses’ perception that young people who come straight from education without life experiences are not ready for the workplace.
We need only look at Diageo, which is a massive employer in my area and is currently investing £150 million in new facilities on the outskirts of Kirkcaldy. Diageo’s human resources director, Pamela Scott, has said:
“At Diageo, we are passionate about participating with all our young people to help them grow and realise their full potential. We recognise that our success in the future will depend on the quality of the young people we attract now and therefore recruiting some of the best and brightest young people is a key part of our strategy. Through our talented employees we will ensure knowledge and skills are passed on to the next generation enabling us to remain world leaders in the spirits industry.”
That statement from Diageo, which is the world’s leading premium drinks business, shows how confident it is in investing in young people and how the continued success of the company in retaining its place as a market leader depends on that.
That is a vital message that we must ensure is taken on board by the 75 per cent of businesses in Scotland that do not recruit young people from school, college or university. It is essential that they realise the potential that is available in the pool of young people who are currently seeking employment. The implications of ignoring the skills that they have to offer could have a significant impact not only on the economy, but on future generations.
Recruiting young people allows companies to develop skills and qualifications that best suit their needs. Young people’s work patterns are more flexible, they are more willing to move to different work locations, and they are often more creative, innovative and willing to learn. All those qualities are important in helping to secure the stability of any company.
Businesses throughout Scotland need to be aware that a wide range of measures is available to help to plan, recruit and develop the skilled workforces that they need. The www.ourskillsforce.co.uk website highlights the wide range of support and financial assistance that is available to them, including support from Skills Development Scotland, Jobcentre Plus and all Scotland’s local authorities working in partnership. Recruitment incentives, wage subsidies, free advertising for vacancies and up to 50 per cent of training costs are all available to employers who recruit young people.
The Scottish Government’s unique modern apprenticeships scheme is the most recognised apprenticeships scheme in the UK and is hard to beat. It offers a wide range of incentives for employers who recruit young people into employment. The 2013 Scottish apprenticeship week will run from 20 May to 24 May, and will again celebrate the value that the Scottish modern apprenticeships programme brings to the employer. It will build on the success of the 2012 scheme, which was launched by our Minister for Youth Employment, Angela Constance. In that scheme, more than 40 events that involved employers, training providers, colleges and modern apprenticeships, took place throughout the country.
I wish Skills Development Scotland’s campaign every success in its aim to highlight the potential of young people, and I hope that more businesses throughout Scotland will become involved and discover the support and financial assistance that are available to help them to plan, recruit and develop the skilled workforces that they need. If they realise that potential and all the measures are in place to help them, that should, I hope, help to maintain the current fall in youth unemployment at the rate that is currently being achieved by the Scottish Government and its partners.
17:42
This is not the first time that I have spoken in Parliament about youth employment, and it is certainly not the first time that Parliament has considered a motion on the subject but, to the best of my knowledge, this is the first time that we have in this session held a debate on the topic that places such a strong focus on the employer. I therefore thank James Dornan for bringing the debate to the chamber and for allowing us to take a considered look at how employers can help to create opportunities for young people.
I welcome Skills Development Scotland’s make young people your business campaign. I hope that it will make employers think more about how they can be part of the solution to youth unemployment. The case studies that the campaign is highlighting prove that taking on a young person who has little or no work history does not have to be a burden. Young people can bring fresh talent, real energy and a unique perspective to any market—especially markets in which the pace of change is quick.
In putting its case to employers, SDS reminds us that, although work placements do not necessarily lead to a guaranteed job, they can be a great trial run for employers. It tells us that young people are among the country’s most flexible workers and are often able to commit to work patterns that other staff may be unable to commit to, and that young people are more likely to stick with an employer who has invested in their training needs from the very start and supported their on-going development.
SSE plc, Stoddart’s of Broxburn and Diageo have all made it clear that recruiting young people can add value to a business. Members may also be aware of the youth with hope initiative, which was launched last year by Sir Willie Haughey with the support of businesses and entrepreneurs from across the country. The youth with hope initiative encourages firms to employ at least one new young person as a green champion. The organisers envisage that the post will be self-financing, effectively being paid for through reductions to energy bills. Employers need to hear such positive and practical messages in these hard times.
Different parties bring different ideas to Parliament about how to tackle youth unemployment, but across the chamber we all recognise the central role that employers must play. That is why we have to change attitudes. That is why we have to promote the job readiness of young people who are poised to enter the labour market and why we have to make every effort to educate and train those who are not. That is why the campaign is so important—to our economy as it is now, and to our country as it will be in the future. I record my appreciation for the work of SDS and the UK Commission for Employment and Skills, for a positive and well-informed campaign to help young people into work.
The Joseph Rowntree Foundation reports that levels of youth unemployment have doubled since the start of the global financial crisis in 2008. It confirms that there are now 90,000 young people out of work in Scotland and that the jobless rate for under-25s far exceeds the unemployment rate more generally.
I want to draw members’ attention to two areas where I feel that the Scottish Government could make a difference. First, I stress that in some parts of Scotland as many as 20 people are chasing every job. Before we can aspire to full employment again, we need to address the fundamental problems with the economy. There has to be co-ordinated investment in job creation and a further capital injection to lift aggregate demand.
Secondly, we need to give unemployed young people—many of whom have never worked before—a worthwhile and rewarding experience in the workplace. Too many young people cannot get a job because they do not have experience, but do not have experience because they cannot get a job.
I know that the coalition’s work programme has been under fire in recent months, but we cannot tar all work experience opportunities with the same brush. As a former training consultant, I know that getting the right trainee into the right placement can break the cycle of unemployment and transform young lives. That is what I have been trying to do with South Lanarkshire College in my area, by matching up students on the college learning programme with leading national employers that are offering fantastic work experience opportunities.
I thank James Dornan again for bringing the debate to the chamber. I fully expect that there will be plenty more opportunities to discuss this important issue in the weeks and months ahead.
17:47
I, too, thank James Dornan for bringing the debate to the chamber. Young people who are just leaving education are extremely important to the Scottish economy. Business needs young, educated people—whether they are coming straight from school or from further or higher education—in order to help businesses grow. That in turn will help those businesses stave off the effects of the current slow economy. Recruiting straight from education is an efficient way of building an effective and productive workforce.
Despite the fact that the majority of businesses that recruit staff straight from education find young people well prepared for the workplace, only 25 per cent of businesses in Scotland have recruited straight from an education environment in the past two to three years.
There seems to be an inherent problem for young people looking for work. Companies want young people with experience, but those young people cannot get that experience without gaining employment in the first place. That is where the make young people your business campaign has the most to offer. By highlighting that problem, we can move on to helping young people gain employment by increasing their employability skills.
There are many advantages to recruiting young, educated people. In today’s workplace, with the advancement of technology, many markets are changing rapidly and rely on a youthful customer base. By employing young people, our companies will be able to utilise their fresh ideas and approaches, which in turn will help to open up new and emerging markets.
The make young people your business campaign is keen to point out that schemes such as modern apprenticeships often pay for themselves very quickly. Also, offering young people work placements helps to take the risk out of recruitment, as the placement acts as a trial period for both parties before any formal commitment is made by offering a job. At the end of the placement, if the company feels that it cannot offer a job to the person, that placement will still have given them invaluable experience that they will be able to put to use in other jobs that they go on to apply for.
As I said, most businesses find that people who have just left education are prepared for work: 86 per cent of businesses believe that university leavers are prepared for work; and 60 per cent believe that school leavers are prepared for the working environment. If that is the case, why are businesses so reluctant to use that valuable resource?
We must make Scottish business aware of the many benefits in recruiting young educated people and help them to recruit those young people. Steps are already being taken to do that. Skills Development Scotland is seeking the support of employers that would consider offering disadvantaged young people opportunities for sustainable employment in their business, and payments of £1,500 are available through the employer recruitment incentive. In addition, talent Scotland offers a free service for employers that includes job advertising, company promotion and access to graduates.
Those are just some of the many schemes available to employers to encourage them to employ young people straight from education. For years, we have been telling young people to get a good education so that they can get a good job. For that statement to be true, we must help employers to see the advantages of employing young people in their companies. The make young people your business campaign is a good way in which to do that.
17:51
I, too, thank James Dornan for securing the make young people your business debate. I was delighted to hear his praise for Langside College and the work that it does—I am sure that that would apply to all colleges across Scotland.
Some of the points from the Skills Development Scotland campaign and the UK Commission for Employment and Skills employer skills survey have been raised in parliamentary debates on youth unemployment. Nonetheless, the subject is undoubtedly worthy of a members’ business debate, given the impact on youth unemployment across Scotland.
As Margaret McCulloch said, no one can get a job without experience and no one can get experience without a job. Employers need to rise to that challenge, accept their responsibilities and play their part. As Richard Lyle said, with only 25 per cent of businesses recruiting straight from school, college or university in the past two to three years, there is no doubt that employers need to be more involved.
Skills Development Scotland states that offering young people work placements can serve as an informal trial period—a point that Margaret McCulloch made, too—but that works both ways. It gives the employee an opportunity to decide whether the work or, indeed, the organisation is suited to them.
Bringing young people into work placements or modern apprenticeships helps maintain productivity and reduce what can be, particularly to a small firm, significant recruitment costs. Young people bring fresh ideas, innovation and a willingness to learn. I share James Dornan’s praise for the John Lewis Partnership, which is often cited for its tremendous support.
Practical support for employers includes free advertising, recruitment incentives, wage subsidies, work placements and internships. However, James Dornan has a point, and I wonder whether all businesses know that that support is available. I am sure that many do, but we can play our part, too. I am pleased that, as a member of the Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body, I can say that the Parliament has recently recruited two people under the modern apprenticeship scheme.
Another scheme that I want to commend is the adopt an apprentice initiative, through which employers are offered £2,000 to help with recruitment and wage costs for a modern apprentice who has been made redundant. Many young people, particularly in the construction industry, lose their apprenticeship training through no fault of their own and it can be difficult for other employers to adopt an apprentice halfway through their training with another employer, who may have taken a slightly different approach.
I was pleased to note that many Scottish and Southern Energy executive staff began their careers as apprentices, and have enjoyed significant development and training opportunities since joining the company. We need to look at that. A person does not have to be a graduate to get to the top, if there are good apprenticeships and training.
Some of the evidence in the UK Commission for Employment and Skills recent report causes concern. I looked up the reasons why vacancies are hard to fill. According to the report:
“One third (33 per cent) of hard-to-fill vacancies are caused by a low number of applicants with the skills required for the role. A quarter (25 per cent) are caused by a lack of work experience the company demands”.
The skills shortage in the North Sea oil and gas sector is often mentioned, but I appreciate that some initiatives have been taken.
I am pleased to support James Dornan in bringing a debate on a topic that affects many families throughout Scotland.
17:55
I, too, thank James Dornan. For me, the sentence in his motion that stuck out was this one:
“there is a false perception that young people who come straight from education are not ready for the workplace and ... this perception makes it harder for young people to gain work experience”.
The motion goes on to say that the UK Commission for Employment and Skills survey
“noted that 68% of businesses found that school leavers were ready for work ... and 86% of university leavers were ready for work”.
The perception that young people who come straight from education are not ready for work is therefore very much a false one. Over the years, when I have been fortunate enough to take on a young person on work experience, whether they were at school, college or university, I would have considered employing the young person straight away in quite a high proportion of cases, if only I had been able to do so. I suspect that if such a study were carried out with other age groups, we might well find that the differences between age groups are not great.
When young people are trying to gain experience but get rejection after rejection, they begin to feel hopeless and that no one cares. Their self-esteem is lowered and they can develop an attitude that becomes almost self-fulfilling. We very much have to guard against that.
All communities have a responsibility in that regard. I am pleased that in my constituency, East Kilbride, many businesses are fully engaged in programmes with schools and colleges to ensure that young people are aware of what employers are looking for and can work to achieve some of the required skills.
I want to pay tribute to a few groups. Rotary clubs are active in East Kilbride. For more years than I care to remember and certainly during my previous career, before I was elected to the Parliament, I was very much aware of Rotary clubs’ work on skills improvement to help young people on their way.
Coca-Cola Enterprises has just welcomed its 30,000th visitor to its education centre in my constituency. It has been working hard with young people in our community for a long time.
However, it is not just the big companies that work with young people; small companies do that too. James Dornan mentioned the proportion of small and medium-sized enterprises that are capable of employing people, and I think that it was Margaret McCulloch who mentioned a programme in which companies take on a young person to help with a specific aspect of their work, which can be helpful.
It is important to make such initiatives local and to work with communities, because the programmes become much more personal for the people who can offer jobs and for the people who are looking for jobs. That is one of the reasons why we launched our youth employment initiative in East Kilbride recently. I want to show the young people in East Kilbride that their community cares about them and will work with them to try to secure a better future for them and give them the opportunities that they need if they are to succeed. We have done that in partnership with East Kilbride Jobcentre Plus, Voluntary Action South Lanarkshire, the inclusiveness project, the Scottish Government, South Lanarkshire Council, Ingenis, the Prince’s Trust and many others. It is early days, but I hope that we will see success.
A couple of young people have already been given opportunities to work through the scheme. For example, Jordan Campbell from East Kilbride has a work placement at the Optical Factory in the town. As MSPs, we all have a duty to be advocates for young people and to work as well as we can to promote just how capable our young people are.
I like James Dornan’s idea of an information pack for MSPs, because it is a difficult landscape to work our way through. We have some Westminster initiatives, some Scottish Government initiatives and some initiatives of associated agencies. I like the idea of an information pack, but I like even more the idea of something simple that can go out to businesses and young people on a local, community basis. Let us draw some of this stuff together.
18:00
I, too, congratulate James Dornan on securing this debate. He has made the case in a very heartfelt way for recruiting young people. I also pay tribute to him for organising a jobs fair in his constituency. I know that the event inspired other MSPs to arrange jobs fairs in their constituencies, me being one of them and Alex Neil being another, along with Kenneth Gibson and Christina McKelvie. I say to all MSPs that I am always more than willing to support their endeavours in their constituencies.
In that vein, I know that Margaret McCulloch has done some interesting work with key sectors—I am thinking about hospitality—building on her past experience as a training provider. Kezia Dugdale is not here today, but the work that she does in offering a paid internship through her offices as an MSP is another important example of what we, as individuals, can do.
I acknowledge the contributions of all the speakers in tonight’s debate—David Torrance, Margaret McCulloch, Richard Lyle, Mary Scanlon and Linda Fabiani. The debate has been a mature and reflective one.
We all know that, to successfully tackle youth unemployment, we need a concerted effort on a number of levels. Action has to be rooted in the local and macro economies. We often have debates in the chamber about the need for economic growth, how to use capital investment and the austerity agenda, and we often have debates that touch on constitutional arguments and the powers that the Scottish Parliament does and does not have. Our response to youth unemployment cannot just be about responding to rising unemployment as a result of the recession; we need to address structural unemployment as well.
Despite the magnitude of the issues and the scale of the challenge, we must not underestimate the role that we can all play both as individuals and collectively. It is imperative that we have the support of members of the Scottish Parliament for the make young people your business campaign. I was heartened by the speeches that members made tonight, because we are all, in our own ways, agents of change. We all have networks and contacts in our constituencies and we have scope to make a difference at a local level. We heard about some of the ideas and the good work that is going on in that regard in the debate.
At its core, the motion is about combating the perceptions that sometimes exist about young people. The UK Commission for Employment and Skills is showing through its work that the vast majority of our young people are work ready, and they should not be shy about saying that. That does not mean that there are not some young people who need additional support on their journey towards and into work, but the vast majority are willing and able to work. What they lack is opportunity, not talent. Therefore, we must address the fact that only 25 per cent of businesses recruit directly from education and the fact that the proportion of young people in the workforce, in both the public and private sectors, has been declining since 2005.
David Torrance mentioned Pamela Scott from Diageo. She attended the national economic forum last February, which focused solely on youth unemployment, then went back to her employer at Diageo and went to work on their own youth employment plan. Indeed, Diageo now has a support package for that and has invested £5 million of its own money in it.
At the heart of the make young people your business campaign is making a positive business case for employing a young person, which is not just the right thing but the smart thing to do. We have young people who are willing to work and ready to learn and who are, as Margaret McCulloch said, flexible and loyal. They are most certainly not a burden; indeed, they are an asset. Young people can make a contribution to any business and could have a positive impact on the bottom line.
Given the challenges that businesses of all sizes face, I accept that we must make it easier for businesses to employ young people and that we should provide them with information about the employer recruitment incentive, which will be live this April, and other information tools, such as the our skillsforce website. In that regard, James Dornan made an important suggestion about an information pack that could go to members of the Scottish Parliament, and Linda Fabiani was right to say that the information should be relevant at the local level. I will therefore go away and look at how we can devise an information pack for constituency and list MSPs that will actively assist them in their work in their own communities and constituencies if they are going on employer visits or visiting businesses or, indeed, going along to their local Rotary meeting to tell other people about the benefits of employing young people and what assistance is available.
Preparing that material will not be a small bit of work, and there is perhaps scope for the Government to look at having a paid internship for that piece of work. There could be an argument for employing a young person to take on the work, given the skills that they often have in communication and social media. We will go away and look at that, because I certainly want to do everything that I can to assist members of the Scottish Parliament in their constituency work, particularly if it will assist local businesses and help more of our young people to get into work.
There has been some discussion tonight about the importance of work experience. Of course, it is important, but it must be ethical, voluntary and high quality. Certainly, the Government’s provision in that regard—our work experience programmes and internships—are all paid. The issue of work experience also touches on Skills Development Scotland’s certificate of work readiness, which is now increasingly used in get ready for work training courses. It builds work experience into a training course, and the work experience is assessed by the employer. That means that, in effect, the certificate can act as a reference.
Like Margaret McCulloch, I pay tribute to Sir Willie Haughey and his youth with hope initiative, which is a very pragmatic initiative. I certainly wish it every success and I look forward to hearing how it develops. As Linda Fabiani said, we all have to be advocates for the young people in our communities.
For the second month in a row, the labour market statistics have been positive. It is important that we mark that we have had the largest-ever fall in youth unemployment since those particular records began in 2006. I very much welcome the fact that we have 23,000 fewer young unemployed Scots now than we did at this time last year. However, one unemployed Scot is one too many for this Government. We still have 82,000 16 to 24-year-olds seeking work. We must all address that.
Unemployment remains too high and now is most certainly not the time for us to take our foot off the gas in that regard. There is always more to do and we must always do more in challenging each other, because we cannot let ourselves or our young people become the victims of a cycle of despair. What Linda Fabiani said is worth repeating: we need to be advocates for young people.
Meeting closed at 18:09.