Question reference: S5W-36236
- Asked by: Shona Robison, MSP for Dundee City East, Scottish National Party
- Date lodged: 12 March 2021
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Current status: Answered by Jamie Hepburn on 22 March 2021
Question
To ask the Scottish Government what support it provided to tackle youth unemployment in Dundee in each year between 2006 and 2020, broken down by (a) support type and (b) amount of funding provided.
Answer
Between 2006 and 2020 the Scottish Government has provided support to tackle youth unemployment in Dundee through a range of measures. This includes, but is not limited to programmes and services such as Activity Agreements, employer recruitment incentives, Employability Fund, Community Jobs Scotland, apprenticeships, college and university places, No One Left Behind employability support, Fair Start Scotland, Parental Employment Support Fund and the Young Person’s Guarantee.
The Scottish Government funded and worked with a range of partners to deliver support measures to tackle youth unemployment in Dundee. This includes Dundee City Council, Skills Development Scotland, colleges and universities, as well as a range of third sector organisations such as Inspiring Scotland and the Scottish Council for Voluntary Organisations.
Due to the scope and timeframe of the question, we have set out in Table 1 the funding provided directly by the Scottish Government to Dundee City Council for youth employability support.
This should be viewed as the minimum funding provided directly to Dundee to tackle youth unemployment between 2011 and 2020. Young people in Dundee will also have had access to support from nationally funded programmes and further and higher education, as well as other support from Europe, DWP, Local Authorities and the third sector.
Information regarding funding provided to Dundee City Council between 2006 and 2011 has not been included due to the disproportionate cost to the Scottish Government.
Dundee City Council have received the funding outlined below to deliver a number of employability programmes:
Table 1. Youth Employability Funding to Dundee City Council
Year | Post-16 | YES Fund | No One Left Behind | YPG | Minimum total |
2011/2012 | £147,681 | - | - | - | £147,681 |
2012/2013 | £146,496 | - | - | - | £146,496 |
2013/2014 | £119,952 | £390,000 | - | - | £509,952 |
2013/2015 | £187,707* | £187,707 | |||
2014/2015 | £170,947 | £465,602 £141,960 | - | - | £778,509 |
2015/2016 | £152,225 | £152,100 | - | - | £304,325 |
2016/2017 | £174,225 | £186,707 | - | - | £360,932 |
2017/2018 | £162,030 | - | - | - | £162,030 |
2018/2019 | £162,030 | - | - | - | £162,030 |
2019/2020 | - | - | £293,501 | - | £293,501 |
2020/2021 | - | - | £293,501 | £1,060,840 | £1,354,341 |
*additional funding provided between 2013-2015
Post-16 Transition Planning including Activity Agreements (Post-16)
- Delivered by Local Authorities and involved providing tailored support to eligible young people who have left school to help them prepare for employment, training or education. It was part of the Scottish Government’s 'Opportunities for All' of an offer of continuing education and training.
Youth Employment Scotland Fund (YES Fund)
- The Youth Employment Scotland was an employer recruitment incentive which supported young people into employment.
No One Left Behind
- Flexible and user-based model of employability support for people from school leaving age up to 67 years (pensionable age) and the Opportunities for All commitment to young people aged 16-19 (up to but not including their 20th birthday). This support includes in work support allowance, Activity Agreements and key worker support.
Young Person’s Guarantee (YPG)
o Person centred employability opportunities for young people aged between 16 and 24 years. This includes for example internships, job placements, recruitment incentives, mental health support, wrap support for Kickstart placements.
Our response to S5W-36092 on 19 March 2021 provides further information on the additional £70 million for the Young Person’s Guarantee in 2021-22. This will help build on the success of our significant investment in education, employability and skills and ensure young people are able to progress into fair and sustainable work.
In Table 2, we have also provided details of our investment into the internationally recognised Developing the Young Workforce (DYW) Programme in Dundee and Angus. This investment builds on wider Scottish Government funding in youth employability detailed in table 1.
Table 2. Developing the Young Workforce Funding for Dundee and Angus
Year | 2015/ 16 | 2016/17 | 2017/18 | 2018/19 | 2019/20 | 2020/21 | Total |
Allocated spend | £46,021 | £229,549 | £226,835 | £228,000 | £220,973 | £410,906 | £1,362,284 |
Established in 2014, the Developing the Young Workforce Regional Groups are a network of 21 industry led groups tasked with strengthening employer engagement with education. The establishment of the groups was a key recommendation in the Youth Employment Strategy - Developing the Young Workforce.
The funding allocated to DYW Regional Groups allows the groups to support pupils in Scotland’s publicly funded secondary schools to bring about a permanent improvement in how employers engage with schools.
In particular, from 2020-21 the implementation of DYW School Coordinators in every Secondary School in Scotland will strengthen collaborative working across delivery partners and streamline the economic landscape to match labour market demand to the necessary employability skills required from employers, aligning to the Young Person’s Guarantee
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