Chamber and committees

Partnership Action for Continuing Employment (PACE) is the Scottish Government’s strategic framework initiative for responding to redundancy situations. The operation of PACE is overseen by the Ministerial PACE Partnership which I chair and which comprises the Scottish Government together with 21 organisations to oversee a continuous improvement programme to enhance the operation of PACE.

Skills Development Scotland delivers PACE on behalf of the Scottish Government in conjunction with other key partners including the Department for Work and Pensions. In addition to the National PACE Team, there are 18 local PACE Teams across Scotland to ensure speedy and effective responses to redundancy situations. Other agencies also involved in PACE include HM Revenue and Customs, local authorities' employability departments, the STUC and its affiliated Trade Unions, Citizens Advice Bureaux, local training providers, colleges and universities.

Given that PACE is a framework which brings together various organisations to provide a co-ordinated approach to delivery of support for those facing redundancy, it is not possible to quantify a specific budget for PACE activity.

I refer the member to the answer to question S5W-02966 on 3 October 2016. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament's website, the search facility for which can be found at: http://www.parliament.scot/parliamentarybusiness/28877.aspx

Grant in Aid to Skills Development Scotland in each financial year from its beginning (2008-9)

Further information about Trade Envoys will be made available in due course. Operational costs for supporting the Global Scots network will continue to be around £200k per year. This includes plans to recruit Global Scots in 2016-17 to support activities such as securing new investment and supporting the Connected Scotland campaign.

Details are contained in the following table:

*April-August

Source: Skills Development Scotland

PACE offers free and impartial advice and is available to all individuals affected by redundancy, no matter the size of the business nor how many employees are involved. PACE also works with insolvency practitioners to provide support where a business has gone into administration or liquidation.

Employers do not provide financial contributions to PACE teams. However in cases of larger redundancies, employers may make a contribution of space and IT equipment for example to provide an onsite resource centre for employees to meet with PACE Advisers.

The 2016-17 Programme for Government sets out a package of measures to support a resilient and fair labour market. This includes all of the actions set out in Scotland’s Labour Market Strategy which was published on 26 August 2016, meeting the commitment to bring forward a strategy in the first 100 days of this new administration.

Significant actions set out in the Programme for Government which are already underway include:

Working with the Fair Work Convention and providing support to take forward the next phase of their work and promote their framework to employers;

Supporting workforce development through the Scottish Union Learning Fund which includes a contribution of £2.2 million this year;

increasing the number of accredited Living Wage employers, currently 598, making progress on our target of 1,000 accredited Living Wage employers by autumn 2017; and

Increasing the number of business that have made their Scottish Business Pledge, currently 289, for which we will continue to raise awareness.

In addition, we are working to create a Trade Union Modernisation Fund, a Returner’s Project to help women returners back into the workplace, and a Workplace Equality Fund alongside the other measures set out. These will be taken forward throughout the course of 2016.

I refer the member to the answer to question S5W-02704 on 28 September 2016 which is available on the Parliament's website, the search facility for which can be found at http://www.parliament.scot/parliamentarybusiness/28877.aspx

Opportunities for All is a commitment to an offer of an appropriate place in education or training to all 16 to 19 years olds who need one. In delivering the commitment the Scottish Government contributes to a range of opportunities including:

Staying on at school;

Activity Agreements;

College and university courses;

Employability training programmes;

Community Jobs Scotland; and

Modern Apprenticeships.

To deliver the Opportunities for All Commitment the Scottish Government also supports young people through their post-16 transitions into learning, training and employment by providing funding to Local Authorities. A breakdown of the Post-16 Transitions budget, since 2012, is outlined in the following table:

Opportunities for all is delivered through Scottish Government programmes and programmes delivered by a number of partners including Local Authorities and the Third Sector. Impact of the commitment is currently measured through the Annual Participation Measure, first published in August 2015, which better enables the Scottish Government to report on all 16-19 year olds participating in Opportunities for All offers of learning, training and employment – not just school leavers.

The Annual Participation Measure report published in August 2016 shows that, nationally, the number of 16-19 year olds participating in learning, training or work is 201,152 (90.4%).