Chamber and committees

In 2012-13, the Scottish Government allocated £25.80 million to its Open Market Shared Equity Scheme and £2.50 million to its New Supply Shared Equity with Developers Scheme. There was not a separate budget for the New Supply Shared Equity programme delivered through councils resource planning assumptions. However, we expect this programme to spend around £11 million each year.

In 2012-13, the Scottish Government spent £20.60 million through the Open Market Shared Equity Scheme, £1.49 million through the New Supply Shared Equity with Developers Scheme and £9.564 million through New Supply Shared Equity Scheme.

The Youth Employment Scotland Fund and SME Growth Fund are additional to expenditure made by the Scottish Government and partner organisations previously in reducing youth unemployment from 25.4% in December 2011 (Labour Force Survey, Aug-Oct 2011) to 15.2% in June 2013 (Labour Force Survey, Feb-Apr 2013).

Employer recruitment incentives funded through the Youth Employment Scotland Fund cover fifty per cent of the salary costs for the first 26 weeks of a new youth job. The remaining salary costs will be paid by employers.

Recruitment incentives funded by the Youth Employment Scotland Fund cover fifty per cent of the salary cost for the first 26 weeks of a new youth job. The contribution from employers will be the other fifty per cent. The main contribution from local authorities is supporting the delivery of recruitment incentives to local employers.

Setting up any scheme such as this requires challenges to be overcome. These include ensuring best value, compliance with EU funding rules and determination of the practicality of projects. The development of the Youth Employment Scotland Fund did not differ from a wide range of other projects in this regard.

The application process for the Youth Employment Scotland Fund opened on 25 March 2013 and grant letters from the Scottish Government were sent to all local authorities on 30 May 2013. ?A number of dates were considered for announcing the outcome of that process.

The application process for the Youth Employment Scotland Fund opened on 25 March 2013 and grant letters from the Scottish Government were sent to all local authorities on 30 May 2013. ?A number of dates were considered for announcing the outcome of that process.

32% (£7.2 million) is provided by Scottish Enterprise, 36% (£8.25 million) is provided by Highlands and Islands Enterprise with the remaining 32% (£7.3 million) being provided by Business Gateway/local authorities.

All Scottish Government budgets are announced first as part of the budget process laid out to Parliament each year between September and the following February. Following the budget, the Scottish Government subsequently announced more specific plans for how budgets will be deployed. The first time the full details of the Youth Employment Scotland Fund and the SME Growth Programme were made public was on 12 June 2013.