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.

In the draft budget statement of 20 September 2012, the Scottish Government announced £15 million towards employer recruitment schemes in 2013-14.

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.

All match funding for European structural funds projects has to be cash. This can include specific additional staff costs to directly support businesses.

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.

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.

The SME Growth Programme has been designed to maximise the opportunities for young people to benefit from the jobs that will be created, for example through, the alignment of the Business Gateway additional growth services, with the employer recruitment incentive also being delivered by local authorities.

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.