Chamber and committees

Making Training Work Better allowed us to develop proposals that seek to reduce duplication of funding for episodes of training whilst focussing on the provision of skills development for young people and maximising support for the low paid low skilled and the unemployed across Scotland. The proposals are:

- Develop higher level Technical and Professional Apprenticeships to offer a wider range of entry and progression opportunities through the apprenticeship programme;

- Provide flexible support, including incentives to employers, to support 16 to 24-year-olds from disadvantaged groups such as care leavers and young carers into jobs, including Modern Apprenticeships;

- Support 20 to 24-year-old Modern Apprentices across all frameworks rather than for selected sectors;

- Develop a transparent process for developing new apprenticeship frameworks that focus on employer needs through Scotland’s Modern Apprenticeship Group;

- Enhance the work experience element of the Get Ready for Work programme;

- Explore the potential for an outcome-focused national employability fund that brings together funding from a range of sources to provide more coherent and flexible pre-employment support for young people and adults;

- Protect provision and access to pre-employment skills provision for adults by ensuring that all the funding used to train and support individuals is dispersed in most appropriate way;

- Maximise support for those moving towards and into work by better targeting Individual Learning Account funding, and

- Continue to provide support for small and micro employers with 100 employees or less through Flexible Training Opportunities.

Given the continuing challenges within the labour market for young people, it is important that we continue to maximise the number of 16 to 24-year-olds moving into employed apprenticeships. All approved modern apprenticeship frameworks in Scotland are funded for this group, with higher contribution rates for apprentices aged 16 to 19.

Skills Development Scotland will continue to prioritise the majority of modern apprenticeship places to the 16 to 19-year-old cohort, get Ready for Work places to 16 to 18-year-olds, and Training for Work places to those aged 18 and above.

In December 2011, the Scottish Government announced it would support 1,000 of the most disadvantaged young people including; care leavers, ex-young offenders and young carers, to enter the labour market over the next three years. An Employer Recruitment Incentive of £1,500 is available for the year 2012-13 to support employers who have employed a disadvantaged young person.

In addition, each young person will receive additional employability support such as mentoring, job coaching, and personal organisation. This list is not exhaustive and support should and will be tailored to the young person’s needs.

We are investing £10.5 million in the next three years to support local partnerships to deliver activity agreements. Broken down as follows:

2012-13 - £4 million,

2013-14 - £3.5 million and

2014-15 - £3 million.

A dedicated National Development Manager is providing additional support directly to partnerships.

The Scottish Government is working with Skills Development Scotland and other partners to improve the quality and use of data on 16 to 19-year-olds in order to support the delivery of Opportunities for All.

The £18 million available in 2012-13 now fully committed, and I am currently consulting on the best use of the remainder of the £30 million available over 2013-15, taking account of the impacts of this year’s investment.

I continue to take every available opportunity to widen the discussion beyond this additional funding and to consider how our investment across learning, economic development and local government can be aligned with the youth employment agenda.

Yes. DWP officials in Scotland discussed and commented on the draft Strategy. This included discussions on the Youth Contract.

It is the aim of the pilot programme being run in 2012-13 by the Scottish Chambers of Commerce to support 100 graduates into employment.

The Scottish Government is currently exploring the potential for an outcome-focused national employability fund. Initial consultation with stakeholders was undertaken in Putting Learners at the Centre and as part of the Employability Framework refresh currently being prepared for publication later this year.

In December 2011, the Scottish Government announced it would support 1,000 of the most disadvantaged young people including; care leavers, ex-young offenders and young carers, to enter the labour market over the next three years.

An Employer Recruitment Incentive of £1,500 is available this year to support employers who have employed a disadvantaged young person. The incentive will be subject to continuous evaluation and improvement measures throughout the three years that this incentive is available.