Question reference: S6W-00330
- Asked by: Daniel Johnson, MSP for Edinburgh Southern, Scottish Labour
- Date lodged: 2 June 2021
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Current status: Answered by Jamie Hepburn on 11 June 2021
Question
To ask the Scottish Government how many young people have taken up the offer of a place on the Young Person’s Guarantee, also broken down by how many placements were for (a) apprenticeships, (b) employment, (c) participating in formal volunteering programmes, (d) training and (e) university or college.
Answer
Since the launch of the Guarantee in November 2020 we have continued to work closely with partners from across the public, private and third sector to deliver the recommendations from Sandy Begbie’s report.
As detailed in response to S6W-00024 on 25 May 2021 through our initial investment of £60m in 2020-21 we have provided funding for around 18,000 new and enhanced existing opportunities to support young people. This includes opportunities through Local Authorities, Colleges, Skills Development Scotland and the third sector.
As part of this process we are collecting information on the number of young people supported by the Guarantee and make this publicly available in the coming months.
Funding for the Guarantee is in addition to our existing substantial investment in Education and skills and further statistics on Apprenticeships are published regularly by Skills Development Scotland. Whilst the Scottish Funding Council collect and analyse data relating to the provision of further and higher education in Scotland.
S6W-00024 provides further details on how we intend to invest the £70m committed to the Guarantee in 2021-22. The Guarantee is based on the principle that local partners are best placed to identify and deliver the opportunities and support needed for young people in their areas and to respond flexibly to emerging challenges. We are continuing to work with partners to ensure that regardless of a young person’s location or background, they are able to access employment, education, training or volunteering opportunities that suit their circumstances.
In response to question S5W-34614 on 1 February 2021 we detailed our commitment to developing a rigorous measurement and evaluation framework to demonstrate the impact of the Guarantee. The measurement and evaluation framework is in the process of being developed with Key Performance Indicators due to be finalised in summer 2021.
All answers to written Parliamentary Questions are available on the Parliament's website, the search facility for which can be found at https://www.parliament.scot/chamber-and-committees/written-questions-and-answers