Chamber and committees

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

The Nigg Skills Academy has been developed to provide access to training which will equip individuals with the skills to participate in the opportunities that will flow from current and future investment in Nigg and in the wider energy industry.

In 2012-13 the Nigg Skills Academy has been contracted to deliver 270 modern apprenticeship starts. 140 of the contracted places are for 16 to 24-year-olds.

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 Chambers of Commerce put forward a proposal for a pilot scheme to support graduate recruitment and business growth. The Scottish Chambers of Commerce considered areas with high rates of unemployed young people aged 18 to 24 and areas in which they are well placed to immediately support delivery of the pilot.

An action forum on youth employment is being planned in Erskine (for Renfrewshire, Inverclyde and West Dunbartonshire) in August 2012, with a wider rural skills and youth employment action forum taking place in Oban in September 2012. Further events will take place later in the year in Ayrshire, Tayside and Forth Valley.

An action forum on youth employment was held in Dumfries on 21 June. Those invited included local employers, young people, training providers, politicians and representatives of public, private and third sector organisations. Invitations to the event in Oban, being planned for September, will cover a similar list.

As part of the all Government, all Scotland approach to tackling youth employment, all Cabinet Secretaries will consider how best they can each support Scottish Government objectives of helping young people into employment within their areas of responsibility on an ongoing basis.

Skills Development Scotland has spoken to a range of employers and employer-facing groups through the process of developing the certificate of work readiness. Skills Development Scotland is also in the process of establishing an external stakeholder group, which will have employers involved to steer the development of the certificate as it is rolled out.

As part of the all Government, all Scotland approach to tackling youth employment, all Cabinet Secretaries will consider how best they can each support Scottish Government objectives of helping young people into employment within their areas of responsibility on an ongoing basis.

As part of the all government, all Scotland approach to tackling youth employment, all Cabinet Secretaries will consider how best they can each support Scottish Government objectives of helping young people into employment within their areas of responsibility on an ongoing basis.