Chamber and committees

We will seek to invite a wide range of appropriate stakeholders.

Through our reform of post-16 education we will ensure that the whole system is focussed on improving the life chances of learners and on meeting the needs of employers and Scotland’s economy. Through the delivery of modern apprenticeships, work experience opportunities and student placements in both public and private sectors, we will offer young people the opportunity to learn a variety of important work-focussed skills.

More specifically, we will work with sector bodies such as the Digital Participation Action Group to support the development of work-focussed digital skills among our young people.

Please find attached the link to the section on the Skills Development Scotland website that details the public sector contribution rates across modern apprenticeship frameworks by age.

http://www.providercentral.org.uk/OurServices/NationalTrainingProgrammes/Modern_Apprenticeships.aspx.

We recognise a need to prioritise resources within the MA area. Given the continuing challenges within the labour market for young people, we have asked Skills Development Scotland (SDS) to maximise the number of 16 to 24-year-olds moving into employed apprenticeships. We expect SDS to continue to ensure the availability of a significant number of MA opportunities for young people aged 16 to 19, given that supporting post school transitions into the labour market is a priority.

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.

The Scottish Government is in discussions with a number of equalities organisations and once these are finalised we shall publish the equalities impact assessment.

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.

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.

Activity agreements are offered on the basis of an assessment of a young person’s needs. Local partnerships engage with all young people to ensure they continue to participate in learning upon leaving school. This includes considering whether activity agreements would be the correct option for them. Therefore, specific targets on the number delivered in each area are not set in advance.