Chamber and committees

The Scottish Government is currently consulting with local government, colleges, the third sector and employers on the most effective allocation of the additional £30 million Opportunities for All funding.

As a first step, I announced on 22 December £1.5 million across the next three years to support up to 1,000 of the most disadvantaged 16 to 24 year-olds through employer recruitment incentives and additional flexible support for individual young people.

Based on the latest available Labour Force Survey (LFS) quarterly data (July to September 2011), it is estimated that 82,000 people aged 16 to 24 in Scotland were underemployed. This was comprised of:

58,000 people who were looking for additional hours within their existing job at the same rate of pay.

24,000³ people who were looking for either an additional or new job with longer hours than their current job.

Source: Office for National Statistics

Notes

1 - Data is rounded to the nearest thousand.

2 - Data is not seasonally adjusted.

3 - A proportion of the people looking for new job with longer hours will not have cited longer hours as being the reason for looking for a new job, but will have stated that they would prefer to find a job with longer hours.

I presume this question refers to my announcement on 22 December of £1.5 million to support young people, including care leavers and young carers, access employment. Skills Development Scotland (SDS) will establish appropriate measures and safeguards to ensure that this funding achieves its intended goal between now and the end of this financial year.

On 15 December, I hosted a strategic roundtable discussion with representatives of local authorities, the third sector, college sector and private sector employers to consider how to maximise the effectiveness of this new resource. The STUC also attended this meeting.

A special session of the National Economic Forum will be convened on 1 February to explore what more we need to do to support young people into employment with a wide range of partners and stakeholders. Again the STUC, and other Trade Unions, will be invited to participate.

The Scottish Government recognises that in the short term underemployment may inhibit opportunities for young people to gain employment where employers offer existing staff full employment rather than recruiting new employees. That is why we are focussed on increasing sustainable economic growth to ensure that unemployment and underemployment are reduced.

The Scottish Government is currently consulting with a range of partners on the best use of the additional funding. Opportunities to support young people into self-employment are likely to feature in these discussions.

It is for employers, not government, to create permanent jobs. This government will continue to work with employers from businesses of all sizes and across all sectors to encourage them to employ more young people.

As part of the continuing work to better align employability services in Scotland work is going on to provide a coherent national offer for employers across public funded agencies to support people looking for work. This should make it easier for all employers including SMEs, to make better use of public funded resources that help young people find work.

It is for employers, not government, to create permanent jobs. This government will continue to work with employers from businesses of all sizes and across all sectors to encourage them to employ more young people.

The Scottish Government is convening a special session of the National Economic Forum on 1 February to explore with a wide range of partners and stakeholders how to maximise the effectiveness of this new resource. This builds on a strategic roundtable discussion with representatives of local authorities, the third sector, college sector and private sector employers on 15 December to consider this same issue.

Through Opportunities for All the Scottish Government has committed to offering a place in education or training for every 16-19 year-old who is not already in work, education or training. This is a universal commitment for all young people. Where barriers exist for particular groups of young people, we will work with delivery partners and other stakeholders to overcome these.

The Scottish Government is convening a special session of the National Economic Forum on 1 February to explore with a wide range of partners and stakeholders what more we need to do to support young people into employment. I will also be meeting with a wide range of employers throughout January and beyond.

This builds on a strategic roundtable discussion on 15 December, at which a number of business organisations made a valuable contribution.