Chamber and committees

I refer the member to the answer to question S4W-857 on 24 June 2011. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament’s website, the search facility for which can be found at http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/webapp/wa.search.

The Scottish Government is doing everything it can to ensure that all our young people, particularly those at risk of moving into, or are already in, a negative destination, have the right support, skills and opportunities to access and sustain jobs. We recognise that staying in learning increases young people’s chances of getting and keeping a job.

Through 16+ Learning Choices (introduced in December 2008), local authorities and their partners are working collaboratively to ensure an offer of an appropriate place in post-16 learning whether that is staying on at school, moving to further or higher education, training, volunteering or employment with learning. For those furthest from the labour market they may be eligible to participate in an activity agreement.

In addition to modern apprenticeships and further education, other routes on offer to this group are Targeted Pathways, Get Ready for Work and Inspiring Scotland programmes which are supported with funding from Scottish Government.

Scottish ministers have regular meetings with UK minsters on a range of matters including welfare reform and child poverty. The then Cabinet Secretary for Health and Wellbeing met with the Secretary of State for Works and Pensions on 22 September 2010. On 28 October 2010, the then Minister for Housing and Communities and the Minister for Schools and Skills met with Chris Grayling MP, the UK Minister for Employment, accompanied by the Convenor of COSLA in Edinburgh. Ministers have also had discussions by phone and there has also been regular engagement between officials on these matters.

The information requested is not held centrally.

The information requested on the number of special constables broken down by ethnicity, gender and age group is not held centrally. We can provide the number of special constables in each force as at 31 March from 1999 to 2010. The 2011 data are not yet available.

Special Constables in Scotland, as at 31 March from 1999 to 2010

The information requested is not held centrally.

The targeted review was carried out by the Continuous Improvement Manager within the Scottish Government’s Employability, Skills and Lifelong Learning Directorate between 9 and 15 June 2011. This is part of a range of support that Scottish Government offers to local authorities to help them improve school leaver destinations.

In this particular case, the work involved examining post-16 transition planning and delivery for 16 to 19-year-olds accessing college provision. This had been identified by the local authority as a priority issue. There was a particular focus on those young people with learning disabilities, looked after children and young people and those with social, emotional and behavioural needs.

The review involved:

examining the appropriateness of existing college provision and the extent to which it meets the needs of these young people;

examining the systems in place locally to identify, support and track these young people into, through and beyond college, and

capturing good practice within Edinburgh’s colleges to be shared more widely.

The manager consulted senior lecturers in Edinburgh’s three colleges, and representatives from Skills Development Scotland, City of Edinburgh Council Education Psychological Service, two mainstream secondary schools (Holy Rood High School and Leith Academy) and four special schools (Gorgie Mills, Panmure St Ann’s, Wellington and Wester Hailes Education Centre).

The outcome of the review will be a report suggesting specific actions to improve local service delivery. A draft report will be shared with City of Edinburgh Council in July 2011.

I will be happy to meet the member to discuss this work and the follow-up actions in more detail.

The information requested is contained in the following table.

16 and 17-Year-Olds in Full-Time Education by Local Authority: 2009-10

Source: Pupil Census, Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA) and Scottish Funding Council (SFC).

Note:

1. Age for the publicly funded pupils is at 28 February 2010. Age for students at colleges and higher education institutions is at 31 August 2009.

In addition to the above there are 3,130 and 2,575 pupils aged 16 and 17 years old (respectively) in the independent sector (age as at 31 December).

Figures in this table (and the associated footnotes) have been rounded to the nearest 5. 0, 1, 2 have been rounded to 0.

Figures may not sum to totals due to rounding.

Local authorities are independent autonomous bodies and set the terms and conditions under which their staff are employed. The Scottish Government has had a number of discussions with COSLA on pay issues and welcomes the fact that a number of local authorities have already introduced a living wage. The Scottish Government will continue to press all public sector employers to introduce the Scottish living wage.

Our clear ambition is for Scotland to be a well connected, outward facing nation. It would however be wrong for Scottish ministers to intervene in decisions about what languages are taught by individual higher education institutions. The Scottish Funding Council is the body charged in law not only with ensuring coherent provision across colleges and universities, but also with having regard to skills needs in Scotland, issues affecting the economy of Scotland, and social and cultural issues in Scotland.