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Meeting of the Parliament 09 March 2011

09 Mar 2011 · S3 · Meeting of the Parliament

Item of business

Employment Services (Edinburgh)

Neil, Alex SNP Central Scotland Watch on SPTV

I congratulate Sarah Boyack on securing the debate and on the tone that she adopted in introducing it, and I pay tribute to the work of Tom Buchanan, the chair of economic development at City of Edinburgh Council, for not just the work that he has done on the programmes that we are discussing but the monumental amount of work that he has done over the past three to four years in helping the economy of the city of Edinburgh to move forward.

Before I move on to other things, I will clarify, for the record, the position on fairer Scotland funding. What was fairer Scotland funding has been mainstreamed into the local government settlement, so there is no separate item in our expenditure called fairer Scotland funding. That money has been consolidated; it has not been lost to Edinburgh, because it has been incorporated into the local government settlement.

Before I deal with the detail of the Capital City Partnership and the specific points that have been made about it, I make it clear that I fully agree with what has been said about the needs of young people in particular—not just in Edinburgh, but throughout Scotland. Over the past two or three years, the pattern has undoubtedly been a rise in the level of unemployment among young people that is disproportionately high in comparison with that among the population as a whole. We all recognise why youth unemployment, in particular, must be dealt with: it is not just about employment; it is about the long-term futures of young people and their ability to grow up and grow families in more prosperous circumstances than they find themselves in today.

There is no doubt that, despite very strong signs of increased growth in some aspects of the Scottish economy recently, in general, the national economic picture is one of a level of growth in Scotland and, indeed, the rest of the UK that is significantly lower than it was before the recession. The possibility of a double dip still exists. We are starting to cope with budgetary cuts—which, last year, amounted to £500 million and, next year, will result in the Scottish Government’s budget being reduced by £1.8 billion in real terms—that will have dire consequences not just for the Scottish Government’s budget, but for the people on whom they will impact.

It is against that background that John Swinney and other ministers have been grappling with the best way to allocate resources such that we meet all our commitments. Sustainable economic growth is our number 1 priority. In particular, we feel a strong moral commitment to help young people into employment.

John Swinney’s budget contained a number of measures that will have a significant positive impact on young people in Edinburgh. As Ian McKee and others have mentioned, an additional 9,000 modern apprenticeships are to be created in Scotland next year. The number of modern apprenticeships will increase from 16,000 to 25,000, which is a record high. The vast bulk of those will be taken up by young people in the age group that we are talking about.