Hansard

I, too, very much welcome the debate and congratulate Sarah Boyack on securing it. She was my political opponent in the first Scottish parliamentary election I fought in 1999. I was impressed then by her talent and her enthusiasm for advancing the cause of our capital city. That transcends party politics, and I happily acknowledge it, as well as the efforts in the past and today of Malcolm Chisholm, Margaret Smith, Robin Harper, Margo MacDonald and Shirley-Anne Somerville. We all work together to do our best for the city of Edinburgh; people sometimes forget that. It is only right that when we discuss jobs, opportunities, skills and training, we do so in a cross-party manner.

The issue that we are discussing is of pivotal importance to the people of Edinburgh, many of whom seek clarification on the level of employment services funding that the Government will make available to the City of Edinburgh Council. At this stage, I think it only fair to mention the £3 million capital city allowance that was given to Edinburgh to meet the costs of being a capital city and which was augmented in the most recent budget by £400,000.

As the minister has said in the past, Scottish Government support for locally based employability partnerships has been central to equipping people with the right skills and channelling them through the public, private and third sectors. Edinburgh’s joined up for jobs strategy is indeed a success, as it encourages learning and increases employability.

However, my colleague Shirley-Anne Somerville is right to remind the chamber that the Government has absolutely no intention of withdrawing the fairer Scotland funding. The Edinburgh partnership was awarded more than £22 million from the fairer Scotland fund between 2008 and 2011 to work together to tackle poverty and to help more people to access and sustain employment opportunities.

The funds to which Sarah Boyack refers are additional and separate. The question now is whether those additional funds can be drawn from elsewhere in order to avoid a shortfall that could have an impact on services. However, given the SNP’s track record in the provision of employment services, I have every confidence that the minister will address the issue and I look forward to his closing remarks. We should be more cautious about stating that services in Edinburgh will be cut. Let us hear what the minister has to say.

There can be no question about the SNP Government’s commitment to training and jobs. The recent budget is evidence of that. Despite £1.3 billion of cuts to our Scottish budget, as Shirley-Anne Somerville said, our Cabinet Secretary for Finance and Sustainable Growth still managed to deliver a record 25,000 modern apprenticeships; provide 7,000 flexible training opportunities for small and medium-sized enterprises; invest £10 million to support unemployed young people into work and training opportunities across the third sector; invest £8 million for an extra 1,200 college places; and provide an additional £15 million in funding for college bursaries. The list goes on.

Edinburgh, among other cities, towns and places in Scotland, will benefit from those policies. Edinburgh has cause for celebration that our Government has looked after the needs of the city in the past four years. I am confident that that record will be maintained.