Hansard

Last December, President Barroso, in response to growing unemployment across Europe, urged all member states to develop youth job plans, increase apprenticeship numbers, guarantee education or job opportunities for young people leaving school and redirect European funds to youth unemployment.

Well before that, the Scottish Government had responded to the situation by appointing me as a dedicated youth employment minister, committing to 25,000 new apprenticeships a year and announcing the opportunities for all initiative—an unprecedented guarantee of a place in education or training for all 16 to 19-year-olds who require one. We published our draft strategy for youth employment in January. Last month, we announced that we would direct £25 million of European funds to youth employment.

Tackling youth unemployment needs short-term responses, medium-term action and a longer-term strategy, all of which we articulated in our youth employment strategy, the final version of which will be published at the end of this month.

In the longer term, our investment in the early years and early intervention, the curriculum for excellence and the reform of our post-16 education system will ensure that any systematic problems in preparing young people for adulthood and the world of work are addressed. Over the next few months, we will develop further measures for the increasing number of young people aged 18 to 24 who are unable to secure jobs because of depressed demand in the labour market. Our short-term focus has been on action for those most acutely affected by the recession.

I am pleased to say that there has been a hugely positive response to the draft youth employment strategy, which has prompted many into making commitments. I have spent the past four months meeting hundreds of individuals, businesses, social enterprises and others to discuss the translation of those commitments into actions.

As a direct outcome of the national economic forum, Scottish Enterprise published its own youth employment plan, outlining actions for supporting businesses and industry sectors to recruit young people. The Scottish Council for Development and Industry has arranged a series of meetings with large employers to explore how it can encourage companies and their supply chains to support the young unemployed.

To extend employer engagement and drive action at a local level, I initiated a series of action forum events, starting in Lanarkshire in May. The events bring together local employers, young people and key partners in action-focused discussions on how we can work more effectively across all sectors to support youth employment.

On Tuesday, more than 100 people attended the Glasgow action forum at Willie Haughey’s City Refrigeration premises. In the next two weeks, I will lead similar events in Dumfries and Edinburgh. More will follow later in the year as I work across Scotland to drive home the message about supporting young Scots into work.

The public sector remains a key employer. Following a meeting of public sector chief executives in March, I received around 100 pledges to take on apprentices, offer work experience and student placements, and increase the proportion of young employees in the public sector. For example, Scottish Enterprise will double the number of employees under the age of 25 in its workforce, Highlands and Islands Enterprise will increase its proportion of young employees to 10 per cent and Perth and Kinross Council will increase its young workforce from 170 to 450 over the next five years.

Public procurement projects are also supporting the creation of job and training opportunities for our young people. Of the 380 new jobs that are being created through the new south Glasgow hospitals project, more than 80 so far have gone to 16 to 24-year-olds. Further, 140 of the 180 work placements have been set up for young people, and 90 apprenticeships will also be created.

Recognising the distinctive role that social enterprises and the third sector play in helping to deliver our youth employment ambitions, we have invested nearly £10 million to create employment opportunities in that sector through initiatives such as community jobs Scotland. In association with the Commonwealth games legacy fund, a further £5 million will support jobs and other opportunities through major sporting events. That is in addition to the recent announcement by the First Minister of £1 million for the Prince’s Trust to support young entrepreneurs and start-ups, which comes hot on the heels of the £750,000 that was given to the same organisation to support more young people into jobs, education and training, which will benefit up to 7,000 young Scots.

To refer to such commitments as “pocket-money announcements” is an insult to the thousands of young people who will benefit from them, and to the organisations that are offering work opportunities.