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Plenary, 08 Nov 2006

08 Nov 2006 · S2 · Plenary

Item of business

Transition from School to Work

Neil, Alex SNP Central Scotland Watch on SPTV

There is probably a lot of cross-party consensus on the issue, both on the importance of dealing with the problem and on the need to tackle it in a multifarious way and through a range of services. Although we need particular policies that are geared to the NEET group, we cannot divorce the problems that those people face from the wider issues of poverty, unemployment and poor housing in Scotland. Tackling the NEET issue must be part and parcel of an ambitious programme to tackle poverty and unemployment in Scotland.

One myth is that we have solved the unemployment problem but, according to figures from Scottish Enterprise, if we add up all the people who are fit, able and willing to work, including those who are on some form of benefit, we find that about 280,000 people in Scotland are still available to be recruited to the labour market. A fair proportion of them are in the 16 to 19-year-old age group. Not only do we owe them the opportunity to realise fully their potential for their sake—as the minister said—but we should realise that they are a vast untapped economic resource for Scotland. Business leaders sometimes say to me and others that far too high a percentage of our young people go on to higher education and that they cannot get young people for apprenticeships. I say to them that those young people are available for apprenticeships and for work. As the survey that was done for the strategy shows, they are willing to work and keen to get into the labour market. It is not an either/or situation. We should ensure that we get the requisite number of talented people to university and that we give the requisite number of talented people, including those among the NEET group, the opportunity of full-time education, employment or training.

I agree totally with the minister that the issue does not arise when young people leave school. We could probably go to families in many areas and, at an early age, identify the children who are most likely to end up in the NEET group. They are most likely to be from families of people who are unemployed or on a relatively low income, to be living in a deprived area and in some of the worst housing conditions and to be going to a school that has some of the lowest attainment levels. We can usually identify those people early on. I emphasise the need, where possible, to identify individuals who need particular help at the earliest opportunity. In some cases, it might be possible to do that in pre-school education or primary school, but it should certainly be possible by the time that people are in secondary school.

I agree that those young people need one-to-one support. I once attended a presentation by the principal of Anniesland College, Linda McTavish, at which she put a triangle on the board and, beside it, an inverted triangle. The first triangle represented the numbers of young people who leave school to go into the labour market or on to university or college. The people at the tip of the triangle were those who go on to get a degree or a second degree; the next group down were those who go into degree or diploma level courses; and the ones at the bottom—the largest number—were those who leave school without enough qualifications. [Interruption.] The inverted triangle represented the amount of resources that are put in. No doubt that is the point that my good friend Mr McNeil is trying to make from a sedentary position. Linda McTavish's argument was that the people who need the least help get the most and the people who need the most help get the least. In other words, there is an inverted relationship between need and resource.

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Plenary, 08 Nov 2006

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