Key report on education and training due

A report due later today is expected to set out a series of recommendations to reduce youth unemployment by 40 per cent by 2020.

The Commission for Developing Scotland’s Young Workforce, chaired by Sir Ian Wood, has spent the last 18 months looking at how Scotland’s system of vocational education could be very significantly enhanced.

The report, due for publication this morning, is expected to recommend that employers should play a greater role in school and colleges to ensure young women and men are equipped with the skills they need to succeed.

Covering vocational education in schools and colleges, Modern Apprenticeships (MAs), careers advice, equalities and employer support, the report’s recommendations are expected to build on work already underway by the Scottish Government and its partners, with a view to significantly reducing youth unemployment.

Cabinet Secretary for Training, Women’s and Youth Employment Angela Constance said:

“In times of economic difficulty, it is young women and men that are the first to feel the effects in the jobs market and the last to get the benefit when things start to pick up. As part of our economic recovery, the Scottish Government is committed to a sustained reduction in youth unemployment.

“I expect today’s report to contain a number of recommendations on how to enhance our MA programme, how employers could be encouraged more to invest in young people and how equalities issues could be tackled. The ultimate aim is to have a system of vocational training that is world class and truly joins up school and college education with the world of employment. We will work in partnership with the public, private and third sectors to achieve this.

“I will carefully consider the report’s recommendations and will give a detailed response in due course.”