School Leaver Support

School leavers are to get extra help in training for jobs, it was announced.

The Scottish Government is making £2 million available to fund 420 new places for young school leavers to learn skills in engineering, motor vehicle, warehousing/retail, IT and administration.

The school leavers will be offered training places to help them either move directly onto the Modern Apprenticeship programme or straight into further training or employment. The scheme will be managed by Skills Development Scotland on behalf of the Scottish Government.

Former Cabinet Secretary for Education and Lifelong Learning Fiona Hyslop said:

"This Government is committed to doing everything that we can to help people in this current economic climate and ScotAction is the Scottish Government's skills support package for providing real financial support to businesses and individuals through the recession.

Damien Yeates, Chief Executive of Skills Development Scotland, said:

"Young people are amongst the hardest hit by the current economic climate. It is vital that they get extra help in training for jobs right now. This programme is all about giving young people immediate, flexible support, access to building relevant employability skills and preparing them for the jobs of the future."

The cost for the Targeted Pathways to Apprenticeships proposal for 2009-10 is £1.7 million with the balance of £300k to be spent in 2010-11. In addition to having the costs of the training paid all the young people will receive a £55 per week training allowance for the duration of the course.

This provision will provide up to 6 months training for individuals, courses will start as of 30 November 2009. This provision is in place for a limited period in order to provide additional support to young people during the downturn.

For further details see School Leaver Support on the Scottish Government site.