We are greatly encouraged to learn that the Scottish Government is on course to exceed its target of 25,000 new modern apprenticeships (MAs) this year and warmly welcome the two percent increase in numbers of those in MAs from the same time last year.
Clearly the Scottish Government is to be commended on the positive steps that it is taking in order to create sustainable employment opportunities for Scotland’s young people. However, that being said, we are concerned that the numbers of those in MAs with a declared disability remains low at less than 0.5%, a figure which worryingly has in fact decreased over recent years.
Although reliant on self-declaration of a disability, this number is clearly woefully small and we believe that more can be done in order to promote getting these young people to undertake MAs.
We would therefore urge the Scottish Government to implement the recommendations of Sir Ian Wood’s review on getting young people into work which called for targets to be set to increase the number of young disabled people taking up MAs, with these figures reported on annually.
As a society we have a collective responsibility to give the most vulnerable people the opportunity to realise their full potential. The rewards of getting these young people, many of whom boast excellent skills, into work are however well worth it, with higher loyalty and retention rates as well as the ability to address skills shortages in key sectors.
Yours faithfully,
The Scottish Children’s Services Coalition:
Stuart Jacob, Director, Falkland House School
Sophie Pilgrim, Director, Kindred
Tom McGhee, Managing Director, Spark of Genius
Duncan Dunlop, Chief Executive, Who Cares? Scotland
George Ruston, Acting Chief Executive, Mindroom
Niall Kelly, Managing Director, Young Foundations
