Action to Support Youth Employment

As an amendment to motion S4M-05319 in the name of Angela Constance (Action to Support Youth Employment), leave out from "the Scottish Government's" to end and insert "an 'all-Government, all-Scotland' approach at the centre of Scotland's Youth Employment Strategy; notes with concern that, according to the December 2012 labour market statistics, more than one in five young people eligible to work are officially unemployed and that long-term youth unemployment is higher in Scotland than in the rest of the UK according to the latest claimant figures; further notes the comments of Professor David Bell to the Economy, Energy and Tourism Committee that youth unemployment figures underestimate the problem; believes that the 24% real-terms cut to college funding between 2011 and 2015 threatens to exacerbate rather than improve this situation and that cuts to Scotland’s housing budget similarly threaten growth and apprenticeship opportunities; is concerned that current efforts to tackle youth unemployment through the modern apprenticeship programme are falling short of the needs of young unemployed people in Scotland; believes that the Scottish Government could do more, for example, on investing in transport, improving childcare and better use of government procurement to tackle Scotland’s unemployment and underemployment crisis, and agrees that all MSPs have a role to play in their constituencies to actively encourage local employers and other partners to do more."