Targeted Funding for Scottish Cleaners
That the Parliament supports calls from members and non-members of the Domestic Cleaning Business Network trade association to make financial support available specifically to the cleaning industry in Scotland; understands that the Domestic Cleaning Business Network is the largest trade association for domestic cleaners in the UK; recognises that domestic cleaners have been massively impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic as a result of Scottish Government restrictions and that Scotland is the only UK nation to restrict domestic cleaning activities; believes that as a result of these measures, targeted financial support is needed from the Scottish Government, especially given reports that the industry has been refused specific funding or access to the Strategic Business Framework Funding as the cleaners are not recognised as either being deemed essential or part of the supply chain to those businesses prohibited by law to open under the tiered restriction levels; notes that affected cleaning service providers have been directed to the Seed Enterprise Investment Scheme (SEIS) funding or discretionary funding, for which they are often not eligible; recognises that whilst furlough funding has been provided to many businesses, this does not consider the overheads for insurance, premises, legal and accounting fees, pensions, and national insurance contributions or rent; is aware that the criteria for discretionary funding as well as payments varies from local authority to local authority and is not specifically targeted towards the cleaning industry, with the exception of one council; is further aware that many applications have been rejected by individual local authorities or the criteria excludes the businesses from even applying in the first instance; listens to the calls from the industry that cleaning businesses throughout Scotland are now in an untenable position where job losses and business closures are inevitable, and as such, believes that targeted funding is essential to ensure the survival of the industry and the jobs and livelihoods it supports.
Supported by: Elaine Smith, Alex Neil, Jackie Baillie, Colin Smyth, Pauline McNeill, James Kelly, Mary Fee, Monica Lennon, Neil Bibby
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Reported Problems of the Mobile and Home-Based Close Contact Service Providers Fund
That the Parliament notes the reported problems with the newly launched mobile and home-based Close Contact Service Providers Fund; recognises that concerns have reportedly been raised regarding the way in which the fund is being administered; understands that the Scottish Government will administer both the mobile and home-based Close Contact Service Providers Fund and the Newly Self-Employed Hardship Fund using the same application form; understands that this has caused problems due to the significant number of applicants trying to access the funds when they were launched; expresses concern regarding reports that applicants have been receiving automated emails informing them that their application has been rejected because the system could not authenticate their online presence; notes concerns raised that there is no recourse to appeal if an application is unsuccessful; acknowledges reports that the application form is difficult to review prior to submission as a result of having to re-input information due to the system not saving data; notes the reported lack of clarity regarding whether the funds are being run by a partnership service, and if so, by which partnership service, and understands that, should these issues be raised with the Scottish Government, it may take some time for a response to be issued, by which time applicants may have missed mortgage payments, rent, utilities bills or vital products such as clothing and food at a time when the funds are meant to be helping those in need.
Supported by: Iain Gray, Mark McDonald, Jackie Baillie, Rhoda Grant, David Stewart, Colin Smyth
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To ask the Scottish Government what steps it is taking to address the reported increased demand for mental health services.
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 25/02/2021
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National Centres of Excellence in Low Carbon Skills
That the Parliament acknowledges that further education institutions have a vital role to play in delivering the skills required to decarbonise Scotland's economy by 2045; appreciates that with a huge number of jobs potentially lost due to the pandemic, the further education sector needs to support as many people as possible to retrain to work in the low carbon sectors, so that Scotland can build towards a resilient and sustainable recovery; notes the calls led by young people from the Teach the Future campaign to establish a new network of national centres of excellence in low carbon skills at several further education colleges, each focusing on different aspects of the low carbon skills gap; understands that the campaign is calling for the centres of excellence to be spread out geographically in order to help with the levelling-up plan, based on regional hubs that could be linked to existing regional projects; notes the intention that the work of the network will lead to the design of new teaching resources, training and assessments, in addition to the reskilling of teachers and the sharing of best practice through new networks, and recognises suggestions that the centres could support the Government in introducing low carbon skills into the curriculum in order to further help bridge the skills gap at a time when many students face a highly uncertain future.
Supported by: Iain Gray, Monica Lennon, Sarah Boyack, Mark McDonald, Kenneth Gibson, Claudia Beamish, Colin Smyth, Jackie Baillie, David Torrance, Pauline McNeill, Gil Paterson, Bill Kidd, Neil Bibby, Finlay Carson, Maureen Watt, Annabelle Ewing, Ruth Maguire
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To ask the Scottish Government how many people it estimates will be in youth employment programmes by (a) April, (b) summer and (c) the end of 2021.
Answered by Fiona Hyslop
(19/02/2021): Through our additional investment of £60 million in 2020-21 we have provided funding for new opportunities, and have also enhanced existing opportunities, to support young people in Scotland as part of the Young Person’s Guarantee. These opportunities will include up to: - 11,000 employability opportunities through local authorities;
- 5,000 places in college;
- 1,400 new apprentice pathways
Further funding of £70 million has been confirmed for 2021-2022 for the Young Person’s Guarantee. We will shortly set out further details on how this investment will be used to provide additional new opportunities for young people. This is part of £125 million funding to support young people, those made redundant, and people who have been unemployed for a long time. These new additional opportunities will complement our existing provision through schools, universities and colleges, our person-centred employability services Fair Start Scotland, No One Left Behind and the Employability Fund and third sector support such as Discovering Your Potential, Our Future Now and Community Jobs Scotland. The Scottish Government will also continue to ensure that apprenticeship opportunities are open to all by investing through Skills Development Scotland (SDS) and the Scottish Funding Council (SFC) to maximise apprenticeship starts, including additional investment of £21 million to deliver Foundation and Graduate Apprenticeships in colleges and universities. Given the uncertainty facing the labour market we are looking to use our investment to give local partnerships flexibility to meet local needs and provide coherence with DWP programmes. We are working with partners to develop a rigorous measurement and evaluation framework to show how the Guarantee is delivering this range of different opportunities to support young people. As part of this process, we published the young person’s labour market dashboard on 28 January: https://www.gov.scot/publications/young-persons-local-authority-labour-market-dashboard/ . This new, interactive tool has been developed to provide a summary of labour market measures for those aged 16 to 24 by local authority area. This dashboard, along with the annual Participation Measure produced by Skills Development Scotland, will help us to measure uptake and target opportunities and support.
Current Status: Answered by Fiona Hyslop on 19/02/2021
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To ask the Scottish Government how many long-term unemployed young people have accessed the Fair Start Scotland service.
Answered by Jamie Hepburn
(19/02/2021): Information on access to Fair Start Scotland (FSS) service by age is published quarterly in Scotland’s Devolved Employment Services: A Statistical Summary . Between April 2018 (when FSS was launched) and September 2020 (the latest period for which data is available), 5,386 young people (16-24 years) accessed Fair Start Scotland services. Of these: - 1,898 were reported by the service providers as long term unemployed (they had not been working for 12 months or more);
- 233 were reported as never worked but the length of their unemployment is unknown, and the length of unemployment was not reported for a further 1,256 people.
Current Status: Answered by Jamie Hepburn on 19/02/2021
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To ask the Scottish Government how many people have participated in the Kickstart Scheme in Scotland.
Answered by Fiona Hyslop
(19/02/2021): The Kickstart Scheme is a programme of work reserved to the UK Government and it is for the Department for Work and Pensions to report on participation numbers. We are continuing to work with the UK Government to better understand how the Scheme is operating in Scotland.
Current Status: Answered by Fiona Hyslop on 19/02/2021
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To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to concerns that guidance it has issued to local authorities regarding theatres’ eligibility for the grant support for businesses that are in receipt of the Strategic Business Framework Fund support under the Level 4 restrictions is not consistent with the information published on its website.
Answered by Kate Forbes
(16/02/2021): The Strategic Framework Business Fund offers grants of up to £3,000 for businesses required to close, including theatres. Theatres meeting the criteria for these grants were also eligible for an additional one-off grant of up to £9,000 for non-essential retail and leisure businesses. The guidance for the hospitality, non-essential retail and leisure top up fund did not specify the types of businesses eligible for the retail and leisure top up, and we subsequently updated the Scottish Government webpage and contacted local authorities to clarify the position on businesses eligible for this additional grant payment.
Current Status: Answered by Kate Forbes on 16/02/2021
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To ask the Scottish Government what action it will take to increase employment opportunities within the rural economy.
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 11/02/2021
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To ask the Scottish Government how many young people have signed onto the Young Person's Guarantee.
Answered by Fiona Hyslop
(01/02/2021): The Guarantee was launched in November 2020. We have worked closely with partners to build on our existing strong education, skills and employability infrastructure to deliver the recommendations from Sandy Begbie’s report. We are working closely with partners from across the public, private and third sectors to progress towards our aim of ensuring that within two years, every person aged between 16 and 24 will have the opportunity to study; take up an apprenticeship, job or work experience; or participate in formal volunteering. There is no process to sign up for the Guarantee as all young people requiring help, should be able to access support. Through our additional investment of £60m in 2020-21 we have provided funding for around 18,000 new and enhanced existing opportunities to support young people. Including provision through Local Authorities, Colleges, Skills Development Scotland and the third sector. The early success of the Young Person’s Guarantee will be maintained next year. Additional investment of £125 million will go towards the Young Person’s Guarantee, the National Transition Training Fund and other initiatives, ensuring the future workforce has the skills needed for a green recovery and supporting those at risk of long term unemployment. We are working with partners to develop a rigorous measurement and evaluation framework to show how the Guarantee is delivering a range of different opportunities to support young people. As part of this process, we published the young person’s labour market dashboard on 28 January. Young person’s local authority labour market dashboard - gov.scot (www.gov.scot) . This new, interactive tool has been developed to provide a summary of labour market measures for those aged 16 to 24 by local authority. This dashboard along with the annual Participation Measure produced by Skills Development Scotland will help us to measure and target opportunities and support.
Current Status: Answered by Fiona Hyslop on 01/02/2021
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