Keith Brown, MSP for Clackmannanshire and Dunblane, has welcomed newly released figures from Skills Development Scotland which show a growth of 1.4% of 16 to 19 years olds in Clackmannanshire participating in education, training or work. This puts the total in Clackmannanshire at 89.7%.
Across Scotland, figures from the 2017 Annual Participation Measure for 16-19 year olds saw an annual increase of 0.7%, putting national participation at 91.1%.
Keith Brown MSP said: “These figures show that the Scottish Government’s stewardship of the Scottish economy and its ambitious policies targeted at young Scots is delivering results.
“Over the last five years, more than £5 billion has been invested in higher education by the Scottish Government and they are well on their way to delivering 30,000 Modern Apprenticeships per year by 2020, whilst expanding towards 5,000 Foundation Apprenticeships per year. This commitment to higher education and a skilled workforce is a part of the Scottish Government’s ambitious target of reducing youth unemployment by 40% by 2021.”
“Rest assured that the SNP Government will continue to work with local authorities across Scotland to help minimise the number of young people not participating in education, training or work.”