Work commission chief keen to help

Jan 21 2013

A leading Scottish businessman is to head up a special group aiming to ensure young people are ready for the world of work.

Sir Ian Wood, who was until recently the chair of the oil services company The Wood Group, hopes the commission he will lead will make a "substantial difference" to school leavers.

The Commission for Developing Scotland's Young Workforce will examine the links between employers, what is taught at schools under the Curriculum for Excellence and further and higher education.

It will also examine the ways young people get into work after leaving school and how successful schemes such as the modern apprenticeships programme are before making a series of recommendations next year.

Sir Ian will carry out the work with others including Sir Willie Haughey, who is the managing director of City Refrigeration Holdings and a former non-executive director of Celtic FC, and Grahame Smith, the general secretary of the Scottish Trades Union Congress.

Sir Ian said: "The worst experience a young person leaving school can have is to suddenly find the world out there doesn't want them, and thus it becomes a significant social as well as economic problem.

"Through the work of the commission, we hope to make a substantial difference to how school leavers can access training opportunities and ensure that training equips them with the skills they really need. We will be examining everything from the senior phase at school, careers advice, further education and how employers are joined up with the training process.

"We will bring forward clear recommendations next year on how to improve work-readiness, training, quality and employability of Scotland's young workforce with a substantial increase in demand for their skills."

Youth employment minister Angela Constance said the Scottish Government had already made "significant strides in supporting young people into jobs", adding that a minimum of £80 million was being spent to support about 23,000 young people into work.

The new commission, she said, would "explore how Scotland's training system can be even better linked with Curriculum for Excellence, further education and labour market need, to truly address youth unemployment".