2. To ask the Scottish Government what support it gives to school leavers regarding the transition to further education, training and work. (S5O-02208)

A broad range of support is available to school leavers, including careers advice that is offered by Skills Development Scotland to help pupils move into further education, training and work. SDS also works closely with pastoral care staff in schools to identify those leavers who are less likely to engage with mainstream opportunities and, together with local partners, it offers targeted transitional support to that vulnerable group.

We heard last week that a survey commissioned by the Education and Skills Committee found that just 3 per cent of school leavers were told more about how to get on to a training programme than other post-school options, whereas 60 per cent were told more about how to get into university than other options. What action is being taken by the Minister and the Scottish Government to ensure that all school leavers receive adequate information and advice about transition into non-university routes such as apprenticeships—

The Deputy Presiding Officer:

Briefly, please, Minister—I meant, briefly, please, Mr Balfour.

I will still try to be brief, Presiding Officer.

I recognise and understand Mr Balfour’s points, and that is exactly why we are taking forward our developing the young workforce programme. There is a historic challenge for us around ensuring that there is parity of esteem across all options for young people. It is a big challenge. We are committed to taking forward that work through our developing the young workforce programme. I have seen that beginning to make a difference, and I will take it further still with the recommendations from the learner journey review.

Will the Minister outline what advice is given to young people who go straight from school to work and might end up in exploitative and insecure work? What advice is given about what is reasonable for them to expect in terms of contracts? What advice is given about the role of trade unions in protecting young people from the exploitative practices that they might experience?

Advice about the world of work is provided through the careers advice that is available in every school environment. We need to reflect on the issue of what young people might expect in the world of work. We probably can do better in ensuring that we know what they expect and we should work towards that. We discussed that just yesterday at a meeting of the strategic labour market group, which I chair.