3. To ask the Scottish Government what it is doing to ensure that young people have secure employment opportunities. (S5O-04511)

The Scottish Government is taking a range of actions to support our young people. We have committed to investing £60 million this financial year in a youth guarantee, as part of the £100 million investment for employment and skills that we announced last month. The guarantee is one of the first actions—[

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.]—and sets out our employer-led plan to give all young people access to work, training or education. We have recently announced that that will also include the spending of £10 million on measures to support and retain apprentices.

I welcome all those targeted actions.

The Minister is acutely aware of the fact that young people are at risk of being the most adversely affected by the economic impacts—[

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.] Last year and earlier this year, they took to the streets in climate strikes to make known their fears about the planet’s future. How is the Scottish Government ensuring that their voices are heard, as it drafts its plans for a green recovery?

I certainly agree—and previous experience demonstrates—that young people are one of the groups who are most likely to be disproportionately impacted by the effects of a downturn.

That question can be linked to what I said in my original answer. We have asked Sandy Begbie to progress the work on our youth guarantee. He is ensuring that he hears the voices of young people as part of the dialogue on how to advance the youth guarantee. He met a group of young people directly on 11 August, and has met young people’s organisations including Young Scot, the Prince’s Trust, Action for Children and MCR Pathways. He is involved in that dialogue.

It will be essential that the youth guarantee and all our labour market interventions are geared towards the places where we need to have the right skill sets for the future. Ensuring that we have a green recovery very much forms part of the work ahead.