Question reference: S4W-00548
- Asked by: Neil Bibby, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Labour
- Date lodged: 7 June 2011
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Current status: Answered by Alasdair Allan on 14 July 2011
Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what action it has taken to reduce unemployment in North Ayrshire.
Answer
Scottish Government is continuing to support North Ayrshire Council to identify opportunities to boost employment and solutions to counter adult unemployment.
Starting in 2010-11, Skills Development Scotland has aligned its pre-employment programmes (Get Ready for Work and Training for Work) with local labour markets, including those in North Ayrshire, through contract co-decision making with Community Planning Partnerships. This will help to drive up job related outcomes from our employability programmes.
North Ayrshire has also been a recipient of £1.38m European funds to support employability activity locally via the Community Planning Partnership (CPP) Priority 5 and a European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) grant of £517,561 towards their Business Growth Programme.
Scottish Government recently announced that Irvine Bay Urban Regeneration Company (URC) will receive £4m of grant funding in 2011-12 from Scottish Government/Scottish Enterprise.
Scottish Government is currently working with North Ayrshire Community Planning Partners, led by North Ayrshire Council, to consider options to address unemployment in the area. Possible options include the creation of a Jobs Task Force.