Question reference: S5W-33945
- Asked by: Jeremy Balfour, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
- Date lodged: 9 December 2020
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Current status: Answered by Jamie Hepburn on 18 December 2020
Question
To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to figures suggesting that, in the first two years of the Fair Start Scotland programme, only 6,621 of the 34,785 people who were referred to it started in employment.
Answer
Fair Start Scotland aims to support those further from the labour market towards employment, and provides 12 – 18 months of pre-employment support. As participants join each month, not enough time will have passed to present a complete picture of employment outcomes for many of them. Time must then also be taken into account to allow participants to reach 3, 6 and 12 months employment. Each quarterly release of statistics presents a developing picture of employment outcomes for year two of the service, which will increase as more participants move through the service into work, and sustain that work over time.
The most recent statistics published on 25 November 2020 show that, of the 27,076 people who started on Fair Start Scotland, 8,329 participants (33%) went on to start work.
The statistics also show that the majority of participants who started a job went on to sustain them for at least 6-12 months:
- 71% of people starting work went on to sustain employment for 3 months;
- 78% of those who sustained employment for 3 months reached at least 6 months; and
- 77% of those who sustained employment for 6 months went on to reach at least 12 months.