Chamber and committees

Skills Development Scotland (SDS) has operational responsibility for our apprenticeships programmes and administers them on behalf of the Scottish Government. SDS provide regular statistical breakdowns which can be located on the SDS website here and the year-end figures for 2020/21 are due to be published in June 2021.

The total number of apprenticeship starts in 2019-20 was 29,035 against a target of 29,000. Pre Covid-19 and in keeping with the Scottish Government’s commitment to grow apprenticeship opportunities the target was increased to 30,000 for 2020-21. However as Covid-19 continues to present unprecedented challenges for business across Scotland it is clear we will now not meet our ambitious target of 30,000 apprenticeship starts this year.

Whilst disappointing, we have moved from a period which delivered historically low levels of unemployment and achieving our ambitious targets on youth unemployment, to a much more challenging labour market with young people already being more severely impacted by the pandemic.

The Scottish Government is working with SDS and other stakeholders to mitigate and address the far-reaching impacts of COVID-19. This includes measures to maximise apprenticeship uptake and to support existing apprentices to complete their apprenticeships such as, increased support for Adopt an Apprentice and an additional £15 million funding for the Apprenticeship Employer Grant, encouraging employers to recruit and retain apprentices supporting the long-term future of work-based learning and the economy.

Uncertainty in the labour market has led to many employers delaying and pausing recruitment decisions, which we expect will continue to have an impact on apprenticeship provision in 2021-22. We will continue to work closely with SDS and employers to maximise the number of apprenticeship opportunities we can create in these challenging circumstances.