Developing young workforce (DYW) programme: FOI release

Information requested

1. What is the annual budget for the Developing Young Workforce programme?

2. How many young people have been placed in jobs and apprenticeships directly through the DYW programme? What percentage is this of the young people population?

3. Does the Scottish government fund the preparation of the online courses available on the DYW opportunity finder? If so, how much has this cost?

4. Can you please provide any available metrics on the take up of the online courses?

Response

The answer to your first question is that the annual budget for the Developing the Young Workforce Regional Group funding is £4,600,000 and the annual budget for the School Coordinator funding is £7,200,000.

While our aim is to provide information whenever possible, in this instance the Scottish Government does not have some of the information you have requested. However, you may wish to contact Skills Development Scotland at Contact us | Skills Development Scotland, who may be able to help you. The reasons why we do not have the information are explained in the Annex. 

We are also unable to provide some of the information you have requested because of an exemption under section 17(1) of FOISA (Notice that information is not held). The reasons why that exemption applies are explained in the Annex.

Annex
Reasons for not providing information

The Scottish Government does not hold the information requested
The Scottish Government does not have the information you have asked for in question 2 because Developing the Young Workforce does not directly place young people in jobs and apprenticeships and does not record young people entering jobs or apprenticeships. DYW is an employer led programme that connects young people with a range of employers and offers information on the labour market through career inspiration, work based learning and workplace interventions. We are therefore unable to
record the number of young people entering jobs or apprenticeships directly as a result of the DYW programme.

The Scottish Government also does not have the information you have asked for in question 3 and 4 because the Scottish Government does not directly fund the preparation of the online courses available through the Young Person’s Guarantee Opportunity Finder and does not own the metrics for take up of online courses. The Opportunity Finder is an aggregator site that brings together the opportunities that a range of different providers have available for young people. Skills Development Scotland, Scottish Funding Council or other providers may hold the information you are looking for.

As such, I hereby provide you with formal notice under section 17(1) of FOISA that the Scottish Government does not have the information you have requested in questions 2-4.

About FOI
The Scottish Government is committed to publishing all information released in response to Freedom of Information requests. View all FOI responses at http://www.gov.scot/foi-responses.