About this publication

This is the 23rd edition of this statistical report providing summary information on Scotland’s devolved employability services. It is split into three sections, the first section considers No One Left Behind and Fair Start Scotland (FSS) together, the second covers experimental statistics related to the No One Left Behind strategic approach, reporting on the first four years from April 2019 to March 2023, and the third section covers official statistics related to FSS, covering the first five years from April 2018 to March 2023.

In previous editions of this publication, No One Left Behind data lagged one reporting quarter behind FSS. However, from this edition onwards, both services are reported up to the same quarter.   

Further detailed statistics including additional breakdowns not necessarily presented in this report are published in accompanying tables alongside the report.

Data Developments in this Edition

For the first time, this publication presents data up to the same reporting period (March 2023) for No One Left Behind and FSS. Previously, No One Left Behind was reporting one period behind. There is a new section combining No One Left Behind and FSS data to give an indication of tends in Scottish Government funded employability as a whole. There is also data presented for the first time on trans status and age progression for No One Left Behind and on time unemployed, benefit status, urban/rural status, deprivation status and conviction status for FSS participants.

No One Left Behind

No One Left Behind, introduced from April 2019, is a newer approach to employability delivery, which moves away from funding and delivering a number of separate and distinct employability programmes to a more flexible approach. No One Left Behind data is collected and recorded on management information systems by Scottish Local Authorities as part of the process for providing support to people. Local Authorities in turn provide data to the Scottish Government on a quarterly basis for reporting purposes.

Shared Measurement Framework Data Reporting Template

From October 2022, a new data template (Access the new data template - opens in a new window) co-designed with Local Authorities and aligned to the Shared Measurement Framework (SMF) has been in place and going forward the statistics in this report will reflect this new information. We continue to work closely with Local Authorities to improve the accuracy and quality of returns following the transition to the new data template.

Fair Start Scotland

FSS is an employability support service, launched in April 2018, which aims to help unemployed people into sustainable employment. There are two sources of information for the FSS statistics presented in this publication. The first source is the Scottish Government’s Scottish Employability Tracking System (SETS) which tracks referrals, starts and outcomes for those starting employment. This system provides management information in relation to performance only and does not contain any information on personal characteristics. The second source is a data return provided quarterly by FSS service providers with personal characteristic information for participants such as age, gender, long-term health conditions, disability and ethnic group. It does not contain any service level information. These information sources both contain an anonymous ID number which is used to link them together to create a final dataset for analysis.