Young Person's Guarantee Activity Plan (Phase 1): EQIA and Equality Action Plan

Recommendations

After considering the evidence gathered and engaging with stakeholders, additional actions and improved alignment to existing policies have been considered in order to fulfil the Equality Duty (eliminating unlawful discrimination, advancing equality of opportunity, and promoting good relations) and to mainstream it through the Guarantee's implementation. These have been mapped against each separate strand of activity required to deliver on the Guarantee, as set out in the Equality Action Plan (See Annex).

Information on how these additional commitments and actions fulfil the Equality Duty against each protected characteristic under the Equality Act 2010 (as well as care experienced young people) can be found below. Impact has not been assessed against the characteristic of marriage and civil partnership as the Scottish Government does not require assessment against this protected characteristic unless the policy or practice relates to work, for example HR policies and practices.

Age:

Implementing the Guarantee aims to support all young people in obtaining and sustaining opportunities, and so implementation will aim to prevent young people experiencing unlawful discrimination, harassment and victimisation by virtue of their age.

As part of the Guarantee, the Scottish Government has committed to further consider how advice and support will be promoted to delivery partners (particularly employers) to encourage them to undertake activity in a way that prevents and eliminates discrimination. This could include, for example, through the Guarantee's website and continued funding through the Workplace Equality Fund.

Employers will also commit to "creating an inclusive and fair workplace" as part of the 5 asks when becoming involved in the Guarantee. This will be linked to the organisation's own diversity and equality policies and activities. Examples could include taking positive action to support young people in the workplace; actively engaging with and supporting young people with protected characteristics; and adopting Fair Work principles and practices (such as payment of the living wage and providing young people with fair contracts of employment). In doing so, employers will be supported to consider areas of further action and developments in line with their commitment to the Guarantee.

As part of the Guarantee, the Government will ask delivery partners to consider other ways of promoting requirements of relevant equality legislation and advice (e.g. through the ACAS website^[35]) to protect young people from discrimination, harassment and victimisation. Delivery partners will also be asked to inform young people of their employment rights and where to go for further support and advice.

Measures to improve young people's awareness of these matters are already taking place as part of the Developing the Young Workforce Programme. Through the school curriculum, learning about the world of work and employment rights are a key part of career education for young people in their senior phase at school. We are also supporting the STUC's "Union into Schools" programme, which involves union representatives visiting schools to raise awareness and understanding amongst young people about the importance of citizen's and workers' rights, and the role played by trade unions in the modern workplace.

As highlighted within the Equality Action Plan, the following commitments will support advancing equality of opportunity for young people:

• Engage with young people during the design stages of deciding how to implement the Guarantee;
• Better understand how young people will access support and make use of pathways;
• Fund and support to employers to adopt and embed fair and inclusive workplace practices;
• Fund school coordinators in secondary schools across Scotland to strengthen collaborative working across delivery partners and de-clutter a complicated economic landscape to match labour market demand to employability skills required from employers;
• Target eligibility criteria for funding to support those young people with the greatest barriers to employment to enable them to obtain, sustain and progress in employment;
• Create additional opportunities (including specific opportunities for young people who experience labour market inequalities);
• Support young people to participate in apprenticeships, and implement activity highlighted in Skill Development Scotland's (SDS) Equalities Action Plan^[36] and through their Gender Commission;
• Develop governance arrangements, which have oversight for the Guarantee, and ensure that a diverse range of young people are active participants in these arrangements;
• Develop analytical models for monitoring and evaluating the effectiveness of the Guarantee;
• Support young people to undertake formal volunteering opportunities and address barriers that may prevent them from doing so;
• Take a person centred approach to supporting those young people who need it most at a local level; and,
• Promote the Guarantee to those working on other Government policy priorities such as Transport, Green Jobs and City Deals to ensure those polices support the aims of the Guarantee.

One example of cross Government alignment is demonstrated through the National Transport Delivery Plan with the commitment to ensure that there is active, public and sustainable travel access to employment, education and training locations, and to engage with those who have lived experience of transport inequalities. To support the delivery of this commitment, Transport Scotland have established a Transport Young People and Employment Partnership which will, amongst other actions, support the implementation of the Guarantee.

The Activity Plan states that the Guarantee will be accessible to all young people, that it aims to help young people to achieve their potential and that young people will be involved in its design and delivery. Therefore, those working to implement and deliver the Guarantee will be asked to collaboratively engage with young people, which will help to promote and foster good relations between delivery partners, young people and the specialist organisations that represent them.

The Government also recognises the need to ensure that other age groups are not displaced as a result of the Guarantee. As such, we have sought to demonstrate that the Guarantee is an important part of a range of policies and programmes that support people of all ages in their journey towards employment. Funding through existing employability programmes, such as Community Jobs Scotland provides targeted support to people aged up to 30. Other services, such as Fair Start Scotland, provide an all age service, and the Parental Employment Support Fund provides intensive employability support for parents both in and out of work, helping to tackle in work poverty and enhance links between local employability services. Additional funding has also be allocated to the National Transition Training Fund to support up to 10,000 individuals aged 25 and over who have been made unemployed or whose jobs are at risk as a result of Covid-19.

The Guarantee is also part of the Government's ongoing No One Left Behind^[37] policy that seeks to ensure the more effective integration and alignment of employability support and services. This involves partners working more closely together to simplify the current employability landscape and deliver better outcomes for those people of all ages who face significant barriers to accessing work.

In summary, the Guarantee is expected to improve the learning, training and employment outcomes for young people (as indicated in the Activity Plan and Equality Action Plan). We will continue to work with delivery partners to try to ensure that the Guarantee does not cause displacement within the labour market, and will work with employers to identify ways in which good working relations can continue between employees of all ages.

Disability:

Implementing the Guarantee aims to support young disabled people in obtaining and sustaining opportunities, and so the Guarantee will aim to prevent unlawful discrimination, harassment and victimisation experienced by young disabled people. As a result of this EQIA, additional activity has been identified to support this aim.

Delivery partners identified will continually monitor and develop how communications (including the web presence for the Guarantee) meet accessibility standards and British Sign Language requirements. As part of this work, partners are continuing to undertake user testing and gather feedback on the Guarantee's website. Glasgow Disability Alliance has also offered to support this work.

Employers will be supported, through access to advice and additional funding, to embed fair and inclusive workplace practices to eliminate discrimination that can have an adverse impact on young disabled people. Equalities training for delivery partners will be promoted and encouraged. In partnership with members of the Implementation Group, the Government will consider what further equalities training can be provided to partners.

Employers will also commit to "creating an inclusive and fair workplace" as part of the 5 asks when becoming involved in the Guarantee. Through this, employers will be supported to consider areas of further action and developments in line with their commitment.

In terms of other commitments on how implementing the Guarantee can support advancing equality of opportunity for young disabled people, the Equality Action Plan states that action will be taken to:

• Align with the Disability Employment Action Plan to, for example, link into the employer campaign to promote the positive case for employing disabled people;
• Engage with young disabled people (and trusted organisations who represent them) when implementing the Guarantee;
• Ensure that communications are accessible (including use of British Sign Language);
• Consider how young disabled people access support and make use of pathways to opportunities;
• Fund employer recruitment incentives to encourage employers to recruit young disabled people;
• Create additional opportunities which can be accessed by young disabled people;
• Align education with skills training through, for example, funding DYW school coordinators;
• Procure equality training for DYW school coordinators, with a KPI developed to target work based learning and employer engagement opportunities at those who would benefit the most;
• Involve young disabled people in the development of Guarantee's governance arrangements;
• Support young disabled people to participate in apprenticeships, and implement activity highlighted in SDS's Equalities Action Plan;
• Gather data to enable delivery partners to better target support to disabled young people;
• Support young disabled people to undertake formal volunteering; opportunities and address barriers which may prevent them from doing so;
• Provide local partnership funding for additional support for young disabled people; and,
• Promote the Guarantee to those working on other policy priorities to support the creation of additional opportunities for young disabled people.

A Fairer Scotland for Disabled People^[38] outlined five key ambitions as part of the Scottish Government's response to the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, including 'Decent incomes and fairer working lives'. A key element of this is the commitment to at least halve the employment gap between disabled people and the rest of the working age population.

The Fairer Scotland for Disabled People: Employment Action Plan^[39] further sets out the actions the Scottish Government will take to meet its ambition. A cross Government approach is being taken to engage with trusted organisations who represent disabled people (such as Glasgow Disability Alliance, Enable and Inclusion Scotland) to ensure that the Guarantee is actively contributing to this ambition. For example, all three organisations have provided views on a draft Employer Recruitment Incentive Framework, and we are funding Enable Scotland to provide specialist support for young disabled people who are likely to struggle to transition into a positive destination.

In summary, the Guarantee is expected to improve the learning, training and employment outcomes for young disabled people. It will further work to address issues around discrimination and promote good relations between disabled and non-disabled people through, for example, specialist training for delivery partners.

Sex:

Implementing the Guarantee aims to support young women in obtaining and sustaining opportunities while also addressing the causes of the gender pay gap. Delivery partners will be expected to provide support, services and opportunities in a way that eliminates unlawful discrimination.

Policy adaptations and activities (as outlined in the Equality Action Plan) will support this aim. For instance, development of the Young Person's Journey (a key activity of the Guarantee) will incorporate the experiences of young women in order to better understand the barriers they face, including discrimination.

Employers will also be supported to adopt and embed fair and inclusive workplace practices to tackle the causes of the gender pay gap and eliminate discrimination. All employers participating in the Guarantee must adhere to current gender pay gap reporting laws and will be encouraged to develop gender pay gap action plans. It will be stipulated within grant letters that delivery partners are to promote fair work practices through their activities and their interactions with partners. This will further be supported through: the work to develop a framework for Employer Recruitment Incentives, promotion of resources from specialist organisations^[40], implementation of Fair Work First, promotion of the Guarantee's website (which will contain access to advice), and seeking to continue to fund the Workplace Equality Fund.

Access to training and resources for delivery partners will be promoted, particularly in relation to improving gender competence. Going forward, in partnership with members of the Implementation Group, the Government will consider what further equality training can be provided to partners.

A Fairer Scotland For Women - Gender Pay Gap Action Plan^[41] outlines over 50 actions to tackle the causes of the gender pay gap. The Scottish Government and partners will align these actions with the implementation of the Guarantee, including:

• Start the process of work to ensure that our own policymakers, analysts and delivery bodies are sufficiently competent in their understanding of gender issues to design policy and services that advance women's equality;
• continuing to support the adoption of the Fair Work Framework to address gender inequality across all dimensions of work – opportunity, security, fulfilment (including skills acquisition and deployment), respect and voice;
• encourage Fair Work practices among employers and grant recipients (including Local Authorities that receive Scottish Government funding);
• working with employers to persuade them to develop robust and meaningful gender pay gap action plans and support the Fair Work Convention with their employer engagement;
• payment of the living wage;
• monitoring delivery of the Parental Employability Support Fund to ensure that the programme is gender-sensitive, and is meeting women's distinct needs;
• helping to support delivery partners' knowledge and skills around intersectional gender analysis and gender sensitive service development; and,
• considering how transport infrastructure investment impacts on the gender pay gap.

The Guarantee will feature within the updated Gender Pay Gap Action Plan. Therefore, regular updates on the Guarantee will also be provided to the Government's Gender Pay Gap Working Group.

The Guarantee's Implementation Group will also work with the National Advisory Council for Women and Girls and SDS's Gender Commission to consider and address any issues that are uncovered as part of the Guarantee's monitoring and evaluation process.

Employers will also commit to "creating an inclusive and fair workplace" as part of the 5 asks when becoming involved in the Guarantee. Officials working on employer engagement will lead on work to support employers consider areas of further action and developments in line with their commitment.

In terms of other commitments on how implementing the Guarantee can support advancing equality of opportunity for young women, the Equality Action Plan states that action will be taken to:

• Support employers to provide flexible working, which is particularly crucial for young people with caring responsibilities (which is more prevalent for women);
• Engage with young women (and trusted organisations who represent them) on the implementation process for the Guarantee;
• DYW School Coordinators will play a key role in partnership approaches to supporting young women and encouraging young women to consider further studies and employment to help address gendered occupational segregation;
• Development of options for procuring equality training for school coordinators and development of a KPI regarding school coordinators (to target work based learning and employer engagement opportunities at those who would benefit the most);
• Through the review and development of a national model for delivering career advice, careers advice services should be fully aware of and work to address occupational segregation;
• Promote gender equality within the DYW Programme more broadly;
• Work to meet the gender equality targets for Modern Apprenticeships;
• Specific support for young women in (or about to leave) colleges and universities;
• Proposals that young women be involved in governance arrangements;
• Data will be analysed so that delivery partners can target support to young women to advance equality of opportunity (the Government is engaging with stakeholders to inform proposals on the measurement and evaluation framework for the Guarantee);
• Support young women to undertake formal volunteering opportunities and address barriers which may prevent them from doing so (delivery partners will consider occupational segregation when determining volunteering opportunities through the grant arrangements);
• Local partnership support will be person-centred and consider the issues faced by women in the labour market with support tailored to meet the individual needs young women (for instance, this will be done through the grant awarding process as those in receipt of grants will evidence how they are meeting equality conditions of the grant);
• Grant processes will ask delivery partners to promote fair work practices including payment of the Living Wage (which is particularly important for young women with caring responsibilities or those working in low paid sectors with less access to in-work training); and,
• Promoting the Guarantee to those working on other policy priorities to support creating appropriate opportunities for young women (with special attention made to addressing potential occupational segregation within these opportunities).

In summary, the Guarantee is expected to improve the learning, training and employment outcomes for young women. It will further work to address issues around discrimination and promote good relations between women and men through, for example, specialist training for delivery partners.

Pregnancy and Maternity:

Evidence indicates that young women can be particularly affected by pregnancy and maternity discrimination. As mentioned above, it is against the law to discriminate against anyone on the basis of protected characteristics they hold, this of course includes pregnancy and maternity. Commitments developed in response to the findings from this EQIA will further work to prevent unlawful discrimination towards young pregnant women and young mothers. For instance, employers will be supported to adopt and embed fair and inclusive workplace practices to eliminate discrimination, this is particularly crucial for young pregnant women and young mothers.

Employers will also commit to "creating an inclusive and fair workplace" as part of the 5 asks when becoming involved in the Guarantee. In doing so, employers will be supported to consider areas of further action and developments in line with their commitment. Access to training for delivery partners will be promoted, particularly on gender competence.

The Guarantee will also support implementation of the Gender Pay Gap Action Plan, which references activity relating to pregnancy and maternity discrimination.

The Implementation Group will work with the Government's Gender Pay Gap Working Group to consider and address any issues that are uncovered as part of the Guarantee's monitoring and evaluation process.

In terms of other commitments on how implementing the Guarantee can support advancing equality of opportunity for young mothers and pregnant women, the Equality Action Plan states that action will be taken to:

• Support employers to provide flexible working, which will be particularly crucial for young mothers with caring responsibilities;
• Engage with young parents and families (and trusted organisations who represent them) when implementing the Guarantee;
• Propose that careers advice services target support to young parents;
• Provide particular support for young pregnant women and mothers at a local partnership level through building on and aligning with the Parental Employability Support Fund (which provides intensive employability support for parents both in and out of work);
• Support young mothers at college and university level;
• Support young parents to undertake formal volunteering opportunities and address barriers which may prevent them from doing so;
• Include young parents (particularly young mothers) in governance arrangements; and,
• Promote the Guarantee to those working on other policy priorities to support creating valuable opportunities for young parents.

In summary, the Guarantee is expected to improve the learning, training and employment outcomes for young mothers and young pregnant women. It will further work to address issues around discrimination and promote good relations young mothers and young pregnant women have with others.

Gender Reassignment:

There is a lack of available data regarding young transgender people accessing and sustaining opportunities. However, evidence does suggest that the workplace is one of the most likely locations for transphobic discrimination and harassment to occur. Implementing the Guarantee aims to support young people in obtaining and sustaining valuable opportunities, and so implementing the Guarantee will aim to prevent unlawful discrimination, harassment and victimisation experienced by young transgender people.

This will be done by promoting advice and support on the Guarantee's website to allow delivery partners (including employers) to undertake activity in a way that prevents and eliminates discrimination. This will include discrimination that can be faced by transgender people.

Employers will also commit to "creating an inclusive and fair workplace" as part of the 5 asks when becoming involved in the Guarantee. In doing so, employers will be supported to consider areas of further action and developments in line with their commitment. There are also opportunities to promote guidance and advice offered by expert groups who work with young transgender people.

It will be considered how best the experiences of young trans people (and LGBTI+ young people more broadly) could be included in the Young Person's Journey work. This work should better raise issues around discrimination and bullying, and ensure that there is better access for young people to navigate the system with clearer pathways to work and opportunities.

In terms of other commitments on how implementing the Guarantee can support advancing equality of opportunity for young transgender people, the Equality Action Plan states that action will be taken to:

• Engage with young people when implementing the Guarantee (including young LGBTI+ people) to hear their views and experiences;
• Encourage support services to promote the Guarantee to young transgender people (anecdotal evidence from stakeholders indicates that some young trans people are relying less on social media although many are still reliant on digital support services and support networks for information);
• Understand how young people access support and make use of pathways;
• Support employers to in turn support young people (including young LGBTI+ people);
• Create opportunities that can support LGBTI+ people;
• Align education with skills and support young people to make use of apprenticeships (the LGBT Inclusive Education Implementation Group presents opportunities for the Guarantee to and support existing work to advance equality of opportunity for young LGBT people in education);
• Develop governance arrangements (with representation of young LGBTI+ people) and analytical models;
• Support young LGBTI+ people to undertake formal volunteering opportunities and address barriers which may prevent them from doing so;
• Provide person centred support to those who need it most at a local level; and,
• Promote the Guarantee to those working on other policy priorities.

In summary, the Guarantee is expected to improve the learning, training and employment outcomes for young transgender people. It will further work to address issues around discrimination and promote good relations between young transgender people and others.

Sexual Orientation:

The available evidence presents a mixed, and sometimes contradictory, picture of the employment outcomes of individuals due to their sexual orientation. However, there is evidence that suggests that people experience discrimination because of their sexual orientation in the workplace.

Advice and support will be promoted on the Guarantee's website to allow delivery partners (including employers) to undertake activity in a way that prevents and eliminates discrimination. This will include the discrimination that can be faced by young LGBTI+ people.

Employers will also commit to "creating an inclusive and fair workplace" as part of the 5 asks when becoming involved in the Guarantee. Employers will be supported to consider areas of further action and developments in line with their commitment.

It will be considered how best the experiences of young LGBTI+ people could be included in the Young Person's Journey work. This work should better raise issues around discrimination and bullying, and ensure that there is better access for young people to navigate the system with clearer pathways to work and opportunities.

In terms of other commitments on how implementing the Guarantee can support advancing equality of opportunity for young LGBTI+ people, the Equality Action Plan states that action will be taken to:

• Engage with young people when implementing the Guarantee (including young LGBTI+ people) to hear their views and experiences;
• Understand how young people access support and make use of pathways;
• Support employers to in turn support young people, with opportunities to make use of resources from expert organisations who work with young LGBTI+ people;
• Create opportunities that can support LGBTI+ people;
• Align education with skills and support young people to make use of apprenticeships (the LGBT Inclusive Education Implementation Group presents opportunities for the Guarantee to support existing work to advance equality of opportunity for young LGBTI+ people in education);
• Develop governance arrangements (with representation of young LGBTI+ people) and analytical models;
• Support young LGBTI+ people to undertake formal volunteering opportunities and address barriers that may prevent them from doing so;
• Provide person-centred support to those who need it most at a local level; and,
• Promote the Guarantee to those working on other policy priorities.

In summary, the Guarantee is expected to improve the learning, training and employment outcomes for young LGBTI+ people. It will further work to address issues around discrimination and promote good relations between young LGBTI+ people and others.

Race:

Structural racism and discrimination experienced by young people on the basis of race and ethnicity (particularly young Black people and People of Colour) has been raised as a key issue from the evidence gathered and from stakeholders. Therefore, this EQIA has highlighted that working towards addressing this issue will be important for delivering the Guarantee.

Commitments made as a result of the EQIA will support the aim of eliminating unlawful discrimination experienced on the basis of race and ethnicity. For instance, development of the Young Person's Journey (a key activity of the Guarantee) will incorporate the experiences of young people from minority ethnic and minority racial groups in order to better understand the barriers they face, including discrimination. It has also been committed that employers will be supported to eliminate discrimination and structural racism through the Guarantee, and work is ongoing to develop a careers advice implementation plan which will also seek to challenge structural racism.

Delivery partners will be asked to consider and monitor how they are delivering their programmes to specifically support young people from minority ethnic and minority racial backgrounds.

As referenced throughout, employers will also be supported to adopt and embed fair and inclusive workplace practices to eliminate discrimination. Employers will also commit to "creating an inclusive and fair workplace" as part of the 5 asks when becoming involved in the Guarantee. In doing so, employers will be supported to consider areas of further action and development in line with their commitment.

Access to training for delivery partners will be promoted, particularly on anti-racism. Going forward, in partnership with members of the Implementation Group, the Government will consider what further equality training can be provided to partners.

The Implementation Group will also work with the Government's Race Equality Delivery Group to consider and address any issues which are uncovered as part of the Guarantee's monitoring and evaluation process.

In terms of how implementing the Guarantee can support advancing equality of opportunity for young people from minority ethnic and minority racial groups (and consider issues relating to intersectionality), the Equality Action Plan states that action will be taken to:

• Engage with young people from minority ethnic and minority racial groups (and trusted organisations who represent them) when implementing the Guarantee;
• Ensure employers are supported to adopt fair and inclusive workplaces (through, for instance, promoting and encouraging use of the Minority Ethnic Recruitment Toolkit^[42] and alignment to the Race Equality Action Plan^[43]);
• DYW School Coordinators will play a key role in partnership approaches to supporting young people from minority ethnic and minority racial backgrounds;
• Development of options for procuring equality training for DYW school coordinators with a KPI also developed to target work based learning and employer engagement opportunities at those who would benefit the most;
• Align with existing equality commitments relating to young people from minority ethnic and minority racial groups in apprenticeships (including increasing the number of MA starts from minority ethnic communities to equal the population share by 2021);
• Specific support for young people from minority ethnic and minority racial groups in (or about to leave) colleges and universities;
• Proposals that young people from minority ethnic and minority racial groups be involved in governance arrangements of the Guarantee;
• Data gathered will allow delivery partners to target support to young people from minority ethnic and minority racial groups;
• Encourage young people from minority ethnic and minority racial groups to undertake formal volunteering opportunities and address barriers which may prevent them from doing so;
• Local partnership level support will be person-centred and partners will be encouraged to consider the issues faced by young people from minority ethnic and minority racial groups in the labour market; and,
• Promote the Guarantee to those working on other policy priorities to support creating valuable opportunities for young people from minority ethnic and minority racial backgrounds.

The Scottish Government has recently made commitments to advance equality of opportunity for people from minority ethnic and minority racial groups in public sector employment. These commitments will support young people from these groups access and sustain opportunities, and so will influence implementation of the Guarantee. Some of these commitments include:

• Hosting a Public Sector Leadership Summit on race equality in employment;
• Seeking conformation from public sector leaders at the Summit on plans to publish policies on equal pay amongst its employees (including staff who fall into a minority ethnic and minority racial group and those who do not);
• Encouraging public authorities to commit to at least three actions as employers to promote race equality;
• Commissioning a new training framework to shape guidance on optimum practice for race equality training; and,
• Developing guidance on positive action public authorities can take as employers to advance equality of opportunity regarding race.

In summary, the Guarantee is expected to improve learning, training and employment outcomes for young people from minority ethnic and minority racial backgrounds. It will further work to address issues around discrimination and structural racism, and promote good relations between young people from minority ethnic and minority racial groups and others.

Religion and Belief:

Advice and support will be available to delivery partners (including employers) to undertake activity in a way that prevents and eliminates discrimination. This will include the discrimination that can be faced by young people because of their religion or beliefs. Employers will also commit to "creating an inclusive and fair workplace" as part of the 5 asks when becoming involved in the Guarantee and they will be supported to consider areas of further action and developments in line with their commitment.

In comparison to other protected characteristics, there is comparatively less evidence on the impacts of religion and belief on young people's experiences of accessing opportunities. However, evidence from stakeholders indicates that it is important for there to be understanding of and flexibility towards cultural and religious beliefs of young people. It has also been raised that cultural expectations from families and communities could affect young people's involvement in the Guarantee.

Therefore, the EQIA has concluded that opportunities available through the Guarantee must be delivered in a way that is fully accessible, and that employers are supported to adopt and embed fair and inclusive workplace practices.

In terms of how implementing the Guarantee can support advancing equality of opportunity for young people on the basis of religion and belief, the Equality Action Plan states that action will be taken to:

• Engage with young people when implementing the Guarantee to hear their views and experiences across different religions, beliefs, cultures and backgrounds;
• Understand how young people access support and make use of pathways;
• Support employers to in turn support young people with different religious beliefs, cultures and backgrounds;
• Create opportunities that can support young people from a range of cultures and backgrounds;
• Align education with skills and support young people to make use of apprenticeships;
• Develop governance arrangements (with representation of views of young people from different cultures and backgrounds) and analytical models;
• Support young people from a range of different cultures and religious backgrounds to undertake formal volunteering opportunities and address barriers that may prevent them from doing so;
• Provide person-centred support to young people from different cultures and religious backgrounds at a local level; and,
• Promote the Guarantee to those working on other policy priorities.

In summary, the Guarantee is expected to improve the learning, training and employment outcomes for young people across religious beliefs. It will further work to address issues around discrimination, and promote good relations between young people from religious backgrounds and others.

Care Experience:

Care experienced is not recognised as a protected characteristic under the Equality Act 2010. Nevertheless, in keeping with the Scottish Government's commitment to The Promise^[44] and through engagement with specialist organisations, the Scottish Government believes that it is important to consider how the Guarantee can better advance equality of opportunity for young care experienced people and young care leavers. Therefore, impacts for this group have been considered as part of this assessment.

In terms of how implementing the Guarantee can support advancing equality of opportunity for young people who have experienced care, the Equality Action Plan states that action will be taken to:

• Engage with trusted organisations who represent care experienced young people when implementing the Guarantee;
• Ensure employers commit to helping those who need it most by engaging with and opening opportunities to young people who face barriers to work (including young care experienced people);
• Support employers to in turn help young people sustain employment, particularly in relation to mental health or trauma related issues (which can be of importance for young care leavers);
• Continue to support care experienced people access and sustain apprenticeships;
• Work with corporate parents to ensure that the Guarantee is promoted to care experienced young people through upcoming updates to Corporate Parenting Plans;
• Consider how the views of groups who face greater barriers to accessing and sustaining opportunities will be accounted for in the Guarantee's governance arrangements, including care experienced young people;
• Set out how care experienced young people will receive targeted support to access formal volunteering opportunities, and gain work-based skills and personal development; and,
• Consider how community benefit clauses could be used to create opportunities for young care experienced people.

In summary, the Guarantee is expected to improve the learning, training and employment outcomes for young care experienced people and young care leavers.