Young Person's Guarantee: update report March 2023

Annex A: Success in Employer Leadership

In the original 'Young Person Guarantee No One Left Behind' report it was clear that employers sat at the heart of delivering the Guarantee. Both through employer leadership within policy and strategy, and also through a range of products and services to support employers to stimulate demand and create more opportunities for young people across Scotland.

The commitment to be youth focused and employer-led was the underpinning vision for the governance of the Young Person's Guarantee. This employer leadership was delivered through Sandy Begbie, FSB, as Chair of the Developing the Young Workforce Employers' Forum and Young Person's Guarantee Implementation Group, Melanie Hill, Scottish Power, Chair of the YPG Employer Advisory Group and Graeme McEwan, MCR Pathways, Chair of the Communications and Marketing Group. Each chair provided a unique perspective on the work and offered support and challenge to how the Guarantee evolved over the two years.

The employer influence and guidance was further strengthened by the work of the Young Person's Guarantee Employer Advisory Group. The membership was exclusively for employers to provide a forum for open discussion, challenge and divergent thinking on some of the key policy and delivery issues related to youth employability. The group represented a range of sectors and sizes of organisations and covered a range of geographic locations. They discussed and debated issues including child poverty, inactivity, funding, skills, labour market supply and demand, and diversity and equalities. At various points, they worked jointly with the Youth Advisory Panel to present the Scottish Government with jointly drafted recommendations for change and improvement on the support available to young people and employers.

The group developed and presented a variety of recommendations on how the system could be improved to better support young people and employers. Some particular highlights include:

• Supporting employer sign ups to the Young Person's Guarantee and helping to deliver over 800 employer sign ups
• Providing policy input and consultation on the development of the National Strategy for Economic Transformation (NSET), Best Start, Bright Futures and a range of education policy developments.
• Driving forward equalities including being instrumental in the ground breaking employer workshops on Trauma in the workforce, the first of its kind in Scotland.
• Developing a suite of employer position statements which provided a framework for recommended improvements across a variety of policy areas.