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Earlier advice should be considered to improve employability.

Earlier careers advice could help support more young people in jobs, Cabinet Secretary for Training, Youth and Women’s Employment Angela Constance has said.

Ms Constance was speaking at the Career Development Institute’s annual conference in Glasgow, attended by around 200 teachers and careers advisers.

The Cabinet Secretary emphasised the importance of careers advice to boosting employability and the wider economy, as well as highlighting this year’s report by the Commission for Developing Scotland’s Young Workforce and how it could help shape the future of advice in schools and beyond.

She said:

“Tackling youth unemployment remains one of this Government’s key priorities, and it is our ambition that Scottish youth employment is among the very best in Europe. This month’s statistics show we are continuing to make progress but there can be no let-up in our activity.

“Scotland can be very proud of our careers service. We have year on year since 2007 seen more and more young people move into positive destinations after leaving school, and last year hit a record high of 90 per cent of school leavers making a positive step on their journey towards employment.

“In 2013/14 Skills Development Scotland has delivered over 400,000 career information, advice and guidance engagements to over 180,000 people in a mixture of groups and one-to-one sessions, an incredible effort.

“The report by the Commission for Developing Scotland’s Young Workforce in June reflected the fact that careers advice is at the heart of employability, it set out how advice earlier in schools could allow our young people to be informed before they make important decisions on their future.

“We are working with Skills Development Scotland and other key partners, all of whom are committed to taking this forward, on delivering the report’s wide-ranging recommendations. I look forward to setting these plans out in more detail in publishing the Government’s implementation plan next month.

Notes To Editors

Further information on the Career Development Institute’s annual conference can be found at www.thecdi.net.

Further information on the careers service offered by Skills Development Scotland can be found at http://www.skillsdevelopmentscotland.co.uk/about-us/what-we-do/for-individuals.