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Across four themes, this report sets out the Scottish Government’s response to the recommendations made by The Enterprise and Skills Strategic Board sub-group for immediate action to mitigate rising levels of unemployment across Scotland due to the impact of COVID-19.

Executive Summary

The Enterprise and Skills Strategic Board sub-group (ESSB) recognise the strength of the Scottish education, skills and employability provision to support people to acquire the skills needed to succeed in the labour market and the existing support for businesses to survive in the COVID-19 crisis.

Many of the recommendations point to the need to develop services and increase support available to enable Scotland to respond to the anticipated increase in demand in the coming months as the UK Government Job Retention Scheme (JRS) ends.

Across four themes, the ESSB set out recommendations for immediate action which the Scottish Government broadly endorses. We have already taken action, and in the main sections of this paper, we highlight the work already underway that responds to the recommendations and the actions we plan to take in the immediate future.

The Enterprise and Skills Strategic Board sub-group, at the request of the Deputy First Minister, produced a series of recommendations to mitigate the rising levels of unemployment across Scotland. This report is published alongside our response to the Advisory Group on Economic Recovery’s report supporting a wellbeing economy and social renewal.

Addressing the labour market emergency 37 page PDF, 516.3 kB