2500 Young People To Be Helped Into Work

9th June 2012

Leading youth charity The Prince's Trust will receive £750,000 of European Structural Funds (ESF) to help even more young people into the jobs market.

The investment builds on last month's announcement by the Scottish Government that £25 million of ESF would be focused on projects designed to get young people into work.

The Prince's Trust will use the funding to extend their core programmes to help disadvantaged 16-25-year-olds build their confidence and increase their motivation to get their lives working again.

Cabinet Secretary for Capital Investment and Infrastructure Alex Neil said:"The Scottish Government has underlined its commitment to tackling youth unemployment by following the European Commission's advice to prioritise the issue through Structural Funding.

"£25 million, now fully approved by Scotland's Programme Monitoring Committee, almost doubles the funding that the First Minister announced in December to tackle youth unemployment. In addition, we have funded numerous individual ESF projects around the country that are already making a real difference to our young people, including the work done by The Prince's Trust.

"The Prince's Trust has a peerless record of training and mentoring young people and I fully expect them to maximise this additional funding in Scotland and ensure even more people are ready for the modern jobs market."

Minister for Youth Employment Angela Constance added:"We have many talented, able young Scots coming into the jobs market and we want them to have the skills, knowledge and opportunities needed to step onto the career ladder.

"The Scottish Government is investing an additional £30 million into a wide range of projects through the Youth Employment Strategy and has made a unique guarantee of a place in education or training for all our 16-19-year-olds.

"The work of the third sector is vital part of turning the Scottish Government's pledge on youth employment into making a difference to the lives our young people.

"The Prince's Trust have had numerous successes through their programmes over forty years and I am very pleased to award them £750,000 of further funding to keep up momentum in a very important area."

Heather Gray, Director of The Prince's Trust Scotland added:"This award is excellent news for Scotland's young people. It will allow The Prince's Trust to do more with its partners, including those in national and local government, the private sector and third sector colleagues. We want to tackle youth unemployment head on. Our programmes offer tailored support to help young people move forward into employment, self-employment, education or training - and with 80 per cent positive outcomes, we know it's an approach that works.

"By empowering young people to fulfil their potential, The Trust has a key role to play in harnessing young people's talents to improve economic growth in Scotland and this award gives us a vital platform for helping the 7,000 young people we've set out to reach this year."