Employment

In the first six months, almost 3,500 people joined the new transitional employability services which support individuals with disabilities and health conditions.

To help people back into work, we continue to fund short courses that lead to work or career progression, and we are boosting training opportunities for older workers. We are working closely with Skills Development Scotland (SDS) who offer an all age careers service within Scotland, providing older workers with specific guidance and advice to…

The Scottish Government’s national strategic partnership framework for responding to redundancy situations, PACE, ensures that local and public sector agencies respond to potential and proposed redundancies as quickly and as effectively as possible. We continue to fund short courses that lead to work or career progression, and we are boosting training opportunities for this group….

Scottish Landfill Tax is a tax on the disposal of waste to landfill. There are two rates of Landfill Tax – a standard rate for active materials and a lower rate for less polluting materials. The UK Government have reduced their equivalent Landfill credit rate to 4.2%, which we consider is the wrong decision for our environment. Therefore, we will maintain the existing credit rate of 5.6% in Scotland, ensuring landfill site operators contribute more to community and environmental projects than elsewhere in the UK.

In May 2016 Nicola Sturgeon appointed Scotland’s first ever Cabinet Secretary for the Environment, Climate Change and Land Reform, showing the importance the SNP place on the environment and our ambitions in this area.

Our Biodiversity Strategy recognises that Scotland’s rich and diverse natural environment is a national asset which contributes hugely to our economy and to our wider sense of wellbeing. Trees help to absorb carbon dioxide and store it as carbon. In recent years, Scotland has been responsible for almost three quarters of the UK’s new tree planting. We have planted approximately 16 million trees every year.

The basic concept behind natural capital – the idea that economic growth cannot be sustained if it comes at a continuing and unsustainable cost to our natural resources – is one which is more urgent and more important than ever before.

The SNP Scottish Government have implemented several initiatives to encourage younger generations to participate in the environmental discussion and be active in implementing mitigating measures.

Scotland’s peatland stores over 1,500 million tonnes of carbon, which is more than is held in all of the trees and vegetation across the whole of the UK. For Scotland, losing just 1% of our peatland would release the same amount of carbon as an entire year of human activity. So instead of reducing our peatland, we are investing in restoring it. In 2015 an investment of approximately £5m allowed the restoration of just over 20 square miles of peatland.

We’re committed to halving the employment gap between disabled people and the rest of the working age population.

The SNP believe the biggest investment we can make in Scotland’s future is in our young people. The SNP Scottish Government has fulfilled its commitment to reduce youth unemployment by 40% by 2021, four years ahead of schedule. We have an explicit commitment to a place in learning or training for every 16 to 19 year…

We are working to promote the Living Wage in all sectors and in the last year we have doubled the number accredited employers in Scotland from 500 to 1,000. We’re leading the UK, with more than a quarter of accredited real Living Wage employers in the UK based in Scotland.  Scotland already has the highest…

The SNP has made strong progress with the powers we have to create jobs and grow our economy. Employment levels in Scotland are amongst the highest on record, and unemployment in Scotland is lower than the rate across the UK nation. Scotland’s youth unemployment is among the lowest in the EU and female unemployment is…

The SNP Government does everything within its current powers to help women enter and progress in the labour market. Although not exclusively a woman’s issue, we are increasing childcare to improve outcomes for children, and support more women back into work. Free childcare has already been increased to 16 hours a week for all 3…