Scotland's Devolved Employment Services: No One Left Behind Statistical Summary July 2025
Official Statistics in development on the No One Left Behind strategic approach to employability delivery, reporting on those receiving support from April 2019 to March 2025.
About this publication
This is the 31st edition of this quarterly statistical report providing summary information on Scotland’s devolved employability services. This report focuses on the No One Left Behind strategic approach to employability delivery in Scotland covering the period April 2019 to March 2025. A separate report covers Fair Start Scotland (Access all employability statistics - opens in a new window).
Further detailed statistics for No One Left Behind are published in accompanying tables alongside this report.
No One Left Behind
No One Left Behind, introduced from April 2019, is a different approach to employability delivery which moves away from funding and delivering a number of separate and distinct employability programmes, to a more flexible approach. This system is more tailored and responsive to the needs of people of all ages who want help and support on their journey towards, into and in work - particularly people with health conditions, disabled people and others who are disadvantaged in the labour market.
The key priorities for No One Left Behind were set-out in the No One Left Behind: employability strategic plan 2024 to 2027 (Access the strategic plan – opens in new window) published in September 2024.
Please refer to supplementary Background and Methodology Report (opens in new window) for more details on No One Left Behind and associated data.
Shared Measurement Framework Data Reporting Template
From October 2022 (July 2022 for 13 Local Authorities who adopted the new template early), a new data reporting template (Access the new data template - opens in new window) co-designed with a cross-sectoral group and aligned to the Shared Measurement Framework (SMF) has been in place. We continue to work closely with Local Authorities to improve the accuracy and quality of returns following this transition.
Official Statistics in Development
Our statistical practice is regulated by the Office for Statistics Regulation (OSR). OSR sets the standards of trustworthiness, quality and value in the Code of Practice for Statistics (Access the Code of Practice – opens in new window) that all producers of official statistics should adhere to. The statistics presented are Official Statistics in Development.
You are welcome to contact us directly with any comments about how we meet these standards by emailing: employabilitydata@gov.scot. Alternatively, you can contact OSR by emailing: regulation@statistics.gov.uk.
Data Developments and Issues in this Edition
There are no data developments in this edition.
Table 1: Specific data quality issues in this publication
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Description |
Mitigation |
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Some local authorities, for example, City of Edinburgh and Falkirk are correcting historical data for some participants. This includes updating participants status for some variables to better reflect what is or is not known about that participant e.g. changing participants from not having a characteristic to unknown if it cannot be confirmed that participant definitely does not have this characteristic or other information provided is contradictory. While these updates impact data related to these Local Authorities, including data on not disabled participants and parental status, the impact is less pronounced at a national level. |
We are working with Local Authorities to ensure the highest level of quality for data returns and continue to monitor returns closely. While local monitoring and improvements to data quality may cause short-term changes to previous data, this should be considered as a positive as the overall quality of data improves from these updates.
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Fife has added ~ 500 NOLB participants starting in Year 4, 5 and 6 that should have been included in previous returns, but were missed. This update will mostly impact Fife overall totals, the impact is less pronounced at a national level. |
We are working with Fife to ensure the highest level of quality for data returns and continue to monitor returns closely. |
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We are aware that Stirling may be missing some data for a small number of participants that entered employment. |
We will work with Stirling to correct this for next quarter. |
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There was a larger than expected increase in the LTU accredited training outcome this quarter. This can be observed in the entered full-time/higher education and/or training positive outcome. |
We are investigating whether this larger than expected increase reflects a genuine increase or data quality issues. |
Please note that general information on data quality improvement is available in the supplementary Background and Methodology Report (Opens in new window).