About this publication

This is the 25th edition of this quarterly statistical report providing summary information on Scotland’s devolved employability services. The report is split into three sections:

• No One Left Behind and Fair Start Scotland (FSS) combined,
• Official statistics in development covering the No One Left Behind strategic approach (April 2019 to September 2023), and,
• Official statistics covering FSS (April 2018 to September 2023).

Further detailed statistics are published in accompanying tables alongside the report.

Fair Start Scotland

FSS is an employability support service, launched in April 2018, which aims to help unemployed people into sustainable employment. Please refer to the supplementary Background and Methodology Report for more details on FSS and associated data.

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. Please refer to supplementary Background and Methodology Report for more details on No One Left Behind and associated data.

No One Left Behind 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 from here - opens in a new window) co-designed with Local Authorities 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

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 a new window) that all producers of official statistics should adhere to. The statistics presented for Fair Start Scotland are Official Statistics and statistics presented for No One Left Behind are Official Statistics in Development.

You are welcome to contact us directly with any comments about how we meet these standards by emailing: employabilitystatistics@gov.scot. Alternatively, you can contact OSR by emailing: regulation@statistics.gov.uk.

Data Developments in this Edition

For the first time, this publication presents the following data for No One Left Behind:

• More breakdowns at Local Authority level (splits by sex, ethnicity and disability).
• Breakdowns by long-term health condition, including type and number of conditions.
• Data on the type of barriers to employment different groups of participants face.
• More breakdowns for progression (splits by sex, ethnicity and disability).