About this publication

This is the 24th 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 June 2023), and,
• Official statistics covering FSS (April 2018 to June 2023).

Further detailed statistics including additional breakdowns 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 Background Information and the FSS section for more details on FSS and associated data.

No One Left Behind

No One Left Behind, introduced from April 2019, is a newer 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 the Background Information and the No One Left Behind section 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 - opens in a new window) co-designed with Local Authorities and aligned to the Shared Measurement Framework (SMF) has been in place and over time, more of the statistics in this report will reflect information collected on the new template. 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 or via the OSR website.

Data Developments in this Edition

For the first time, this publication presents data on the:

• Economic status of No One Left Behind participants and parents at start date,
• Characteristic breakdowns for participants (all and parents) employed at start date,
• Criminal conviction status of No One Left Behind participants, and,
• the number of participants (all and parents) entering employment who are in employment at 4, 13, 26 and 52 weeks.

In addition to the accompanying data Excel tables released as part of this report, this edition also includes a separate Excel output containing the data used for each of the figures appearing in this report in one location.