Glasgow Youth Olympics bid: Budget doubled to £50m

The budget to fund jobs, apprenticeships and training for young people in Glasgow has been doubled to £50 million before the city’s final presentation to host the 2018 Youth Olympic Games.

City council leader Gordon Matheson is due to announce the local authority’s increased financial commitment to the Glasgow Guarantee scheme today in Lausanne, Switzerland where a final presentation will be given to the International Olympic Committee (IOC) before it votes to decide the 2018 host on Thursday.

The guarantee was devised as part of the Glasgow 2014 Commonwealth Games legacy to provide a job, an apprenticeship or training opportunity for all people in the city aged between 16 and 24.

It incorporates the Commonwealth Apprenticeship Initiative, Commonwealth Jobs Fund, Commonwealth Graduate Fund and the Commonwealth Youth Fund.

The council’s increase of financial support from £25 million to £50 million will allow the guarantee scheme to run until 2018.

Priorities

The introduction of an internationally accredited vocational award, called The Champion Mark, for elite young athletes and other young people from around the world will also be announced today. It will aim to develop leadership skills in young people and encourage them to do voluntary work.

Mr Matheson said: “Dealing with youth unemployment is one of our core priorities and I am determined to do everything I can to help school leavers and other young people find work and fulfill their potential. Every young person in this city deserves to be a champion in their own life.

“That’s why I’m announcing today that this council will commit to extending funding for the Glasgow Guarantee and create a new vocational award for both athletes and all young people which will help boost their both their life skills and employment opportunities.

“We always said we wanted everyone in the city to reap the benefits of our successful bid to host the Commonwealth Games and we’re extending that into 2018 and what will hopefully be a successful bid to host the Youth Olympic Games.”

Paul Bush, Glasgow 2018 bid director, said: “What better way to show the passion this city has for its young people than through real policy decisions which will better the lives of so many who richly deserve a bright future.

Placements

“Glasgow has a total commitment to help the visionary ideals of the YOG (Youth Olympic Games) grow and flourish into the future and is in a position to do that by working through its extensive network of partnerships, both domestic and international.”

The council’s Glasgow 2014 “legacy framework” is said to be enjoying some success.

Since the launch of the Commonwealth Apprenticeship Initiative in April 2009, to the end of last year, around 2,500 placements are said to have been secured for school leavers, while 247 graduates are said to have found a job via the Commonwealth Graduate Fund which was launched in January last year.

As of the end of March, 445 previously unemployed Glasgow residents are said to have secured jobs through the Commonwealth Jobs Fund.