Council fury over £9m youth jobs funding

COUNCIL chiefs have lashed out at ministers over plans to cut youth unemployment, prompting warnings that efforts to help the “lost generation” were being hampered by government infighting.

A leaked paper from the Convention of Scottish Local Authorities (Cosla) reveals fury within councils over the way ministers last week announced plans to share a £9 million cashpot. Council chiefs accuse ministers of unilaterally deciding that only six of Scotland’s 32 councils should get any of the cash.

So angry were some of the council chiefs at the lack of consultation, the paper recommends they write to First Minister Alex Salmond to complain in order to “put down a marker” that such behaviour must end.

The row focuses on a decision announced by youth employment minister Angela Constance last week on the first tranche of the Scottish Government’s new youth employment strategy fund.

Glasgow, Renfrewshire, North and South Lanarkshire and North and East Ayrshire were given a share of the cash, with Constance promising they would have “options open to them on how best” to spend it. However, the leaked Cosla paper, marked “private and confidential”, reveals that Cosla officials were enraged with the way the deal has been handled.

The manner in which ministers decided to act was “extremely unsatisfactory” the paper says. It then suggests councils were told that, if they objected, the money would not go to councils at all.

The paper states: “We do not believe that any of the six councils identified should not get the money but there is room even within targeted resources to allow more than just these six to benefit from the additional resources available.

“However, we are being asked to support these proposals against a suggestion that, if we don’t, all of the money might be spent through departmental channels with none of it coming to local government.”

The paper also suggests that while ministers agreed that Cosla could put forward its own plans, the government’s £9m plan was “a take it or leave it” offer.

“We were, therefore, left in a rather odd situation where our consideration of the proposals was being requested by government but only if we came up with the answer that what they proposed was the right way forward.”

On the lack of consultation, the paper adds: “It is very clear that, in this instance, the whole process of joint working falls very far short of anything that could be described as best practice.”

The paper concludes by noting Cosla president Pat Watters will “write directly to the First Minister expressing our concern around the youth employment issue” and “putting down a marker that this cannot be allowed to become the style and tone of partnership working on any future matters”.

Kezia Dugdale, Labour MSP and shadow youth employment minister, said: “With over 100,000 young people unemployed, everyone must work in complete harmony to stop the crisis and avert another lost generation.

“This leak is deeply alarming because it suggests the opposite is happening.”

She added: “Refusing to consult local councils on how they can help tackle unemployment is not acceptable. Ministers must work in partnership with councils, not just chase headlines and issue press releases.”

Derek Mackay, the SNP’s local government minister, said last week: “Local authorities have a key role in meeting a national challenge and I am confident this funding will make a real difference to the future prospects of young people in these areas.”

The latest figures show that around 900,000 18-24-year-olds are unemployed. The jobless figure north of the Border stands at 234,000, with 88,000 falling into the 18-24 category

The figures also show the unemployment rate in Scotland is 8.7 per cent – above the UK average of 8.4 per cent.