Question reference: S6W-15194
- Date lodged: 21 February 2023
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Current status: Answered by Richard Lochhead on 7 March 2023
Question
To ask the Scottish Government how many people with learning disabilities have accessed the Fair Start Scotland employment support service in each year since it was established, broken down by the outcomes for those people, including how may have gone onto sustained employment.
Answer
Official statistics for Fair Start Scotland (FSS) are published quarterly by the Scottish Government. The most recent publication was on 22 February 2023 ( Scotland's Devolved Employment Services: statistical summary February 2023 - gov.scot (www.gov.scot) ) and includes demographic breakdowns such as for participants with learning disabilities. The latest official statistics show:
Start and job outcomes for FSS participants with a learning disability, by start year
All Participants
| Participants with a Learning Disability | Job Outcomes (Participants with a Learning Disability) | ||||
Year |
FSS Starts |
FSS Starts | Job Starts | 3 Months | 6 Months | 12 Months |
1 | 10,063 | 185 | 33 | 28 | 17 | 16 |
2 | 12,085 | 118 | 33 | 26 | 22 | 18 |
3 | 10,359 | 51 | 16 | 11 | 10 | 6 |
4 | 12,533 | 108 | 30 | 21 | * | 6 |
5 (to date) | 8,990 | 62 | 16 | 5 | * | N/A |
Notes:
1. Data for year 5 is only available up until the end of quarter 3 (October - December 2022).
2. Number of starts is not equal to number of people. From April 2021 (year 4 onwards), following the extension of FSS beyond the initial three year period, people who have previously received support have been able to re-join the service. As a result of this change, the number of starts on FSS from year 4, and thus overall, is not the same as the number of people who have received support. For an individual to be eligible to re-join, there must be a break of at least 13 weeks since the person left FSS.
3. Job outcomes can only be reached when the participant has been in the service for at least that length of time. This means that the most recent months will not show final figures for sustained job outcomes. For each start cohort, the number of job starts and outcomes will continue to increase until participants' time in FSS comes to an end. Near final figures for:
- job starts are available up to the end of December 2021 (Quarter 3 of Year4 )
- 3 month job outcomes are available up to the end of September 2021 (Quarter 2 of Year 4)
- 6 month job outcomes are available up to the end of June 2021 (Quarter 1 of Year 4)
- 12 month job outcomes are available up to the end of December 2020 (Quarter 4 of Year 3)
4. To reduce the risk of individual participants being identified, statistical disclosure control has been applied and some figures are not reported. This is indicated by an asterisk (*).
5. Information is provided for those who reported the long-term health condition, learning disability (for example, Down's Syndrome). Participants may report more than one health condition.