From Summary Statistics for Follow-up Leaver Destinations, No. 8: 2026 edition, published today, the above table extract and:
This statistical publication provides information on the follow-up destinations, nine months after the end of the school year, of 2024-25 school leavers from publicly funded secondary schools in Scotland.
This table shows that as the SNP Government, first elected in 2007, ‘got behind the wheel’ it began to take steps to improve school-leaver employment and HE access and fifteen years alter the results are impressive with 15% improvements in both by 2024/2025.
For any who refuse to allow the SNP credit for this, ask them who would have got the blame had the figures gone the other way.
And on youth employment/unemployment more gernerally:
The above, presented as applying to the UK as a whole, formed part of a BBC Breakfast report 2 May 2026 including these comments:
Being out of work or education between the ages of 16 and 24 can have serious long-term consequences for people’s health, employment and finances later in life. A new study suggests that nearly one million young people are currently not in education, employment or training across the UK (sic)
The latest, January 2026, figure for Scotland is 10.2%. 15.8% is 54.9% higher.
In a wider European context, Scotland has one of the lowest rates in Western Europe:
The 10.2% figure would put Scotland in the second lowest category (8-12% pale orange) with Finland and the Baltic States, while the UK (England) would be in a higher category with (12-16%) with France and Portugal.
Now, to end in the usual way, who gets the credit for this after 19 years of SNP rule? If it was the other way round, you know it would be John Swinney and the SNP to blame so what reason is there not to give at least a fair whack of it?
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