Scotland's Minister for Schools and Skills, Maureen Watt has officially opened a project that is building a better future for disadvantaged young people while helping to address labour shortages in the construction industry.

The Inverclyde Youthbuild project is run by the leading charity NCH Scotland and in its first few months it is already proving to be successful in getting young people into permanent jobs in the building trade.

One of the building firms involved in the project is Rok plc. Area leader for Rok in Glasgow, Colin Reed, said: "Our involvement with this innovative programme has led to one trainee gaining valuable work experience. We are happy to offer employment opportunities and the benefit of our experience opportunities and the benefit of our experience to local young people. Rok looks forward to continued involvement in this programme both with Inverclyde and beyond."

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Scotland has one of the highest rates in Europe of unemployment among young people. NCH is working in partnership with a number of local organisations to show how this problem can be positively addressed for the benefit of the young people concerned and the wider economy.

NCH Inverclyde Youthbuild works with young people who come from difficult backgrounds and face multiple challenges in finding work. This can include poor family support, homelessness, specific learning difficulties, alcohol/substance misuse, offending and poor social/personal skills.

The project started in June and is currently working with 13 young people. It provides one-to-one support to help them make the move into work. The training programme is still on-going but, so far, one of the group has secured an apprenticeship and four others have been guaranteed full time jobs.

The project also works with local housing associations – Oak Tree and Cloch - to give the young people work experience on local sites where they are building homes. Other partners include the Scottish Government’s Youth Crime Prevention Fund, Inverclyde Council, Scottish Enterprise, Communities Scotland, and a number of construction companies.

(JM)