Katy Gordon

On Thursday night, Katy attended the CBI Scotland annual dinner, held at the Hilton Hotel in Glasgow. Helen Alexander, CBI President, spoke on the importance of tailored support for young people trying to get into employment. Speaking afterwards, Katy said:

“Having worked with young people over many years with Careers Scotland (now part of Skills Development Scotland) and helped businesses both recruit young people and negotiate their way through redundancy programmes, I totally agree that it is vital that young people get the right advice at the right time to help them plan their careers, particularly in today’s tough economic climate. Unemployment is something that many constituents have expressed concern about, and giving young people the knowledge and skills they need to succeed in the job market is vital to improving the current unemployment rates.  In fact, England could perhaps learn from the experience north of the border that an integrated all age careers guidance service is recognised internationally as the most effective way of supporting seamless transitions into learning and employment.”

Alastair Darling was the keynote speaker.  He was upbeat about the chances of economic recovery in 2010, despite the lagging indicators of the recession such as unemployment continuing to show the recession is hitting people hard.  Katy said:

“It is clear from the Chancellor’s speech that he is not serious about genuine reform of the financial services industry. There was nothing to indicate support of measures such as the High Pay Commission, or specific steps to curb the high-risk, short-term big-bonus culture that has already caused so much damage to the economy. We need genuine changes if this sort of financial crisis is to be avoided in future.”