Companies in some Scottish rural areas will be given additional support to help them employ apprentices.
First Minister Nicola Sturgeon confirmed eligible areas for the Rural Supplement on the first day of Apprenticeship Week.
Apprenticeship Week 2017 focuses on the benefits apprenticeships bring to businesses, individuals and the UK economy.
New changes to Modern Apprenticeships is hoped will provide more flexibility for employers, including those in the public sector, while also widening access for rural communities, people with disabilities and experience of care.
Sturgeon said: "Rural communities are vital to Scotland’s economy so it is important they get the support to recruit and retain employees, including Modern Apprentices.
"We recognise employers and trainers can incur additional costs when delivering Modern Apprenticeships in more remote areas.
"That is why we have introduced the Rural Supplement – to ensure young people in some of the more remote parts of Scotland are not disadvantaged when it comes to accessing apprenticeships.
"Modern Apprenticeships provide excellent opportunities for young people to enter the world of work and they are central to our ambition to develop a world class vocational education system that matches our world class, and free, system of higher education.
"We are on schedule to meet the challenging target of 26,000 new starts this year as we work towards our commitment of at least 30,000 new Modern Apprenticeship starts per year by 2020."
The local authority areas where training providers will be able to access the supplement are:
- Argyll and Bute
- Highland
- Moray
- Orkney
- Shetland
- Western Isles
- Isle of Arran (North Ayrshire)
- Dumfries and Galloway
- Scottish Borders
- Aberdeenshire
- Perth and Kinross
