£1m fund to help young people

Irvine Laidlaw has set up a charitable foundation

One of Scotland's richest men has given a £1m donation to set up a new charitable foundation to help vulnerable young people.

Irvine Laidlaw, a financial backer of the Conservative Party, unveiled details of the initiative at a conference in Edinburgh.

The fund is one a range of projects which will benefit from a £3m injection from the Scottish Executive.

The most recent statistics showed that six out of 10 children leave local authority care in Scotland with no qualifications or training.

They are among the vulnerable young people who are set to benefit from the Laidlaw Youth Project.

'Huge audience'

Mr Laidlaw, 60, told BBC Scotland that the aim was to help all young people up to the age of 23.

"We are trying to help the people who are in care, but there are many other people," he said.

"Nearly one third of Scotland's children live in poverty or in the margins of poverty, so there is a huge audience there that needs help."

The foundation will run during 2004 and be evaluated at the end of that year.

They are doing a great job individually, but if they only joined together they could do a much better job Irvine Laidlaw

If it proves to be a success the scheme will be continued for a further 12 months.

Banffshire-born Mr Laidlaw, who is based in Monaco, made his millions through his company the Institute for International Research.

He said he had received "marvellous support" from the executive and First Minister Jack McConnell on the new initiative.

"It's well known that I have been a Tory supporter and it's very heartening to me that people from different political persuasions can put aside their difference when it comes to helping Scotland's children," he said.

Mr Laidlaw said he wanted to ensure that the best possible services were available to help young people from disadvantaged backgrounds adjust successfully to the adult world.

He said there were two failings in the current system.

Join together

"The first is that charities are not working together.

"They are doing a great job individually, but if they only joined together they could do a much better job.

"The second is that they are not spending enough of their efforts on helping people after they do their intervention.

It is intolerable that thousands of young people are not only left behind but are failed by society and by the system Jack McConnell

"They need to be spending more time, more effort in mentoring, looking after and helping them once they have done their initial help."

The £1m in grants will only be available to organisations which either join together with other charities or mentor young people.

Mr McConnell told the Continuity for the Client conference that the executive would donate £250,000 to the Laidlaw Youth Project.

A senior official will be seconded to help run the scheme.

The executive is also donating £750,000 a year until 2006 to a Lloyds TSB project aimed at steering young people away from drugs.

Left behind

A further £1.2m will go to the Columba 1400 project, which helps 300 care leavers a year, over the next two years.

He said: "Scotland is a rich country. We've got a fantastic, caring society but it is intolerable that thousands of young people are not only left behind but are failed by society and by the system.

"Our aim should be to tackle that in our private lives and our public duties.

"If we fail we should be ashamed, but if we succeed we will all be very proud."