Cast your mind back to December 2014. If you’re anything like us, and can’t remember last week, let alone last year, you’ll have probably forgotten a certain set of targets agreed by the Scottish government.

The targets were launched off the back of a report published by the Commission for Developing Scotland’s Young Workforce. Still struggling to recall? Here’s what you need to know:

The Scottish government wanted to reduce youth unemployment levels by 40 per cent by 2021 and set up a flagship programme to do so: the Developing the Young Workforce Programme.

This programme aimed to meet the target by building better relationships between businesses, schools and colleges, and ensure that all post-school options were equally valued and available to young people.

In a twist of events that is unlikely to surprise any education veteran, a new report reveals that too little progress has been made. Published by a Scottish Parliament committee, the report says that the performance indicators show too little, or indeed no, improvement at all in a number of areas. These areas include: positive destinations for care-experienced young people, employment rates for disabled young people and the level of employment for young people straight from school. Insufficient progress has been made to encourage schools to provide vocational routes like the foundation apprenticeships.

The report concludes that, unless radical action is taken, the programme won’t be fully embedded by 2021 as planned.

So what does the committee propose to do about it?

Well, it wants more of a range of things to be introduced - time for one-to-one careers guidance, more opportunities for work experience, and more support for businesses seeking to engage with schools and provide apprenticeships.

Committee convener Clare Adamson said: “Leaving school is a major life event. We want to make sure that young people get the appropriate information that they need and that they have confidence in the advice being given.

“It is positive that more young people than ever are going on to college or university. We recognise, however, that this isn’t the right choice for everyone, so it is important that our young people are confident in making their own choice based on personalised guidance.”

A Scottish government spokesperson said: “We will consider the committee’s report in detail, and in the year ahead we will build on existing equalities activity and focus on improving outcomes for those who face additional barriers when transitioning from education to employment, such as disabled and care-experienced young people.”