Chamber and committees

I will pick up on that. Is there a conflict between the evidence-based approach and the idea of patient participation and co-production? Is there a problem with the two pushing up against each other at times? How do we get the two to integrate and work effectively together?

I thank the panel members for coming. I have a question for Margaret McKay. She mentioned that we need co-ordinated national and local messaging to the public. I totally accept that that is the case. What difference has the patient participation group made in her area? How effective has it been and what positives can we take out of it to improve the experiences of patients more widely?

A lot of the things that have been mentioned came up. Self-referral, waiting lists and being left in limbo were issues. People felt that they did not hear anything for quite a long time.

Another issue was that there is not enough information and people struggle to access the pathways. People who are already vulnerable—elderly people and people who are in poverty, or do not have confidence, or are suffering from depression, for example—were highlighted, and the lack of knowledge of autism came up.

There were some positives, as well. Social prescribing is seen as particularly good for people who do not have great connections in the local community and feel a bit isolated. It has made a massive difference to them. People were also getting some really good services through pharmacies, including the ability to access urgent medication to prevent an ambulance having to be sent at very short notice.

Thank you, Presiding Officer. I will take care not to do that.

I, too, congratulate Pam Gosal on bringing her first members’ business debate to the chamber.

Apprenticeship week provides a chance to celebrate Scotland’s apprentices and the businesses that support and nurture them. As we have heard, the theme of this year’s celebration is “apprenticeships work”. In my speech, I will focus, as many others have done, on demonstrating, not through a statistical lens but through personal stories and insights, why apprenticeships work.

It seems that our MSPs were out in force yesterday, and I was no different. My visit was to Saltire Facilities Management in my constituency. Saltire is Lanarkshire’s success story, providing boilers, renewable heating and electrical services to the community. Throughout Saltire’s history, providing apprenticeships to local people has been at the heart of its workforce strategy.

What better way to get informed on why the apprenticeships work than talking to the apprentices themselves. Yesterday, I met Connor, Euan, Jonathan and Liam—four young tradesmen who were full of enthusiasm—and talked to them about their experiences and the fact that they chose to follow the apprenticeship route from school. Their stories are the best marketing tool for apprenticeships, and their insights provide the best signposts in relation to where we—as a society, as policy makers and as educators—must do better.

Those four articulate and intelligent young men all made personal choices to become apprentices. They knew that they wanted to go down that path, and they are proud of their decisions. They see the path that they are following as equally valid and reputable as that followed by those who enter university, and they were all supported by their families, as Stephen—I cannot remember his surname for a second—Kerr mentioned. However, they were in the significant minority among their peers at school, with most of their friends choosing university over apprenticeships. Indeed, I got the impression that their friends never truly contemplated an apprenticeship. It is clear from the anecdotes that were provided yesterday that too many families and schools still view apprenticeships as a less valuable, less marketable and less successful choice.

The young men I met yesterday love their jobs. They enjoy the mix of work and learning, the human and technical contact, the remuneration and having their weekends free to socialise with their friends. They also love the security that comes with an almost guaranteed job at the conclusion of their apprenticeship.

However, none of the young men felt particularly supported or encouraged by their schools to follow the apprenticeship path. The minister could perhaps pick up on that in his closing speech. They were all clear that schools need to become far more informed about foundation and modern apprenticeships. They suggested that schools offer students class time during which what different apprenticeships offer could be set out, and that employers and schools need to work more closely together to promote apprenticeship opportunities in the community.

Apprenticeships work because apprentices earn while they learn. They work because the opportunities directly relate to where the economy needs the skills. Apprenticeships work not only on an economic level but on social and community levels. The Saltire trade apprentices I met were caring, compassionate and confident. They enter between six and eight houses a day and engage with and talk to people they have never met before, who are often socially isolated. The young men really value those conversations and interactions. Apprenticeships create good citizens. We should never underestimate their benefit to our local communities.

As we emerge from the pandemic and work towards net zero, we must urgently adapt the skill requirements for our future workforce. Labour shortages in key industries, which have been exacerbated by Brexit, mean that policy makers and educators need to fully harness the power that apprenticeships can provide. Apprenticeships are fundamental in ensuring that Scotland has the necessary skills for our rapidly changing employment landscape, and in ensuring that we create the fairer, greener economy that Scotland seeks.

The Scottish Government has demonstrated its commitment to increasing the number of apprenticeships in Scotland. It is now incumbent on all of us as a society to ensure that they are encouraged and respected. Whether it is in relation to housing, healthcare or hospitality, we must cherish, celebrate and promote the crucial part that apprenticeships will play in Scotland’s economic future. Apprenticeships do indeed work.

That is really helpful, and it leads me to my next question, which is also for you. Do you do any explicit work around neurodiversity? There has been a huge increase in autism. In schools, 30 per cent of children have additional support needs—obviously, that is a wider section. Often, with autism, you find that the subtleties of sex and relationship education do not get through, so you need to be extremely explicit and direct, which can be an issue for boys with autism in terms of their understanding. Has anything specific been done to tackle that? Has anything been done to determine whether the current approach is effective, and whether there is a bit of a gap there that we should be looking at?

I will direct my questions to Carolyn Fox McKay. First, I say well done to Girlguiding Scotland, for doing the survey of 500 young women aged between seven and 21. It is very good to have that information. It certainly shines a light on harassment and violence in schools.

Will you share your thoughts about what stood out to you and your colleagues when you looked at the results of the survey? Could you also tell us a bit more about the negative factors that you mentioned earlier when Marie McNair asked the question about the positive work that is being done? What have you come up against?

I want to ask about early years provision. Laura Tomson has said that quite a bit of information is being collected on young people, because they are a captive audience, and I am quite interested in hearing about what we are doing with the youngest children in nursery and early years education. There is, for example, the National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children’s pants rule, which is all about privacy, consent and speaking up at a really young age and making it clear that both girls and boys are core to prevention in that respect.

What kind of work is going on around early years with regard to helping children speak up and challenge language through, for example, role play and practice? Are we, for example, treating gender-based violence as being unacceptable in the same way that racism is, but going back a few steps to address the language that underlies it in the early years?

I am not quite sure exactly who to direct that question to—I am happy for anyone to come in on it.

That is fine, you have covered it. Thank you very much, indeed. That was very helpful.

Certainly, that feeling that their experiences are being invalidated and that they are not being believed or respected comes through. The quote from one of your young people, a 16 year-old, about how normal and accepted sexual harassment is in schools should be quite shocking and devastating.

Moving on from that, I know you have called upon the Scottish Government to ensure that all schools have a legal duty to prevent and tackle sexual harassment. Could you tell us more about why you think that is so important and what difference it could make?

Dawnfresh is in my constituency. As Ms Lennon said, it entered administration this week. That occurred despite concerted efforts by the Scottish Government, my office, South Lanarkshire Council and Scottish Enterprise to support a takeover deal that would have maintained the Uddingston operation and continued to employ every worker there.

What efforts will the Scottish Government take to revitalise those efforts to continue seafood production at Uddingston? What work will be going on to support those local workers who, sadly, are facing redundancy?