Chamber and committees

I know. It used to be called murder ball and now it is wheelchair rugby.

I have a supplementary question on the back of what Paul Sweeney asked about the availability of CT scans, additional capacity and prevention in the community. On Friday, when we met at our usual elected members briefing, Ralph, you talked about how beds were used as a currency when we should be looking at the services that are delivered, such as pulmonary rehabilitation or mental health care in the community, which prevent acute admissions.

A lot of work is being done on how we deliver things differently. I heard about a diabetes outreach bus that is being developed in Glasgow by Dr Brian Kennon, which goes to Ibrox stadium, for instance, and helps to do some of the health inequality outreach for people with type 2 diabetes.

Should we focus on that? Rather than just looking at beds as a measurement of how successful things are, should we look at service delivery? Will you comment on that?

I want to have it clarified that these technical amendments will help to allow staff to understand that they can raise issues with risk associated with staffing or staffing concerns. They will allow staff who work in NHS Scotland—I am a former employee; I need to remind folk that I am a former nurse for NHS Dumfries and Galloway—to understand that they can raise issues with risk.

I suspect that my other questions will come up later, so I will pause there.

My questions are about investments and saving money on energy. NHS Dumfries and Galloway has a £200 million hospital but has not put a single solar panel on the roof. Has NHS Borders assessed the opportunities that would come from investing in solar panels?

My question is for Cecilia Oram. I had a quick look at the Sustrans toolkits for creating better spaces. Safety is mentioned where it relates to reducing the speed of cars, but the toolkits do not seem to mention safety in the context of protection of and support for women. That does not seem to be mentioned in the information and the toolkits that you provide, or am I just missing it?

I remember that there was an advert on the telly showing people playing wheelchair rugby and, at the end of the game, an able-bodied person who was joining in stood up. Able-bodied people joining in and playing the game with siblings is something that can happen—maybe the need to highlight that is a question for the media folks when they come in front of us as well.

It might be a question for just Kirsty Garrett or Patrick Murphy. It is about wheelchair rugby. Rugby is becoming something that everybody plays; it is becoming important for women to take up, for example. Wheelchair rugby is quite a leveller because disabled folk can play with non-disabled folk and you can have mixed-gender teams as well. Is that something that is growing or can be pursued in order to level the playing field and encourage folk?

Apologies, Presiding Officer.

I welcome the debate and have enjoyed listening members’ contributions. The benefits of the Scottish Government’s significant investment in young people are evident, thanks to the developing the young workforce strategy and the young persons guarantee.

In 2021-22, a record number—95.7 per cent—of school leavers were progressing their studies or careers within three months of leaving school. Youth employment and vocational qualifications are one part of the Government’s strong and demonstrable track record of achievements in education. That record speaks for itself, but I will focus on vocational qualifications in our rural sector, the jobs of the future and the skilled green jobs that we need to protect our future in terms of the climate emergency.

I think that I am the only member to mention rural skills so far in the debate. I think that they are really important. The Scottish vocational qualification in agriculture at SCQF level 5 provides learners with the knowledge and skills that they need for agricultural work with crops or livestock. The SVQ covers areas such as monitoring and maintaining health, safety and security, developing an awareness of environmental good practice, and how to manage and improve the rural business environment. It also includes optional units on topics such as preparing and operating farm vehicles, preparing feed and water supplies for livestock, and monitoring and maintaining the healthy growth of crops. Upon successful completion, learners will gain an internationally recognised qualification that guarantees that they have the knowledge, skills and abilities that are required to carry out their roles successfully. Rural employers will also benefit from their employees being proficient in the skill set required.

Last year, I joined Tracey McEwan at Tarff Valley Ltd in Ringford in Dumfries and Galloway and at a dairy farm near Gelston, along with careers advisers from the local secondary schools. Tracey and the team explained and demonstrated to the careers advisers what rural employment opportunities are available to young people across Dumfries and Galloway. The feedback from the insight day was extremely valuable.

Young people take part in courses such as the one that I described at Tarff. They cover a range of mentor-supported topics and complete on-farm direct workplace assessments to show competence in specific tasks. Tarff also offers pre-apprenticeship programmes that allow young people of school age to be supported in their placement by a mentor who helps to prepare them for work.

The apprenticeship programmes are really important in getting people into agriculture, particularly as the sector has an ageing workforce. The sector is absolutely vital for our nation’s food security, especially given the current economic and Brexit challenges that it faces. I therefore ask the cabinet secretary and the minister always to keep rural skills and rural education at the forefront of on-going education and skills work.

I turn to green skills. As we continue to recover from the pandemic, we must build a fairer economy that delivers the skills, opportunities and jobs for the future that will help to secure our just transition to net zero and tackle the climate emergency. Scotland is already investing in green skills and attracting new green job opportunities.

The launch of the green jobs workforce academy is a welcome step in preparing our current and future workforce to seize the opportunities afforded to Scotland as part of the just transition to net zero. The academy, supporting people across multiple locations and online, is guiding people of all ages through a process of identifying the skills that they have and the skills that they will need to find and secure green jobs for the future. I am keen to see that the south of Scotland plays a part in that green skills strategy.

Recently, I visited the Hawick campus of Scottish Borders College, where I saw first hand the work that the college is doing to support people into green skills jobs and to upskill those who are already in the sector. It is leading vocational courses on building properties to passive house standard, installing ground source heat pumps and electric charging infrastructure, and solar panel installation and repair. However, one of the limitations that the college related to me is that the funding model to get those courses up and running is restrictive and if it wanted to offer them to pupils in school, the funding would not support it. Therefore, I ask the minister whether he would be open to meeting me and Scottish Borders College to discuss the specific funding issues that were highlighted during my visit last Monday.

It would also be remiss of me not to mention the work of Dumfries and Galloway College. The Stranraer and Dumfries campuses both support green skills, particularly in the wind turbine engineering sector, and I commend the work that they are doing.

I could probably expand a little but I prepared a shorter speech expecting that some folk would intervene, especially because I am the only person talking about rural skills, which are an absolute necessity for us in Scotland.