Current status: Answered by Jamie Hepburn on 28 September 2017
To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking in partnership with national higher education institutes, beyond the allocation of funding to the Flexible Workforce Development Fund, to encourage up-skilling and re-skilling of the workforce to prepare people for a changing workplace.
Our education system, and employability and training opportunities such as Individual Training Accounts, Modern Apprenticeships and the Scottish Union Learning Fund, aim to ensure that all of our people are equipped with the skills to contribute to our economy.
We invest £1.6 billion a year in Scotland's further and higher education sectors to support skills development. The Scottish Funding Council and Skills Development Scotland along with Scottish Enterprise develop Regional Skills Assessments to provide a single, agreed evidence base on which to base future investment in skills.
As part of the Scottish Government commitment to expand Scottish Apprenticeships, we are increasing the number of Graduate Level Apprenticeships (GLAs) available. GLAs are developed through employer engagement with the higher education sector and offer an opportunity for employees to work and achieve a degree level qualification at the same time.