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Chamber and committees

Question reference: S6W-12931

  • Asked by: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
  • Date lodged: 7 December 2022
  • Current status: Answered by Ivan McKee on 15 December 2022

Question

To ask the Scottish Government what plans it has to provide training and skills development for people who want to enter the field of ecommerce.


Answer

The Scottish Government understands that 13,000 new recruits are needed every year to fill digital technology roles, including roles in e-commerce. That is why we have invested over £4 million since 2020, via Skills Development Scotland, to broaden the digital talent pool. This has included the delivery of reskilling programmes such as the Digital Start Fund, a programme which supports people on benefits or low incomes, and the Digital Skills Pipeline, a modular set of courses running from beginner level all the way through to advanced coding. By giving grant funding to Code Your Future, another training organisation, we have also helped vulnerable people, including refugees, with the skills and networks necessary to progress in education and employment. Going forward, a new Digital Economy Skills Action Plan for Scotland, which is being developed in partnership with industry and stakeholders, will identify the activity that will best support the needs of the digital economy going forward, aligning with the recommendations from Scottish Technology Ecosystem Review (STER) and National Strategy for Economic Transformation (NSET).