Current status: Answered by Ben Macpherson on 4 February 2026
To ask the Scottish Government what consideration it has given to the support that it can provide to hairdressing businesses towards (a) training apprentices and (b) the recruitment and retention of staff, including what assistance it can offer to reduce the cost of this.
The Scottish Government provides funding support for Modern Apprenticeships via Skills Development Scotland, who provide a contribution to the costs of training and assessing modern apprentices. This includes hairdressing and barbering at SCQF levels 5 and 6.
In 2024-25, 460 apprentice starts were supported, alongside 700 apprentices in training as on 31 March 2025. Businesses are able to reduce recruitment costs by posting apprenticeship vacancies free on www.apprenticeships.scot and are likely to benefit from enhanced staff morale and retention. The achievement rate for hairdressing and barbering apprenticeships in 2024-25 was 80%, in line with the overall average, which demonstrates the success of our education and training providers.