Chamber and committees

The Scottish Welfare Fund comprises of community care grants and crisis grants.

The table below shows the total number of community care grants and crisis grants decided between 1 April and 31 December 2013, broken down by the gender of the main applicant and whether the applications were successful or not.

For community care grants, 62% of males were successful and 68% of females were successful. For crisis grants, 69% of males were successful and 73% of females were successful.

Statistics on the Scottish Welfare Fund can be found at:

http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Topics/Statistics/Browse/Social-Welfare/swf.

The Scottish Government contributed £5.1 million to the £7.45 million making advice work fund, the remainder being contributed by money advice services. Stream three of this funding was focussed on tackling barriers in accessing advice for priority groups, one being people experiencing domestic abuse and several of the projects focussed on advice for women.

This data is not held centrally. I will ask the chief executive of Skills Development Scotland to write to you with the information you have requested.

The Scottish Welfare Fund (SWF) is intended to help vulnerable people across Scotland, regardless of gender.

An equality impact assessment (EQIA) on the differences between the Discretionary Social Fund and SWF was published in April 2013. It did not find any evidence to suggest that there would be a differential effect between men and women under the SWF.

Gender issues have been mainstreamed in guidance by ensuring that vulnerabilities which are more commonly experienced by women are taken in to consideration in the decision making process.

Factors listed in the guidance as increasing a person’s vulnerability include: people fleeing domestic violence, looking after children for a relative or friend as a kinship carer, being a lone parent, being pregnant, recent childbirth or adopting a child and having responsibility as a main care giver. There are also several vulnerabilities listed relating to the presence of children which are intended to impact child poverty but will advantage women who are mothers.

The EQIA can be found at the following link:

http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Topics/People/welfarereform/socialfund/FullEQIA.

When the Scottish Government and the STUC held the Women’s Employment Summit in September 2012, discussion covered a wide range of areas. Since that time, a ministerial strategic group on women and work has met regularly to consider actions underway and what more can be done at all levels to enable women to fulfil their potential in the labour market. While we know many issue still remain, progress is being made in a number of areas, including occupational segregation.

With over 69% of women in paid work today, in Scotland women are represented in every sector in the labour market and at every level. Women’s contribution to the economy through unpaid work must also be recognised. However, steps to tackle occupational segregation are a priority for the Strategic Group on Women and Work, which I chair and we are closely monitoring the actions on this which are being co-ordinated through a cross directorate group on occupational segregation.

The Scottish Government, through Skills Development Scotland (SDS), ensures that there is fair and open access to all our national training programmes, including modern apprenticeships. Training interventions are designed to help us address skills gaps across the economy in response to employer demand and learner preferences.

The Modern Apprenticeship (MA) programme is a fully employed programme in Scotland and as a result recruitment decisions are in the hands of participating employers. There is therefore an important role for employers in terms of adapting their behaviour to attract and retain a balanced workforce. We agreed with the Equal Opportunities Committee recommendation that SDS should campaign to raise awareness of the MA programme with disadvantaged groups, and Scottish apprenticeship week in May 2014 will have equalities as a major focus.

The biggest impact in addressing the occupational choices of individuals comes through the provision of good careers advice, making young people aware of opportunities in any given sector and allowing them to undertake the appropriate qualifications and training to move into these opportunities.

Achieving a balanced workforce which reflects Scottish society as a whole is a challenge for the labour market as a whole and is not specific to government supported training programmes. We appreciate, however, that we need to do more to ensure young people understand the nature and opportunities available across the labour market, and that employers recognise the economic and social value of a balanced workforce.

The recent interim report from the Commission for Developing Scotland’s Young Workforce makes a number of recommendations relating to government supported training programmes, and I am currently considering these recommendations, with the final report due in early summer. An important stage in the second half of the Wood Commission will be a focus on equality issues, looking to make meaningful recommendations to improve employment outcomes in relation to gender, disability and ethnicity.

We will use the findings from this work to develop a way forward for government supported training programmes which will better meet our aims and ambitions for Scotland.

The Scottish Government, through Skills Development Scotland, ensures that there is fair and open access to all our national training programmes, including modern apprenticeships. Government supported training programmes are delivered by a wide range of stakeholders such as local authorities, colleges, training providers and employers. They must all meet their statutory obligations and operate within the appropriate laws, such as The Equality Act 2010 and the Employment Relations Act 1999.

The recent interim report from the Commission for Developing Scotland’s Young Workforce makes a number of recommendations relating to government supported training programmes, and I am currently considering these recommendations, with the final report due in early summer. An important stage in the second half of the Wood Commission will include a focus on equality issues, looking to make meaningful recommendations to improve employment outcomes in relation to gender, disability and ethnicity.

We will use the findings from this work to develop a way forward for government supported training programmes which will better meet our aims and ambitions for Scotland.

I refer the member to the answer to question S4W-20607 on 30 April 2014. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament’s website, the search facility for which can be found at:

http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/parliamentarybusiness/28877.aspx.

I refer the member to the answer to question S4W-20607 on 30 April 2014. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament’s website, the search facility for which can be found at:

http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/parliamentarybusiness/28877.aspx.

Awareness raising work and its impact on increasing diversity on public boards is being considered as part of the programme of activity being developed by the Public Boards and Corporate Diversity Programme board. Options for this will be considered in conjunction with specific stakeholder advisory panels as these are developed by the programme board.

The Public Appointments Centre of Expertise are currently considering options on raising awareness of diversity issues by delivering training to selection panel members on unconscious bias. This is part of the on-going continuous improvement work currently underway as part of the programme of activity being developed by the Scottish Government, in conjunction with the Public Boards and Corporate Diversity Programme Board and stakeholders.