Chamber and committees

The £60 million of EU Funds announced on 24 October 2016 will support over 20,000 SME's to develop and grow. The funding will focus on key sectors in each of Scotland's regions, and on businesses with a demonstrable desire and potential to grow their markets and employment.

Support to the individual business may take the form of business planning, leadership development, help is making the most of digital technology and platforms, introductions to new markets and grants for investment. The partners involved in the funding, Business Gateway, Scottish Enterprise and Highlands and Islands Enterprise, will also be able to cross-refer businesses to each other so that every business can access the most suitable type of support for the next stage in its growth.

The Scottish Government is committed to protecting Scotland’s relationship with the EU, following Scotland’s unequivocal vote to retain the wide range of economic and social benefits membership provides. We are considering all possible steps to ensure Scotland’s continuing relationship with the EU and will work with others to try and avoid a ‘hard brexit’ which removes the UK not just from the EU but from the single market as well. We are engaged at ministerial and official level with the UK Government to ensure the best outcome for Scotland following the EU referendum, and in the meantime continue to welcome fellow EU nationals to make Scotland their home.

Following the Plenary Session of the Joint Ministerial Committee on 24 October 2016 the First Minister released a statement on the outcomes of that meeting and on-going Scottish Government priorities. The statement is available to view on the Scottish Government website here:

http://news.scotland.gov.uk/news/joint-ministerial-committee-on-eu-referendum

I subsequently gave a statement to Parliament on Tuesday 26 October 2016 updating members on events and discussions relevant to Scotland’s continued relationship with the European Union. In that statement, I made reference to discussions held at the Plenary Session and the creation of a new JMC sub-committee on EU Negotiations. A transcript of that statement is available as part of the Parliament’s Official Report here:

http://www.parliament.scot/parliamentarybusiness/report.aspx?r=10580&i=97355

We have also written to the Conveners of the Scottish Parliament’s Finance and Constitution and Culture, Tourism, Europe and External Affairs Committees to report to members on the outcomes of the Plenary Session and to direct them towards the Joint Communique agreed between the 4 Administrations, available here:

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/joint-ministerial-committee-communique-24-october-2016

The number of college student enrolments on full-time recognised qualifications is published by the Scottish Funding Council (SFC) in the National Statistics publication ‘College Performance Indicators’.

Data for 2016-17 is not available as the most recent publication covers 2014-15.

Details of student enrolments in college is published by the Scottish Funding Council (SFC) and made publicly available on the SFC’s Infact database.

* ‘Category of student’ captures college students’ primary status at time of application. Those recorded as ‘Permanent or Temporary Employment’ will be in employment. ‘Other categories’ of student may include some applicants in some form of employment, but this is not captured alongside their primary status (e.g. school based students).

Industrial action is not in the interests of anyone, least of all young people.

We have recently announced concrete proposals to address workload issues. I am pleased that the Educational Institute of Scotland’s action in relation to SQA activity has been suspended in response to the changes to the National Qualifications that will reduce assessment-related workload.

I am disappointed that SSTA is continuing with its action short of strike, given that we have put in place a package of measures to address unnecessary bureaucracy and liberate teachers to focus on teaching their pupils. This commenced on 24 October and SSTA initial guidance to its members advises them to adhere to school working time agreements and manage their workload within the contractual 35 hour working week.

Education Scotland will monitor the situation, liaising regularly with Local Authorities.

On 15 October we launched our consultation , A Blueprint for 2020: The Expansion of Early Learning and Childcare in Scotland, which will run until 9 January 2017. The Scottish Government will set out its response in Spring 2017.

Work is on-going to scope a learning and development pathway for childminders, to provide support and promote high quality from induction onwards. Whilst there are no plans to make training compulsory, we believe that childminders should be encouraged and supported to undertake career long learning, as do practitioners working with children within nurseries. Scottish Government is funding a post within the Care Inspectorate to scope what this might look like and to make recommendations, which will be delivered in April 2017, and which will inform the development of a quality framework for childminders later in 2017.

More broadly, we will continue to ensure that Early Learning and Childcare provision is underpinned by national quality standards which focus on delivering positive experiences for children and are directed at achieving positive outcomes. As part of this we seeking views through our consultation, A Blueprint for 2020: The Expansion of Early Learning and Childcare in Scotland, on how we can build on the excellent work that the Care Inspectorate and Education Scotland have undertaken in recent years to create a more streamlined and holistic system to support quality improvement in ELC.

Through our consultation, A Blueprint for 2020: The Expansion of Early Learning and Childcare in Scotland, we are seeking views on which funding model would best support our vision for high quality and flexible Early Learning and Childcare provision, which is accessible and affordable for all.

We will publish our response to the consultation in Spring 2017.

I refer the member to the answer to question S5W-03855 on 3 November 2016. All answers to written Parliamentary Questions are available on the Parliament's website, the search facility for which can be found at http://www.parliament.scot/parliamentarybusiness/28877.aspx.