Chamber and committees

Those opting to take part in an apprenticeship are employed by various organisations across Scotland. Therefore, it is at the discretion of individual employers in regards to placement opportunities available outside of Scotland and the rest of the UK.

The Scottish Government has committed to developing a Scottish Education Exchange Programme to support the international mobility of staff and learners. It is our aspiration for this programme to support apprenticeship training under the vocational education and training stream.

We are working with stakeholders to develop and will undertake a test and learn pilot for the Scottish Education Exchange Programme in 2023-2024. We will share additional information in due course.

As stated in response to S6W-19919, S6W-19920 and S6W-19921 on 9 August 2023, the estimated cost of decarbonising Scotland’s buildings is
‎ £33 billion. While universities are autonomous institutions, with responsibility for their own estate, provision and maintenance, we will work in partnership with universities and wider stakeholders to fully understand the costs associated with transitioning to zero direct emission heating systems across different sectors.

All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament’s website, the search facility for which can be found at https://www.parliament.scot/chamber-and-committees/written-questions-and-answers

The Scottish Government recognises the importance equipping people of all ages and stages of life with the knowledge, skills and attributes to thrive in the 21 st Century. This forms a core part of all post-school pathways, including apprenticeships, and is reflected in the recently published Purpose and Principles for post-school education, research and skills, as well as underpinning the Curriculum for Excellence. Our overarching programme of education and skills reform will continue to ensure that we have a system that is fit for the future.

A breakdown of the Skills and Training budget is set out in the Scottish Government’s annual budget publications:

Scottish Budget 2023-2024

Scottish Budget 2022-2023

Scottish Budget 2021-2022

Scottish Budget 2020-2021

Scottish Budget 2019-2020

The Skills and Training budget consists of funding for Skills Development Scotland, Education Maintenance Allowance, Employability and Skills.

The largest proportion of the Skills and Training budget funds Skills Development Scotland, who publish a breakdown of spend, including resource, staffing and capital costs in their annually published Accounts:

2021-22

2020-21

2019-20

Accounts for 2022-23 and 2023-24 are not yet available and will be published on the SDS website when they have been audited and laid in parliament.

The gross media spend that the Scottish Government has spent on public health broadcasting campaigns from July 2022 to June 2023 is £1,606,708. Broadcasting campaigns are defined as those which have used Linear TV, Broadcast Video on Demand or Radio as part of their media schedule.

The Office for National Statistics (ONS) article; "Green jobs" update, current and upcoming work: March 2023, defined a green jobs as:

"Employment in an activity that contributes to protecting or restoring the environment, including those that mitigate or adapt to climate change."

We await a further ONS publication, later this year, which will provide detail on their research and an estimate of green job numbers.

The Green Jobs Fund is a five year and up to £100 million capital fund, which will support businesses and their supply chains to help them better transition to a low carbon economy. The support provided by the fund aims to create green employment through investment in equipment, premises, research and development.

When this fund was launched in 2021, green jobs were defined as:

• Jobs in businesses that produce goods or provide services that benefit or conserve natural resources.
• Jobs in which workers' duties involve making their establishment's production processes more environmentally friendly or use fewer natural resources.

Between the Enterprise Agencies and Scottish Ministers, 94 separate projects are being supported, throughout Scotland, with grant funding of up to £24.6 million through the Green Jobs Fund.

Figures provided by the recipients of these awards estimated this fund will support up to 4,730 full time jobs over the life of the individual project.

Apprenticeship statistics are published on the Skills Development Scotland (SDS) website at Statistics | Skills Development Scotland . The statistics also include a breakdown of the number of Modern Apprenticeships by occupational grouping and a breakdown by framework for Foundation and Graduate Apprenticeships.

To note, SDS do not hold data on employer size.

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-19952 on 9 August 2023, lodged by Liam Kerr. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament’s website, the search facility for which can be found at https://www.parliament.scot/chamber-and-committees/written-questions-and-answers

The Home Energy Scotland (HES) Grant and Loan scheme aims to decarbonise the way we heat our homes by helping with the costs of installing zero direct emissions heating systems (ZDEH) such as a heat pump and installing energy efficiency measures in homes.

Where a ZDEH has been installed, a solar PV system and battery storage can be used to generate and store some of the electricity required to run the system – reducing electricity demand and the running costs for the homeowner. A solar PV system and battery storage system would not support a household reducing demand for gas if it is installed in a home heated by a gas boiler. Solar PV and energy storage can reduce overall energy bills for consumers with other forms of heating such as oil and gas but they do not specifically contribute to reducing the energy required to heat homes.

Energy efficiency measures will reduce the energy required to heat a home, and reduces the running costs of any heating system. A home with gas heating can still apply to the HES scheme for grants and loans towards the costs of installing energy efficiency measures in their home because this would reduce the energy required to heat their homes.

The number of support for learning teachers employed in state schools is shown in Table 1. The Scottish Government collects data on teachers through an annual census in September, so the following information refers to teachers employed in September rather than April.

These statistics include teachers in all sectors (Primary, Secondary, Special and Centrally Employed).

Table 1. Support for learning teachers in Scottish schools