Question reference: S6W-05967
- Asked by: Tess White, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
- Date lodged: 27 January 2022
-
Current status: Answered by Jamie Hepburn on 7 February 2022
Question
To ask the Scottish Government, following the publication of Audit Scotland’s report, Planning for Skills, what action it is taking to improve collaborative working between Skills Development Scotland and the Scottish Funding Council on skills alignment.
Answer
The Scottish Government has welcomed the recommendations that Audit Scotland has made in its report and there are a number of areas highlighted in the report where progress has already been made.
The first of these is bringing the responsibility for the tertiary education and skills system within a single Ministerial portfolio. This represents a material change to the leadership and oversight of both agencies responsible for delivering improvements to our skills system and provides clear lines of accountability.
New governance arrangements have recently been established to oversee a number of collaborative projects in this space. This is the Shared Outcomes Assurance Group which brings together the Senior Responsible Officers from both agencies and government to provide constructive challenge, seek assurance on delivery and to identify solutions to any issues and challenges arising.
There are also numerous examples of positive collaborative working that are already well established, including delivery of apprenticeships, the Young Persons Guarantee and the National Transition Training Fund.
We will update Parliament on how we plan to take forward our response to the report’s recommendations in due course.