Question reference: S6W-05968
- Asked by: Tess White, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
- Date lodged: 27 January 2022
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Current status: Answered by Jamie Hepburn on 7 February 2022
Question
To ask the Scottish Government when it will issue letters of guidance to Skills Development Scotland and the Scottish Funding Council outlining its expectations for collaborative working to implement skills alignment, which was recommended in Audit Scotland’s report, Planning for Skills.
Answer
Letters of Guidance are issued by the Scottish Government to its public bodies annually. The letters set clear Ministerial expectations on our priorities for the year ahead.
The letters to both Skills Development Scotland and to the Scottish Funding Council (SFC) will have a clear emphasis on the need for shared working on skills planning; recognising the commitment as set out in the Scottish Government’s response to the SFC Review of Coherence and Sustainability to build capacity and a more systematic approach to the way we collectively plan coherent tertiary education and skills provision and investment, so that it responds better to current and future needs. The Letters of Guidance will draw on the Shared Outcomes Framework that is currently being developed and which will set out clearly the intent for collaborative projects, connected to the National Performance Framework and the National Strategy for Economic Transformation priorities, and include milestones, objectives, impacts and measures for each of these projects.
We expect that the letters will be issued in Spring 2022 once the budget for 2022-23 has been approved by parliament.