Chamber and committees

The Scottish Government is supporting the implementation of the 1+2 language policy which is due to be delivered by 2021 and will entitle pupils to learn two languages in addition to their mother tongue. It is for local authorities to decide which languages will be offered. The first additional foreign language will continue to be one of those available at National Qualification level which are German, French, Spanish, Urdu, Chinese languages and Italian. There is also the opportunity for schools to offer the Scottish Qualification Authority Modern Language for Life and Work Award which is also available in Russian and Polish.

It is not possible to say what percentage of the curriculum is comprised of language learning. Curriculum for Excellence does not specify a particular time allocation for individual curriculum areas; it is up to local authorities and schools to allocate sufficient time so that the entitlement for each is met. However, the entitlement to language learning begins in P1 and it is expected that language learning continues for all until the end of the third year of secondary. Although this question relates to foreign languages, the 1+2 language policy entitlement also includes Gaelic, Scots and British Sign Language.

This information is not held centrally.

Language learning was not routinely offered across the primary sector before the Scottish Government’s manifesto commitment to the 1+2 policy in 2011. The implementation of this language policy is progressing well and there is an expectation that all young people will be receiving their full entitlement by 2021.

A partial picture of the number of pupils learning foreign languages in secondary schools can be ascertained from National Qualifications data. However, studying for National Qualifications is just one of the many ways in which young people learn modern languages. Flexible and innovative ways of learning languages are increasing, including offering languages through short courses, clubs and master classes.

The Scottish Government produces a National Statistics publication, Export Statistics Scotland, which estimates the nominal value of Scottish exports (excluding oil and gas). The most up to date figures cover the period 2002 to 2016.

Nominal value of exports for these years, broken down by destination, are available in the published tables:

http://www.gov.scot/Topics/Statistics/Browse/Economy/Exports/ESSPublication/ESSExcel

Values of exports for 2017 will be available in the Export Statistics Scotland 2017 publication, due to be published in January 2019.

The Scottish Government does not routinely produce estimates of the size of the gap in the small and medium-sized enterprise (SME) debt and equity finance markets in Scotland.

However, an estimate of the size of the gap in the SME debt market in Scotland was published in the 2015 Scottish Government report ‘The Market for SME Finance in Scotland’ available at http://www.gov.scot/Resource/0048/00484379.pdf . The report estimated that the debt gap in Scotland was in the range of £330 million to £750 million per year, acknowledging that the size and nature of the gap can vary over time.

Since 2009, the Scottish Government has regularly published information on access to finance conditions for SMEs in Scotland in its SME Access to Finance report (available for 2009, 2010, 2012 and 2014) available at https://beta.gov.scot/publications/sme-access-to-finance-2014/ and as part of the Small Business Survey Scotland report (available for 2012, 2014, 2015 and 2016) available at https://beta.gov.scot/publications/small-business-survey-scotland-2016/ .

In addition, Scottish Enterprise regularly publishes information on the equity market in Scotland in its annual ‘The Risk Capital Market in Scotland’ report available at http://www.evaluationsonline.org.uk/evaluations/Search.do?ui=basic&action=show&id=623 .

As part of our commitments in the Disability Action Plan we will consult with Disabled People’s Organisations and public sector bodies around setting targets or other measures to increase the disability employment rates in the public sector.

Seeking to reduce the disability employment gap by at least half, as also committed in the Disability Action Plan, will be an All Government, All Scotland approach, using all levers at our disposal. We will set out next steps for taking this forward at our national congress on disability, employment and the workplace on 30 April 2018.

Scottish Government believes that supported employment has an important role to play in helping disabled people find sustained work.

We are very pleased that there are currently 12 Project Search sites with two in development (Falkirk Council’s site with NHS Forth Valley which is in target to start August 2018; and Shetland Council’s project which is at the initial stage of development).

By 2017:

•  356 young people had started on a Project SEARCH model;
•  316 had completed;
•  220 had moved into fulltime jobs;
•  69.6% of students who completed the project were in employment.

The Scottish Commission for Learning Disability (SCLD) leads the delivery of Project SEARCH in Scotland. Scottish Government officials are working with SCLD as part of a short life task group on employment. SCLD have also been partners in the development of the programme for the Scottish Government’s Congress on Disability, Employment and the Workplace on 30 th April, where a number of Project SEARCH service users will participate in the day.

We will continue to explore opportunities to promote the Project SEARCH model as we develop plans for greater alignment of learning and skills provision.

The “Disability Equality Internship Programme” was a project delivered jointly between SCVO and Inclusion Scotland with funding from the Scottish Government between 2015 and 2017. Scottish Disability Equality Forum (since renamed Disability Equality Scotland) were also a project partner during 2015-2016. The breakdown of internships provided under that project are as follows:

2015-2016: 34 internships

2016-2017: 20 internships

The NHS Professional Careers Programme is a 2 year employment opportunity for disabled graduates and provides a challenging and rewarding experience of employment in NHS Scotland. Each placement is tailored around the graduate and both the graduate and NHS Board are provided with ongoing advice and support. The first cohort, started from October 2015 and provided 24 disabled graduates with employment in NHS Scotland. The success rate for moving into employment after the placement is 95%.

For the second cohort, covering the period 2018-20, a 22 further disabled graduates are currently being placed across NHS Scotland.

The other bodies which are considering the option of applying a project bank account to projects estimated at £175m due on site in 2019 are as follows:

1. City of Edinburgh Council

2. NHS Highland

3. NHS Tayside

4. NHS National Waiting Times Centre

The Terms of Reference for the Review of the Scottish Business Pledge have been published and are available at:

https://scottishbusinesspledge.scot/information/scottish-business-pledge-review-2018-terms-of-reference/ .