Chamber and committees

In my appearance on 10 January 2024 at the Education, Children and Young People Committee I undertook to provide further information on the progress of post-school education and skills reform in March. On 27 March 2024 I wrote to the Convenor of the Committee with this update on the key areas of action .

Our plans for post-school education and skills reform have been developed in the light of James Withers’ report Fit for the Future: developing a post-school learning system to fuel economic transformation, and the Scottish Government’s own report of the Purpose and Principles for post-school education, research and skills .

I will continue to engage with partners across the sector and employers, and to update the Parliament.

The Scottish Government has been working with Heads of Planning Scotland (HOPS), the Royal Town Planning Institute (RTPI) and other partners to progress the short, medium and longer term recommendations of the Future Planners Project Report since its publication in July 2022, to increase the number of new entrants into planning authorities and other parts of the planning sector. The recommendations cover diverse areas of action including support for funded postgraduate opportunities; extending opportunities for students to gain relevant work experience; supporting universities to maintain the viability of RTPI-accredited planning courses and increasing the number of home students where possible; as well as exploring possibilities to retain more international students in the workforce.

In 2023 HOPS launched a campaign toolkit for use by local authorities, employability services, government departments and other planning associated organisations to give young people an insight into planning as a career option. The pack contains links to promotional videos, social media graphics and a downloadable leaflet for use at careers fairs.

The Scottish Government has also provided funding for ten RTPI bursaries for students undertaking post graduate planning degrees in Scottish planning schools in 2023/24. We intend to continue support for bursaries and will confirm arrangements as soon as possible.

RTPI and the Scottish Government have been promoting the case for a planning or practice-based planning degree and will continue to support delivery of such routes into the profession. I wrote to planning schools in October 2023 to encourage their continued support for higher education in this discipline. I will shortly be meeting colleagues from across the planning sector, including industry, at the University of Glasgow, to discuss potential practical initiatives to support planning education and routes into a career in planning.

Work to develop a planning skills strategy is underway, drawing on experience from the approach taken to developing a strategy for building standards. The new National Planning Improvement Framework will gather data on workforce and skills requirements which will help inform the strategy for Scotland as a whole.

Our Investing in Planning consultation provides a more detailed update on the Future Planners report recommendations and action in relation to skills, recruitment and retention within the planning sector. The consultation seeks views on prioritisation of actions already identified and any other measures with the potential to make a significant impact. The consultation is open until 31 May 2024.

The Scottish Government recognise that there are circumstances when they will step in to address specific workforce challenges. In December 2019 as part of the Integrated Workforce plan, Scottish Government made a commitment to create 225 more MSK practitioners in Primary Care. To achieve this it has been critical to increase numbers of physiotherapists in training as newly qualified physiotherapists enable the replenishment of posts created by experienced physiotherapists moving to Primary Care as Advanced MSK Practitioners.

Due to the pandemic delays were experienced and a total of 37 students were recruited in 2021-22, and a further 52 were recruited in 2022-23. To date, 144 physiotherapy students have been recruited and the first cohort of students graduated in September 2023. A further recruitment of 50 students is planned for 2024-25, subject to funding.

Additionally, the Allied Health Professions (AHP) Education and Workforce Policy Review examined workforce and education issues and recommendations included promotion of AHP careers and aligning strategies to market a career as an AHP. An advisory group has been established to oversee the effective implementation of these recommendations.

Special medicines or ‘specials’ refer to unlicensed medicinal products that should only be supplied to meet the special clinical needs of an individual patient. An unlicensed medicinal product should not be supplied where an equivalent licensed medicinal product is available. Responsibility for deciding whether an individual patient has “special needs” which a licensed product cannot meet is a matter for the prescribing clinician responsible for their care. Examples of “special needs” include an intolerance or allergy to a particular ingredient, or an inability to ingest solid oral dosage forms. These examples are not exhaustive.

The Scottish Government has no role in designating ‘specials’. Regulation for the licensing, quality safety and efficacy of medicines is currently reserved to the UK Government and is the responsibility of the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA).

The Scottish Government expects the Scottish Funding Council (SFC) to support fair work practices, and to monitor adherence across the college sector.

As recipients of SFC funding, in line with Scottish Government Fair Work First guidance - reflected in the 2024-25 Ministerial letter of guidance to SFC, colleges must be committed to fair work practices for staff engaged in the delivery of activity associated with public funds. Inclusion of information on compliance with Fair Work First is a requirement of the accounts directions for universities and colleges and SFC encourages institutions to be fulsome in their disclosures. Where there are institutions that do not currently meet requirements around disclosure of this activity, SFC will engage with institutions with a view to ensuring that they do so in their future annual report and accounts.

I also wrote directly to College Principals on 7 June 2023 to re-state this Government’s continued commitment to Fair Work principles. I expect both employers and trade unions to work together to ensure that the Fair Work principles are adhered to across the college sector and that staff are treated fairly.

We are also making progress with the addition of trade union nominees to the college boards to further improve governance and management and to ensure effective employee voice as one of the key principles of Fair Work.

There are multiple existing Modern and Graduate Apprenticeship frameworks that include software design and IT Management which are utilised by the gaming industry. The frameworks are flexible with varying pathways and are adaptable to any industry that designs software.

Applications for electricity generating stations with a capacity of 50MW or less submitted to planning authorities are determined in accordance with procedures set out under the Town and Country Planning (Scotland) Act 1997. Consent under the Electricity Act 1989 is exclusively required for electricity generating stations with a capacity greater than 50MW.

The Scottish Government does not hold information on the number of applications for electricity generating stations with a capacity of 50MW or less submitted to planning authorities under the Town and Country Planning (Scotland) Act 1997. However, this information could be obtained from individual planning authorities.

The Scottish Government does publish information on the total number of planning applications for electricity generation determined by planning authorities. The number of applications determined in each year is recorded from 1 April to 31 March.

As we have done for over a decade, the Scottish Government continues to keep fares comparatively lower on average than across the rest of Great Britain.

Train fares for ScotRail under public ownership have been set having regard to affordability for passengers and inflation which affects the cost of delivery of rail services. The Scottish Government has introduced the trial removal of peak fares in this period to help keep fares affordable in this period of cost of living challenge and to encourage more people to commute by train.

We will shortly be publishing an initial delivery plan for work being taken forward under the Mental Health and Capacity Reform Programme. The plan will set out a range of actions that are either underway or planned in the period up to April 2025, against the priorities identified under the Programme. One of the priorities, as noted in our initial response to the Scottish Mental Health Law Review, is to consider Mental Health Law reform.

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-26878 on‎ 29 April 2024. 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 .