Hansard

I place on record my thanks to my colleague, Gordon MacDonald, who has brought this important issue to the chamber. Given the debate that we have just had, I give him much credit for getting up and beginning this debate in the manner that he has.

The motion that we are discussing raises serious concerns about the future of the construction sector in Scotland. The statistics that have been provided by the Construction Industry Training Board highlight an outflow of workers from the industry as a result of several factors, and the CITB has suggested that numbers will need to increase by more than 26,000 in the coming years if we are to close the skills gap in the sector.

Some of the factors that have contributed to the gap include an ageing workforce, a high-labour but low-productivity business model, and a history of boom and bust, with fluctuating workloads creating difficulty for planning over the long term. As well as those factors, recruitment drives must do more to make the sector more accessible for women, ethnic minorities and people with disabilities—cohorts of people who are all underrepresented in the construction industry, and whose absence is certainly being felt, given the projected labour shortages.

Gordon MacDonald, who brought the debate to the chamber, has touched on those challenges, as has the other speaker so far—and the minister will, in closing the debate, no doubt underline what the Scottish Government can do to support the industry. I will talk briefly about a couple of experiences in my constituency that have shown me the great potential that there is in Scotland for young people of all backgrounds to get into the sector.

Just a couple of weeks ago, I visited Coatbridge high school to view and take part in the build your future event, which sought to highlight the diversity of roles in the construction industry. Students could learn about and engage with roles in areas such as roofing, electronics, digital mapping and drones. The rise of technology in recent decades has greatly expanded the potential for people with hugely varying interests to consider a future in construction. I spoke to students who were genuinely keen to see what the sector could offer them and their families.

One of the most encouraging aspects of my visit to Coatbridge high was seeing that attitudes towards what might once have been thought of as a male-dominated industry have now changed significantly, with plenty of boys and girls registering their interest in getting involved. I was really struck by the fact that so many girls wanted to be involved.

In addition, earlier this year, in March, pupils from both St Ambrose high school and Coatbridge high were introduced to the constructing futures programme. The programme gave them an opportunity to experience a working construction site for 10 weeks, giving them practical experience and industry-recognised qualifications.

As we know, programmes such as the ones that I have highlighted boost skills, knowledge, connections and confidence for those who might be considering a career in construction. For the first time in the history of the constructing futures programme, the students who joined the programme were not exclusively male, which backs up my previous point and once again shows that there may be a shift happening in that respect in the industry and in society more generally.

Although I accept the concerns—which we have heard about tonight—from bodies such as the Construction Industry Training Board, and we need to do more, what I have been seeing in my constituency of Coatbridge and Chryston has been encouraging. I am sure that some of my colleagues in the chamber, including those in other parties, will have had similar experiences across their constituencies and regions.

I thank Gordon MacDonald again for bringing the issue to the chamber and for giving me an opportunity to talk about all the great work that I have seen from the students at two schools in my constituency, St Ambrose high school and Coatbridge high. I should point out that those are two of the schools that will be attending Gordon MacDonald’s event on Thursday. Although I will not be there in person, I have met a lot of the students who are going to be involved, and I wish them well at that event.

The motion specifically cited the fact that there is interest among Scotland’s young people in the construction sector. There is also an acknowledgement among them that a career in construction is a good one. There will be challenges in the sector, especially concerning recruitment, but, from what I have seen, the interest among our young people is definitely there. We must try to harness that interest so that we can make it work for Scotland in the years to come.