Meeting of the Parliament 04 December 2025
The fishing industry in the north-east of Scotland will, of course, have to rely on the existence of apprenticeships and skills, but the Government is systematically failing in that respect. The minister has now written to the Education, Children and Young People Committee to say that crucial decisions in relation to the Government’s Tertiary Education and Training (Funding and Governance) (Scotland) Bill, which contains its only proposals on skills, have not yet been taken. The letter gives as one option Skills Development Scotland delivering “a managed service”, because the due diligence to make the change that the Government has proposed has not yet been done.
The Government’s woefully low ambition in simply rejigging quangos—which will fail many in the north-east fishing industry—is not even that now. Instead, the Government is legislating to kick the can down the road and diverting millions of pounds from opportunities in the process.
When will the minister take this decision? How much longer will staff, employers, colleges and learners in the north-east have to wait to find out what their future looks like? Is he just going to accept the inevitable—that this Government’s plans are unworkable and that he should go back to the drawing board?