Education, Children and Young People Committee 03 December 2025 [Draft]
I would like to make progress, if that is okay.
The reform to the skills landscape that we are taking forward does not anticipate skills planning to be something for the SFC to lead on. Amendment 117, in the name of Miles Briggs, would pre-empt the priorities that are to be determined by the new skills planning function within the Scottish Government. Further, it would not be appropriate to name particular sectors in the bill, not least because they might change over time, or equivalently important sectors might come to the fore.
Amendment 119, in the name of Stephen Kerr, would give the SFC a role that is not for it to play. The SFC’s role is to secure provision, and it is for the Scottish Government to assess labour market demand and skills shortages, with other public bodies.
Amendment 35, in the name of Willie Rennie, would, in effect, recreate the Scottish Apprenticeship Advisory Board. Given that the apprenticeship committee set out in the bill is designed to take on the SAAB’s functions, the proposed additional board would duplicate the work of the apprenticeship committee and therefore complicate the landscape. However, I refer back to the discussion with Willie Rennie that I had last week on considerations ahead of stage 3 with regard to further industry involvement.
In conclusion—and I know that members and the convener will be glad to hear that phrase—other than Jackie Dunbar’s amendments, the Scottish Government and I, for the reasons that I have given, cannot support any of the other amendments in the group. However, as with every other group, I thank members for their constructive engagement, and I am happy to keep an open mind on the question of funding for apprenticeships ahead of stage 3.
I ask the committee to support amendments 9 and 10 from Jackie Dunbar and my amendments 11 and 12, and not to support the other amendments in the group.