Seòmar agus comataidhean

Community youth work remains an important pillar of local authority provision. The Scottish Government utilises a Block Grant system, affording local authorities significant autonomy in allocating financial resources, including those designated for youth work. This approach empowers councils to prioritise local needs and tailor services accordingly, while fulfilling mandatory obligations and adhering to nationally-agreed priorities. Transparency is ensured through annually-published breakdowns of spending on the Scottish Government website.

Furthermore, an independent review of Community Learning and Development (CLD), encompassing youth work, was launched in December 2023 and is expected to conclude in June 2024. This review aims to assess the impact of CLD on learners across Scotland, providing valuable insights for the future.

Community youth work remains an important pillar of local authority provision. The Scottish Government utilises a Block Grant system, affording local authorities significant autonomy in allocating financial resources, including those designated for youth work. This approach empowers councils to prioritise local needs and tailor services accordingly, while fulfilling mandatory obligations and adhering to nationally-agreed priorities. Transparency is ensured through annually-published breakdowns of spending on the Scottish Government website.

The Scottish Government utilises a Block Grant system, affording local authorities significant autonomy in allocating financial resources, including those designated for youth work. This approach empowers councils to prioritise local needs and tailor services accordingly, while fulfilling mandatory obligations and adhering to nationally-agreed priorities.

Examples of direct Scottish Government support include:

• £106m+ to 115 organisations, supporting children and families across Scotland from our Children, Young People, Families Early Intervention and Adult Learning and Empowering Communities Third Sector Fund (CYPFEI & ALEC) since its launch in 2016. £6m in core funding to 22 new organisations supporting children, families, young people and adult learners from our Children, Young People, Families and Adult Learning Third Sector Fund in 2023-24.
• £19m to support 72,000 young people through youth work from the CashBack for Communities Fund over the last three years.
• A further commitment of up to £20m from our CashBack for Communities Fund for 2023-26 to provide support to 29 youth work organisations to deliver a wide range of trauma-informed and person-centred services and activities for young people.
• £1m+ to YouthLink Scotland and Youth Scotland in 2023-24 to support core funding and provide high quality training with a focus on equality and inclusion for youth work staff and volunteers.
• £1m of capital investment in digital inclusion between 2022-24 for community learning providers, including youth work organisations.

Furthermore, an independent review of Community Learning and Development (CLD), encompassing youth work, was launched in December 2023 and is expected to conclude in June 2024. This review aims to assess the impact of CLD on learners across Scotland, providing valuable insights for the future.

The Scottish Government does not hold this information. The Student Loan Company (SLC) collects and publishes data on student loan outlays, repayments, and borrower activity for Scottish SLC customers each year.

This includes information on the total student Income Contingent Repayment (ICR) loan [1] outlay each financial year, the average loan balance of borrowers, borrower repayment status, repayment amounts, and average repayment amount by repayment method. All of which can be found in the Student Loans for Higher Education in Scotland: Financial Year 2022-23 publication.

SLC does not publish information on missed payments, nor on the collection rate of repayments.

[1] Loans for which the required repayments are based on the borrower’s income.

Historic Environment Scotland (HES) continues to champion traditional skills and is working with stakeholders across the country to address traditional skills gaps to help ensure Scotland’s historic buildings can thrive as part of the country’s sustainable future.

Colleges are responsible for their own operational decisions, including course provision, as they are best placed to respond flexibly to emerging trends at local and regional level. Apprenticeships continue to be based on demand and Scottish Government work closely with Skills Development Scotland and the Scottish Funding Council to support those who are looking to take on apprentices.

Scottish Government has been exploring the workforce demand for skilled stonemasons through engagement with the stonemasonry short life working group led by HES. The working group was set up to look at stonemasonry and traditional skills provision in Scotland with a view to identifying sustainable models of stonemasonry training for future delivery, and they have since provided their report of findings and recommendations to Ministers for their consideration.

The former Minister for Culture, Europe and International Development and I met HES in recent months to discuss stonemasonry and we await their proposals to address the skills issues in the sector.

In Scotland, colleges and universities are autonomous institutions with responsibility for business planning. This includes ensuring they meet the needs of students and the local economy and can respond to external factors, such as geopolitical shocks.

The Scottish Government published Purpose and Principles in June 2023. In doing so it created a framework and outcomes for the post-school education system to ensure it is sustainable, resilient and capable of responding to future challenges.

Discussions on the Skills Development Scotland budget for 2024-2025 are ongoing. We hope to confirm the ITA position in the coming weeks.

The Scottish Government is committed to ensuring that crofters can benefit from investment in projects such as peatland restoration and woodland creation, particularly when carried out on common grazing land, much of which we know is underutilised.

The Crofting Bill Team and stakeholder group are considering a number of proposals that will hopefully make it easier for crofters to use their common grazings for purposes other than agriculture, including peatland restoration. One of the proposals would make provision for crofter-led projects and landlord collaborations / joint ventures, for carbon sequestration, habitat restoration and biodiversity enhancement.

We are committed to taking forward the Crofting Bill before the end of the current parliamentary term.

An independent review of Community Learning and Development (CLD), was launched in December 2023 and is expected to conclude in June 2024. This review aims to assess the impact of CLD on learners across Scotland which will provide valuable insights for the delivery of CLD in a reformed education system.

Community youth work remains an important pillar of local authority provision, including in schools. The Scottish Government utilises a Block Grant system, affording local authorities significant autonomy in allocating financial resources, including those designated for youth work in schools. This approach empowers councils to prioritise local needs and tailor services accordingly, while fulfilling mandatory obligations and adhering to nationally-agreed priorities. Transparency is ensured through annually-published breakdowns of spending on the Scottish Government website, though there is no statutory obligation for youth work activity to be recorded or monitored by local authorities, third sector organisations or voluntary organisations.

An independent review of Community Learning and Development (CLD), encompassing youth work, was launched in December 2023 and is expected to conclude in June 2024. This review aims to assess the impact of CLD on learners across Scotland, providing valuable insights for the future.