Chamber and committees

What about the education system? We still have children going through the whole education system and coming out the other end ill prepared for a career in anything, with numeracy and literacy rates still being a major issue. Is the education system delivering for the world of work? Is it geared up to delivering for the world of work?

Finally, I have a question for Liz Cameron. A number of years ago, I noticed that, in Germany, Volvo or Ford had an academy for cleaners. Everybody in the workforce was valued, no matter what they did, and that academy ran into the whole supply chain, so small and medium-sized enterprises and others could all feed in and skill up.

Do we need to think a bit more radically here? Do we need to look at best practice from across Europe and engage with employers more so that, no matter where someone is in the workforce, they will get continual lifelong learning, skills and so on? Is any of that going on? Is that where we need to be moving to?

It is for Marek.

The convener said that we should concentrate on work inactivity, but I believe that skills and education are key to tackling that, so that was where I was going with my questions.

I will come to David Fairs on pensions. The state pension age is going up and up. In one of the committee’s papers, I read that an increasing number of people who are less skilled and less educated are becoming economically inactive. The pension age keeps going up but, for someone in manual work, there will come a point when they physically struggle to do the work. Recently, I met a group of refuse collectors who were all in their 50s and they told me how difficult it is to go out and do a shift.

In local government, people on higher grades and higher salaries have massive pension pots and generally leave work when they are quite young with a massive hand-out. However, that option through the pension scheme is not available to low-paid and manual workers. In relation to manual work and various other professions, is there an issue with older people not being able to access big hand-outs but not being physically able to work?

Thank you. That is very helpful.

Marek, would you like to comment on that?

Good morning. We put quite a bit of emphasis on Covid, but to what extent have the issues with skills—the failure to deliver skills and lifelong learning—been brewing over a much longer time? The last time I looked, at the UK level, there were something like 7 million people who lacked basic numeracy and literacy skills. We have made progress in Scotland on childcare, but the big issue that does not seem to be talked about much is Brexit. Is it a combination of a perfect storm of all those things coming together and the fact that the issues have been brewing for some time, or can we legitimately say that the key factor has been the pandemic? I start by asking Jonathan Cribb for his thoughts on that.

I will begin with a question for Anna Ritchie Allan. Are there specific sectors in which people are leaving the workforce for gender-related reasons?

I highlight the example of social care, where we in Scotland have a major problem. It seems that the majority of social carers are women, with the majority of such care being delivered in the private sector. The difference in pay and terms and conditions between the private and public sectors is absolutely appalling—I do not know how the private sector gets away with it. People are now voting with their feet: they are saying, “Bye-bye” and off they go.

Do we need to start looking at such issues from a gender point of view? A number of months ago, I put it to the Deputy First Minister that there is a clear gender issue in social care that would not be happening if the sector was male dominated.

Anjum Klair, would you like to respond?