Chamber and committees

I refer the member to the answer to question S5W-02966 on 3 October 2016. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament's website, the search facility for which can be found at: http://www.parliament.scot/parliamentarybusiness/28877.aspx

Partnership Action for Continuing Employment (PACE) is the Scottish Government’s strategic framework initiative for responding to redundancy situations. The operation of PACE is overseen by the Ministerial PACE Partnership which I chair and which comprises the Scottish Government together with 21 organisations to oversee a continuous improvement programme to enhance the operation of PACE.

Skills Development Scotland delivers PACE on behalf of the Scottish Government in conjunction with other key partners including the Department for Work and Pensions. In addition to the National PACE Team, there are 18 local PACE Teams across Scotland to ensure speedy and effective responses to redundancy situations. Other agencies also involved in PACE include HM Revenue and Customs, local authorities' employability departments, the STUC and its affiliated Trade Unions, Citizens Advice Bureaux, local training providers, colleges and universities.

Given that PACE is a framework which brings together various organisations to provide a co-ordinated approach to delivery of support for those facing redundancy, it is not possible to quantify a specific budget for PACE activity.

The 2016-17 Programme for Government sets out a package of measures to support a resilient and fair labour market. This includes all of the actions set out in Scotland’s Labour Market Strategy which was published on 26 August 2016, meeting the commitment to bring forward a strategy in the first 100 days of this new administration.

Significant actions set out in the Programme for Government which are already underway include:

Working with the Fair Work Convention and providing support to take forward the next phase of their work and promote their framework to employers;

Supporting workforce development through the Scottish Union Learning Fund which includes a contribution of £2.2 million this year;

increasing the number of accredited Living Wage employers, currently 598, making progress on our target of 1,000 accredited Living Wage employers by autumn 2017; and

Increasing the number of business that have made their Scottish Business Pledge, currently 289, for which we will continue to raise awareness.

In addition, we are working to create a Trade Union Modernisation Fund, a Returner’s Project to help women returners back into the workplace, and a Workplace Equality Fund alongside the other measures set out. These will be taken forward throughout the course of 2016.

Grant in Aid to Skills Development Scotland in each financial year from its beginning (2008-9)

Details are contained in the following table:

*April-August

Source: Skills Development Scotland

PACE offers free and impartial advice and is available to all individuals affected by redundancy, no matter the size of the business nor how many employees are involved. PACE also works with insolvency practitioners to provide support where a business has gone into administration or liquidation.

Employers do not provide financial contributions to PACE teams. However in cases of larger redundancies, employers may make a contribution of space and IT equipment for example to provide an onsite resource centre for employees to meet with PACE Advisers.

Further information about Trade Envoys will be made available in due course. Operational costs for supporting the Global Scots network will continue to be around £200k per year. This includes plans to recruit Global Scots in 2016-17 to support activities such as securing new investment and supporting the Connected Scotland campaign.

In my capacity as Energy Minister I have met with Scottish Renewables on a number of occasions in the context of my role, but last met formally on 22 August 2016. This was an introductory meeting between myself and the organisation. In this meeting we discussed engagement with the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, the recent offshore wind judgements, transmission costs in Scotland, the Scottish Government Energy Strategy and shared ownership.

I refer the member to the answer to question S5W-02704 on 28 September 2016 which is available on the Parliament's website, the search facility for which can be found at http://www.parliament.scot/parliamentarybusiness/28877.aspx