Chamber and committees

Since 2008, the Scottish Government has adopted the practice of regularly publishing details of Ministers’ engagements on the Scottish Government website:

http://www.scotland.gov.uk/About/People/14944/Events-Engagements/MinisterialEngagements

Details of meetings held from 5 September 2012 to 30 November 2012 should be published in February 2013.

At the Education, Youth, Culture and Sport Council meeting, which I attended on behalf of the UK, I spoke about the importance of engaging young people in decisions that affect their lives. I highlighted the support provided by the Scottish and UK Governments to youth organisations to enable structured dialogue with young people to take place.

In meetings with representatives from the European Commission, discussions focused on the forthcoming youth employment package (subsequently announced on 5 December) which includes a recommendation that Member States introduce a Youth Guarantee for young people within four months of leaving education or becoming unemployed.

In meetings with representatives from the Austrian, Dutch, Finnish and German governments, I described the Scottish Government’s youth employment strategy, sought information on the measures they were taking to tackle youth unemployment, how their vocational education systems contributed to this and how Austria and Finland were implementing Youth Guarantees to unemployed young people.

Scottish Government officials are liaising with representatives from the Scottish local authorities economic development group, business organisations and others on the details of the employer recruitment incentive. Details will be circulated to MSPs as soon as they are available.

My officials met with the United Road Transport Union on 18 August 2011 to discuss a range of issues, including Driver Certificates of Professional Competence (CPC). At this meeting, the union agreed to join the Scottish Freight and Logistics Advisory Group (ScotFLAG), which is facilitated by Transport Scotland.

On 13 October 2011 ScotFLAG produced a report into Driver CPC. The report concluded the uptake of training by industry at that time was suitable and sufficient. As a group member, the union had an opportunity to feed into this process.

The United Road Transport Union has not raised Driver CPC at subsequent ScotFLAG meetings.

The Driver Certificate of Professional Competence (CPC) is a reserved and commercial matter. Operators and owners have an obligation to ensure their drivers complete the 35 hours training.

Commercial training is available; and all such training and individual courses must be approved. In the UK, the approving body is the Joint Approvals Unit for Periodic Training.

Driver Certificate of Professional Competence is reserved, derived from an EU Directive introduced in 2009 (2003/59). Drivers must undertake periodic training and operators have a responsibility to ensure their drivers are on track to complete their training.

The provision of such training is a commercial matter.

The Scottish Government published the Step Change 2015 procurement plan in May 2012 setting out our plans for delivering the infrastructure required to deliver a step change in broadband connectivity for the rest of Scotland area. Midlothian falls within the scope of this procurement.

We have subsequently conducted an open market review and public consultation to identify the commercial roll out plans to define our intervention area. The Public Consultation report provides maps of the areas covered by commercial roll out and those intended to be covered within the scope of the project. Detailed roll out plans for individual local authorities will not be known until after the contract for the infrastructure provider is awarded.

The formal tender process for the Rest of Scotland procurement commenced in September 2012 and the project remains committed to contract award by June 2013. The Scottish Government continues to work closely with local authority partners to achieve Step Change 2015 targets.

Individual Learning Account (ILA) funding cannot be used to support training, which is a statutory requirement for the individual’s particular employment. Existing drivers will not therefore be able to draw down ILA funding in relation to Certificate of Professional Competence statutory training.

The focus of the Scottish Government’s Step Change 2015 Programme is to address the digital divide by extending the infrastructure needed to deliver next generation broadband to those areas where the market will currently not go. The area covered by the Step Change projects has been determined by a review of where there is no current or planned (within the next three years) commercial deployments.

The Scottish Government’s Digital Strategy seeks to address the digital divide in all sectors of society by extending the infrastructure needed to deliver next generation broadband to those areas where the market will currently not go in Midlothian and throughout Scotland. In addition to significant deployment of next generation broadband, our Step Change 2015 programme also seeks to ensure at least basic broadband for all which will support the delivery of online public services such as claiming benefits.

We recognise that the move to digital by default for delivery of Universal Credit offers opportunities, particularly in helping to get people online and realise the wider benefits of digital. However, these reforms are being led by the UK Government and they must ensure that people are supported in the transition and that safeguards are in place for those who need them.

These cuts and changes to the welfare system are not of our making but we are committed to doing all that we can to ensure that we mitigate the worst impacts and help people and organisations in Scotland make the transition. As part of our efforts, we are providing £230,000 over the next two years to fund three local authority-led Universal Credit pilots. This funding will help councils prepare people to make their claims online by guiding them through online processes for current council benefits, and building their skills and confidence as a result.

We have also established a working group to consider arrangements for inclusion, support and exceptions in relation to Universal Credit implementation in Scotland, including digital.

Scottish Government youth employment programmes are all designed to improve the employability of young people, whether they are pre-employment programmes or in-work training programmes.

The following table details the outcomes for Scottish Government programmes related to youth employment:

In addition, 6,985 claims were made for Skills Development Scotland’s Employer Recruitment Incentive in 2011-12 and 400 placements have been filled through Talent Scotland to date. Talent Scotland management information does not support an annual breakdown.