Chamber and committees

Meaningful, high-quality work experience is very important for young people. What young people lack – generally as a result of their age - is direct and tangible real-life work experience.

The United Kingdom Government need to be vigilant about possible displacement in the labour market or potential exploitation of our young people in their programme. We cannot have employers taking on young people for work experience at the expense of paid employment or our young people being pressed to work for no pay.

In this instance, the DWP have an opportunity to engage with employers and trade unions on the detail of the work experience scheme, to ensure neither young people nor other workers are exploited. In that regard, we welcome the decision by Chris Grayling last week to withdraw the threat of benefit sanctions for young people leaving work experience placements early.

As we finalise the Youth Employment Strategy we will ensure that it encapsulates the positive role that meaningful, high quality work experience can play in helping young people into work whilst guarding against displacement and exploitation.

The Scottish Government is committed to lifelong learning in its widest sense.

The recent Post-16 Education Reform consultation considered how we can improve the learner journey for all. A large number of responses strongly supported the issues of part-time study, distance learning and how we create and encourage opportunities for older learners through more flexible delivery structures in our colleges, universities and maximise the contribution of community learning and development.

We are considering how to take forward these issues and officials will work with a wide range of relevant stakeholders over the coming months to consider how best to achieve this.

The new title of Minister for Youth Employment encapsulates skills. This minister has lead responsibility for skills which includes the delivery of national training programmes and careers information, advice and guidance services, individual learning accounts, flexible training opportunities and the training for work programme. The Youth Employment minister also supports the Finance Portfolio which has responsibility for skills development support for specific industrial and service sectors, particularly but not exclusively the economic growth sectors and the alignment of adult (18+) employability and skills services.

Section 261 of the Mental Health (Care and Treatment) (Scotland) Act 2003 relates to the provision of information to patients with communication difficulties. Hospital managers are required to take reasonable steps to ensure that arrangements appropriate to the patient’s needs are made or that the patient is provided with assistance or material appropriate to their needs to allow them to communicate at certain events. These events include any proceedings before the Mental Health Tribunal for Scotland.

All mental health staff working in the NHS in Scotland is aware of the importance of assessing and responding to the individual needs of patients including those with communication difficulties. Understanding and responding to patients’ needs is no different for those with a mental illness than for any other type of patient. The important thing is that NHS staff must ensure they provide care, support and services which meet the needs of the patient.

The Mental Welfare Commission for Scotland has published various pieces of guidance on how to ensure that individuals with communication difficulties are given the best possible assistance to meet their needs. These documents include Working with independent advocates – Good practice guidance and Working with an interpreter – Toolkit – Improving communication for people who use mental health and learning disability services in Scotland. They are available on the commission’s website at: http://reports.mwcscot.org.uk/GoodPracticeGuidance/userandcarerparticipation/user_carer_participation.aspx.

This is complemented by the new public sector equality duties under the Equality Act 2010, which came into force on 5 April 2011. These require all public bodies to have due regard to the need to eliminate discrimination, advance equality of opportunity, and foster good relations in the course of developing policies and delivering services.

In terms of bursaries for which the education budget is responsible.

Bursary provision is available for the MSc in Social Work which is a postgraduate qualification. This is a two year full time course, provided at six universities in Scotland, which essentially provides an alternative route into a career in social work for those whose first degree is not in Social Work. (Social work is a degree-based profession).

Eligible students undertaking a PGDE (Professional Graduate Diploma in Education) can access the undergraduate student support package; which includes an income assessed bursary for students with household income below £34,000. This provides that students taking this route through Initial Teacher Training (ITT) receive funding on the same basis as those following the Bachelor of Education programme which incorporates ITT.

I have asked colleges to prioritise young people because this is the best way to give them a strong start in working life and to mitigate the risk and harm of youth unemployment. That said, I fully recognise the importance of addressing the needs of older learners, particularly those with low or out of date skills and those looking for work. Provision for these priority groups will be negotiated with colleges and reflected in regional outcome agreements for 2012-13.

Additional reskilling opportunities will continue to be available to those over 25 through Skills Development Scotland’s Individual Learning Accounts (ILA), and the Training for Work vocational skills programme.

The Scottish Government is committed to improving the Mental Health (Care & Treatment) Act 2003 and is currently in the process of considering what recommendations it’s taking forward from the McManus Limited Review as well as some other issues identified by service users in the Mental Health & Adults With Incapacity Amendment Bill.

Guidance on the 2003 act is available in easy read versions, Braille, audio as well as community languages. This guidance will be reviewed in light of any changes made as part of the McManus Review, and will include work on making this national guidance as accessible as possible.

Students from low income backgrounds at undergraduate level are able to apply for the highest rate of student support, including non-repayable bursary support. This is paid instead of part of a student loan, thereby reducing the amount of loan students from low income families need to take out.

As part of the Post-16 Education Reform Programme we are committed to delivering a minimum income of £7,000 per year for the most vulnerable students.

For academic year 2012-13 we are introducing a new loan scheme for Postgraduate students - the Postgraduate Tuition Fee Loan (PTFL). The new arrangements will mean that all eligible full and part-time students (Scottish domiciled and EU) on eligible courses will be able to apply for the PTFL. This will increase the number of postgraduate students in receipt of tuition fee support each year from the current level of 2,700 to around 5,000.

We are concerned that noise emanating from railways may cause nuisance. We remain unconvinced for the need for legislation at this stage and are pursuing non-legislative means to address potential issues. Accordingly, we have met with the rail industry to discuss what measures could offer appropriate noise mitigation solutions.

Curriculum for Excellence provides the framework for schools and local authorities to explore opportunities such as UNICEF’s Rights Respecting Schools Award (RRSA) to provide active and engaging opportunities for Scotland’s learners.

Education Scotland is working with a range of partners to provide opportunities for Scotland’s children and young people to develop as responsible global citizens. This includes support for local authorities and collaboration with UNICEF.

RRSA is well established in Scotland. The first schools registered in 2007 and these has been significant growth since 2009, with Scottish schools now having the highest take-up rate of anywhere in the UK. 583 primary schools (24%) and 74 secondary schools (16%) are currently involved in the initiative.