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Building a Better Scotland
ENTERPRISE AND LIFELONG LEARNING
To increase prosperity for all the people of Scotland by supporting business, encouraging enterprise, building on the excellence of our universities and colleges, and improving skills and employability.
Objective 1 | | Raise the long-term sustainable growth rate of the Scottish economy. |
Target | 1 | Increase business investment in research and development compared to OECD competitors. |
Target | 2 | Improve productivity levels in Scottish industry compared to OECD competitors. |
Target | 3 | Increase entrepreneurial activity in Scotland over time. |
Objective 2 | | Influence Scotland's industry towards more sustainable patterns of development. |
Target | 4 | Work towards our 2020 target for 40% of Scottish electricity generation to be from renewable sources by achieving 18% by 2010. |
Target | 5 | Improve public sector energy efficiency and continue to encourage greater resource efficiency in the private sector. |
Objective 3 | | Improve the skill base of Scotland to be better prepared to meet the demands of the knowledge economy. |
Target | 6 | Increase the number of people in employment undertaking training. |
Objective 4 | | Closing the opportunity gap in employment and learning. |
Target | 7 | Close the gap in unemployment rates between the worst 10% of areas and the Scottish average by 2008 |
Target | 8 | Reduce the proportion of 16-19 year olds not in education, training and employment by 2008. |
Objective 5 | | Maintain and improve the competitive position of the Scottish higher and further education system in Scotland in order to ensure continued access, high quality teaching and effective research. |
Target | 9 | (i): Higher education in higher education institutions (HEIs) - Make better use of publicly funded undergraduate capacity in Scottish HEIs.
(ii): Higher education in further education colleges (FECs) - Maintain and build on the high percentage of all higher education student enrolments at further education colleges who complete their programme of study.
(iii): Further education in FECs - Maintain and build on the high percentage of all further education student enrolments at further education colleges who complete their programme of study. |
Target | 10 | Maintain and build on the existing high quality research undertaken by higher education institutions in Scotland by ensuring Scotland's relative performance in Research Assessment Exercise (RAE) 2008 is maintained. |
What we will do
The work of the Enterprise and Lifelong Learning portfolio is focused on helping to grow Scotland's economy. The largest part of the expenditure is on growing the long term capacity of our population through further and higher education and training. We provide significant amounts of direct assistance to those who want to start or grow a business. We develop policy and work with business to remove the barriers that exist to its growth. Not necessarily spending resources but acting to create a more business-friendly environment to enable business to grow.
In everything that we do we are committed to ensuring that we work to promote equality and close the opportunity gap, and to ensure that our activities are sustainable. More detailed information about the Executive's work in these areas is given in the cross-cutting chapters earlier.
Over the Spending Review period we will focus our resources on making a significant investment in higher and further education, particularly in meeting the sector's capital requirements. We will maintain resources allocated to the Enterprise Networks. The other important work we do will be maintained with smaller budgets largely held flat, supporting increases in lifelong learning.
The portfolio will make savings from reduced demand for Regional Selective Assistance and from unlocking the funding held in reserve to meet the Scottish Renewables Obligation (SRO). As the higher costs of the SRO are currently being funded by market activity, there is no need for the Executive to hold its own funding for this purpose.
That is why we will:
- increase capital grants for higher education institutions by 28/45/75m helping to update their teaching infrastructure;
- increase capital grants for further education colleges by 28/50/50m, continuing to modernise colleges;
- make a step change in our drive to increase the resource funding for both higher and further education. The capital and resource funding for higher education will exceed 1bn for the first time in 2007-08. This represents growth of 17.4% above inflation between 2005-06 and 2007-08. Further education will similarly benefit through growth of 14.8% after inflation with its total budget reaching 620m by 2007-08;
- continue to invest in the Enterprise Networks, allowing continued focus on growing businesses, skills and learning and global connections, by maintaining expenditure in real terms; and
- create a new Green Jobs fund; investing 8/8/6m to support opportunities for Scottish business in renewable energy, recycling, resource efficiency and other industries.
We will also ensure that we secure the best possible value for money over the Spending Review period. The Enterprise Networks have already undertaken efficiency reviews. In Scottish Enterprise these underlie current patterns of spend, eg allowing spend on the Intermediary Technology Institutes. In the period covered by the Efficient Government initiative, we will continue to direct our resources towards frontline services. Our detailed plans will be included in the Executive's Efficient Government plan to be published in the autumn.
Table 8.01 Spending plans 2004-08 (level 2)
m | 2004-05 Plans | 2005-06 Plans | 2006-07 Plans | 2007-08 Plans |
Student Awards Agency For Scotland | 370.34 | 368.62 | 347.62 | 349.62 |
Scottish Higher Education Funding Council | 787.40 | 852.99 | 957.99 | 1,027.99 |
Scottish Further Education Funding Council | 474.27 | 534.71 | 602.21 | 619.21 |
Scottish Enterprise | 448.90 | 441.10 | 456.10 | 466.10 |
Highlands & Islands Enterprise | 92.50 | 99.47 | 94.97 | 102.97 |
Regional Selective Assistance | 40.21 | 48.21 | 45.21 | 43.21 |
Other enterprise and lifelong learning (1) | 119.48 | 153.10 | 154.80 | 158.50 |
EUROPEAN STRUCTURAL FUNDS |
Support to local authorities | 64.40 | 57.20 | 57.20 | 57.20 |
Central government | 82.15 | 104.10 | 113.10 | 111.10 |
Total | 2,479.65 | 2,659.50 | 2,829.20 | 2,935.90 |
DEL Total | 2,463.05 | 2,631.10 | 2,792.10 | 2,893.10 |
Student loans net new lending and student loans subsidy to banks (outside TME) | 184.79 | 181.35 | 181.35 | 181.35 |
(1) Note that these figures include Education Maintenance Allowances of 16.6m; 28.4m; 37.1m; and 42.8m for 2004-05; 2005-06; 2006-07; and 2007-08 respectively. These are classified as Annual Managed Expenditure.
Investment in science The Executive recognises that increasing the contribution of science is crucial to growing the economy and improving quality of life - from helping us to treat and cure illnesses to the increasing use of technology at home and in the workplace. We already have a strong science base in our universities, and they consistently win a high proportion of research funding. However, with competition intensifying across the world, the UK Government has responded in its Spending Review with a significant real growth in funding of science over the coming decade. These extra resources will benefit Scotland, but only if our science base has the infrastructure to enable it to compete for these funds. To help to meet these challenges, we have in this Spending Review provided very significant additions in real terms to the funding of the higher education sector. These funds will enable the Scottish Higher Education Funding Council to maintain research competitiveness, including through initiatives such as research pooling and support for the very important research investments made by charities. The Executive has provided resources for growth in its programme of agricultural, biological and environmental research. Through our funding of NHS research, we are improving our understanding of disease and how best to treat or prevent it, with projects such as the Genetics and Healthcare Initiative. Scotland needs to harness more successfully the new knowledge from research through commercialisation and knowledge transfer. We have put in place a range of measures in to help boost this, including proof of concept funding, support for commercialisation of research from the NHS in Scotland and the three new Intermediary Technology Institutes. In recognition of the part played by our education system in the science strategy we have provided specific funding to local authorities to raise teachers' science skills and modernise school science laboratories. Informal science education can play an important role in enthusing children and adults about science, and we shall therefore be providing long term support to Scotland's science centres to ensure that these valuable assets are secured for the future. A Science Strategy for Scotland was published on 27 August 2001 ( www.scotland.gov.uk/library3/education/SSfS-00.asp). |
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