The Scottish Government

Adult Literacy and Numeracy Strategy

Over 137,000 literacies learners have been helped since the launch of the Adult Literacy and Numeracy Strategy in 2001.

Following the launch of the Big Plus awareness raising campaign in January 2004 almost 13,500 calls were received by the national helpline and referred on to ALN partnerships.

We will refresh the Adult Literacy and Numeracy in Scotland report. Stakeholder and learner events have already been held and a consultation on the strategy framework is to be launched early next year.

Careers Scotland

On 30 March 2006 the Deputy First Minister announced to Parliament the intention to de-merge Careers Scotland from Scottish Enterprise (not Highlands and Islands Enterprise) following a detailed consultation process.

The consultation process ended on 10 September 2006 and the responses have been published on the Scottish Executive website.

We are analysing responses and plan to have a report of the analysis published by the end of the year.

Community Learning and Development ( CLD)

We have provided support for the successful development of 32 multi-agency CLD Partnerships in each local authority area, delivering:

opportunities to people most excluded from institutional learning and active involvement as citizens.

• high quality adult learning;
• high quality informal learning for young people;
• and many examples of more confident and organised communities.

Continued support for enhanced delivery of adult learning, youth work and community capacity building in response to local needs and opportunities by CLD Partnerships.

We will provide support to key networks for development of the CLD field and its practice.

We will develop, promote and support the use of the SCQF in CLD contexts.

We will undertake joint work with HMIE to develop resources for self evaluation and quality improvement.

Determined to Succeed

We have achieved over 7000 school/business partnerships, far in excess of our target of 2000.

Working with Young Enterprise Scotland, we've seen a jump of nearly 60% in the time young people have spent on entrepreneurial activities in the classroom.

Determined to Succeed has drawn interest and recognition as a leader in enterprise in education from the USA, Germany and Australia; and has been showcased to the EU in Brussels and Norway.

We will continue to work to embed Determined to Succeed within the curriculum.

We will support the Executive's NEET strategy by continuing to develop work-related vocational learning and other appropriate provision for young people at risk of disengaging.

We are continuing to support Local Authority delivery through a team that works bilaterally and collectively with authorities.

We are delivering national strategies (e.g., on communications; learning and development; and employer engagement) that add value to local delivery.

Education Maintenance Allowance ( EMA)

In 2004-05 (the first year of national roll-out to 16 year olds only), over 23,000 students received an EMA. Around 80% received the highest payment of £30 a week.

By full roll out, we expect around 40,000 16-19 year olds to receive EMAs.

We are continuing to roll out EMAs to all 16-19 year olds to help young people from low-income backgrounds, who may not otherwise be able to stay in post-compulsory education.

National roll-out should be complete in 2007-08.

Employability Framework for Scotland - Workforce Plus

Workforce Plus: an Employability Framework for Scotland was launched on 12 June 2006 and has been developed from the work of the Cabinet Delivery Group on Closing the Opportunity Gap ( CtOG) which aims to tackle poverty and disadvantage in Scotland.

Now that Workforce Plus has been launched, we have set up the National Workforce Plus Partnership which consists of the National Workforce Plus Partnership Board, a National Delivery Group and a Stakeholders Group.

In its first year, the National Workforce Plus Partnership will work to engage more employers both public and private in Workforce Plus.

The National Partnership will also conduct a review of education and skills programmes related to employment available in Scotland to check that they are well aligned and meet the needs of individuals and employers.

We are working closely with the local partnerships in 7 target areas to support the development of their action plans to improve employability services in their area.

English for Speakers of Other Languages ( ESOL)

We undertook research and a consultation leading to the development of an Adult ESOL Strategy for Scotland which is currently with Cabinet Ministers for approval.

We hope to launch the strategy by the end of the year. Its 2 key aims are to improve the quality and quantity of ESOL provision across Scotland.

The growth in migrant workers since EU enlargement has emphasised the importance of high quality ESOL provision as a means of aiding integration and ultimately economic growth.

Further Education - Review of Scotland's Colleges

Review of Scotland's Colleges: one of the Review's working groups, the Difference Colleges Make, launched its report 'Unlocking Opportunity', at a conference on 3 October 2006.

'Unlocking Opportunity' demonstrates that for every £1 invested in Scotland's colleges our economy benefits by at least £3.20. The report describes colleges' role in tackling poverty and disadvantage, improving health, reducing crime and in strengthening communities.

Other review workstreams are examining accountability and governance; staffing, learners and learning environments; and colleges long-term strategic future.

We will publish the recommendations from the Review of Scotland's Colleges when the Review concludes in Spring 2007.

FE Bursary support

We continue to offer non-repayable bursary support to students on non-advanced courses in colleges.

In 2006-07, the Scottish Funding Council will allocate over £67m to colleges (including hardship and childcare) to support students on non-advanced courses.

We are continuing to work closely with stakeholders to implement the recommendations of our funding for learners review.

We are taking forward a number of projects which are looking to align support, where possible, between HE and FE and target support at those who need it most.

Further Education - Professional Standards for lecturers

New professional standards were published in June 2006 for lecturers in Scotland's Colleges.

Tenders are under consideration for the preparation of teaching materials for new Professional Development Awards for lecturers. We plan to develop a range of further Professional Development Units and Awards to aid the continuing professional development of staff in Scotland's Colleges. Most of these qualifications will be aimed principally, but by no means exclusively, at lecturers.

Futureskills Scotland ( FSS)

Futureskills Scotland was launched in 2002 as Scotland's Labour Market Intelligence unit, and plays a key role in ensuring that the provision of skills training in Scotland is linked to employer demand.

FSS see their main functions as: to offer access to accurate labour market information; to work with Careers Scotland; and, to provide analysis of labour market information.

Key targets for Futureskills Scotland this year include: publication of the results of the Scottish Employer's Skills Survey 2006; updating labour market profiles, for both industries and areas; an increased focus on dissemination and a refreshing of key indicators and research online to make information more relevant to a wider audience; and, implementation of a customer satisfaction and monitoring survey.

Higher Education

We have provided tuition fee support for eligible Scots domiciled students.

While top-up fees in the rest of the UK have been introduced and will require students to pay fees of up to £3,000, our students studying in Scotland have their fees paid by the Student Awards Agency for Scotland.

There are no plans to introduce variable fees in Scotland.

In the coming year we will be investing a record £1billion in HE. This is the culmination of a programme of investment which has seen real terms funding for HE rise by 23% in the spending review period.

We are undertaking a HE futures exercise, continuing a dialogue with HE principals and stakeholders, considering challenges which may emerge in the sector and working towards the continued strength of HE in Scotland.

Individual Learning Accounts ( ILAs)

Almost 44,000 learning accounts have been opened with around 50% of account holders either having booked or having undertaken learning.

90% of learners are on low incomes and over 50% of courses undertaken are for ICT.

63% of low level qualification learners would have been unlikely to have undertaken their course without ILA funding

There has been very positive feedback from learners, with an 89% satisfaction rating with learning and over 80% choosing courses leading to qualifications.

Evaluation reports (Phase 1) will be published by the end of 2006. Further evaluation and research will be carried out over the next 18 months.

A number of scheme enhancements are planned or in progress. The aim of future development is to continue to improve service delivery, widen learner choice and improve access to ILA support, especially for harder-to-reach learners.

learndirect scotland ( lds) / Scottish University for Industry ( SUfI)

In 2005 -06 the work of learndirect scotland resulted in 560,573 learners being engaged in learning (some 117% of its annual target).

Also in 2005-06 the learndirect scotland phone line and website generated 139,159 individual enquiries (116% of the annual target).

SUfI became an Executive NDPB with private limited company status on 1 April 2005.

We commissioned an evaluation, which has assessed the impact of SUfI's services on learners and its key stakeholders. Its messages are encouraging - it has shown that SUfI delivers benefits in excess of its costs and is adding value to the work of others.

The challenge now is to find new ways to make use of the National Learning Opportunities Database and branded learning centre network. A good example is the work that lds is doing to distribute Microsoft learning content across the learning centre network.

learndirect scotland (lds) for business

learndirect scotland for business generated 20,066 enquiries from SMEs during 2005-06 (172% of its annual target) resulting in 5,475 SMEs engaged in learning (148% of the annual target set).

lds is continuing to mainstream support for SMEs following the evaluation of the pilot of Business Learning Accounts. lds is considering what the best mix of support to SMEs might consist of.

lds is working with partners including Sector Skills Councils, to enable them to make full use of the lds assets e.g. SSCs use the National Learning Opportunities Database, rather than create their own. lds is keen to develop as an enabler for others who support SMEs in learning.

lds continues to create demand for learning by promoting learning tasters through ILAS and area based activities.

Modern Apprenticeships

Recent evaluation has shown that 70% of businesses employing MAs saw improvements in their productivity.

This year in Scotland we have 17,532 employers involved in the MA programme - a record number since the programme began and an increase of 36% in the last 2 years alone.

Completion rates are also improving and we compare very well with other parts of the UK. For example, the current completion rate in Scotland is 60% compared to the latest published figures in England of 46%.

32,000 MAs are currently in training in Scotland (7,000 aged 25+). More than 49,000 have completed their training in Scotland since MAS were introduced in 1994.

We launched a consultation on the future of the Modern Apprenticeship ( MA) programme in August 2006. This covers a range of issues, including proposals to extend MAs to level 2 and introduce a minimum wage for MAs of £80 a week.

This is not a fundamental review of MA policy but rather an opportunity to build on the success of the programme by responding to the needs of stakeholders. This also builds on the work to re-engineer the Skillseekers programme over the past few years.

We will publish an analysis of the consultation responses in early December and following this will make recommendations to Ministers on the future of the MA programme.

Not in Education, Employment or Training ( NEET)

In June 2006 the Executive published a 39 point action plan, More Choices, More Chances: a strategy to reduce the proportion of young people NEET in Scotland. This was supported by a package of almost £10m over the next 2 years for delivering the strategy at a local level.

This is a national problem which requires a coordinated effort from national and local government, schools, further and higher education, the voluntary sector, health, business and all the other people and services young people come into contact with.

There is a particularly strong initial focus on 7 target areas where the challenge of eradicating NEET is greatest: Glasgow, West Dunbartonshire, East Ayrshire, North Ayrshire, Clackmannanshire, Dundee and Inverclyde.

We are also focusing on the group of children pre-16 who are at risk of becoming NEET in the future: e.g. Careers Scotland is deploying additional resources to 13 selected schools in our NEET target areas.

Schools and College Partnerships

'Lifelong Partners', the Executive's strategy to develop appropriate, meaningful and effective school and college partnership was published in May 2005. Delivery of the commitments contained in the strategy is on track.

Colleges have an important role in helping schools develop the capacities of pupils as outlined in A Curriculum for Excellence: to enable them to become successful learners, confident individuals, responsible citizens and effective contributors.

New Skills for Work courses - delivered through school and college partnerships - are designed to be an equivalent option to an existing qualification. These new qualifications encourage young people to become familiar with the world of work. They provide a variety of practical experiences that are linked to particular careers. The courses help young people to develop knowledge and skills that will be important for employment and for life in general.

Skills for Work courses are being piloted between 2005/07 and 2006/07. Early evidence from the pilots shows that pupils of all abilities are participating in the new courses, in general their experiences have been positive and that there is a genuine commitment to developing vocational provision within the pre-16, and in some cases, the post-16, curriculum.

From August 2007, a new range of Skills for Work Courses will be available. They are mainly for pupils in third and fourth year of secondary school, and they focus on the world of work.

Scottish Credit and Qualifications Framework ( SCQF)

The SCQF is an international leader, one of only a handful of frameworks across the world to embrace both academic and vocational qualifications.

The SCQF is our language of learning. It is widely used in education and training sector - in policy documents, in award certificates, in prospectuses, on websites, by guidance staff.

By the end of the year, an SCQF company will be established between the5 partners (Scottish Executive, SQA, Association of Scotland's Colleges, Universities Scotland and the Quality Assurance Agency Scotland).

This new company will ensure the potential of the SCQF is unleashed as we develop it further and faster, particularly in relation to engagement across the UK and Europe.

Scottish Executive funding has resulted in a number of Scottish Vocational Qualifications ( SVQs) and the mandatory elements of the top 9 MA frameworks being placed into the SCQF, opening up the potential for more progression routes across sectors.

Scottish Funding Council

The Further and Higher Education (Scotland) Bill received Royal Assent on 1 June 2005 establishing the new Scottish Further and Higher Education Funding Council on 3 October 2005.

The legislation creating the new Council requires them to have regard to the skills needs of Scotland and issues affecting the economy of Scotland. They are also required to establish a skills committee.

The Scottish Funding Council's Skills Committee has been established. Its remit is to support and advise the Council in its consideration of the skills needs in Scotland by:

• collecting, monitoring and evaluating the evidence on the skills needs in Scotland and the supply of and demand for further and higher education; and
• advising on how improvements in meeting skills needs can be made through the Council's funding, regulation and support for colleges and universities.

Following the publication of the report of its Widening Participation Review Group entitled "Learning for All", the Scottish Funding Council has put in place a number of measures designed to increase participation in learning in Scotland.

The Scottish Funding Council is working with Futureskills Scotland to continue to provide robust evidence about the learning and skills sector.

Scottish Union Learning Fund ( SULF)

There have been six rounds of SULF funding committing £4.9m to 69 projects from 25 separate unions.

In 2005 Ministers announced that they would commit funding of £1.4m across 2005-2008 to establish the STUC Skills and Lifelong Learning Team ( SALLT). This funding will allow the STUC to build capacity within their organisation to give additional support to individual unions to develop their learning agendas as well as developing strategic policy in partnership with the Executive.

Currently there are 15 projects funded under Round 6 of SULF and they are due to finish on
31 March 2008.

An independent evaluation of SULF Rounds 1 to 5 was published on 31 May 2006. This shows that people who undertake learning through SULF are largely first time learners. SULF has also generated other benefits for learners, unions and employers around improved organisational performance, social inclusion and employability.

SALLT now administers SULF on behalf of the Scottish Executive.

We are currently considering how best to take union-led learning in Scotland forward and working with the STUC as they develop proposals for a Scottish Union Learning Academy. Any final model will work in collaboration with unionlearn in England.

The Skills for Business Network

The UK-wide Skills for Business network is complete with 25 Sector Skills Councils now licensed.

We are well advanced in the Sector Skills Agreement process with the 4 "Pathfinder" Sector Skills Councils now progressing their action plans one year on.

We have just celebrated the progress made by the next tranche of SSCs towards completing their Agreements. Next year will see all SSCs complete their Agreements.

We are currently considering the recommendations of the recent independent review of the Skills for Business network in Scotland. How these are taken forward is, in part, dependent on the role which the Leitch Review of UK Skills envisages for the network in helping to realise the Review's long term UK ambitions for skills.

We will work with and support the Skills for Business network as they develop a "core offer" for Scotland.

Voluntary Sector

We have continued to provide grants to national voluntary organisations engaged in community learning and development for adults to
assist them in maintaining a Scottish Headquarters.

We have received applications for the next round of grant funding (2007-08) and these are being processed.

WorldSkills 2011

In May 2006 it was announced that the UK had won the bid to host WorldSkills 2011.

A Co-ordinating Group has been established to look at skills competition activity in Scotland and to ensure that a suitable network of competitions is in place prior to 2011.

WorldSkills competitions will take place in Japan in 2007 and Canada in 2009. EuroSkills is another emerging competition due to take place in 2008 in Rotterdam.

Young Students Bursary ( YSB)

Around 73,000 students from low-income backgrounds have benefited from the YSB since its introduction in 2001.

We will continue to use the YSB to support young students in higher education.