To ask the Scottish Government, regarding any specific measures or alternative programmes it is considering as a replacement to Erasmus+ in Scotland, whether it can provide a timeline for any support that may be available for Bishopbriggs academy and other schools. (S6O-03644)

In 2023-24, the Government funded a test and learn project to re-establish some of the opportunities that Erasmus+ provided, which the Turing scheme does not. Despite being smaller in scale than Erasmus+, the project supported student and staff exchanges, helped to develop stronger international partnerships between educational institutions and delivered a key action from the international education strategy. We have committed to take the project forward in 2024-25, working in collaboration with education stakeholders. We are planning to use the learning from 2023-24 to develop a programme that provides opportunities for all parts of our education system, schools included.

Can the Minister assure Bishopbriggs academy, in my Constituency, of support to continue its German educational trainee programme, given the impact of Brexit, the withdrawal of Erasmus+ and visa challenges?

I understand that Bishopbriggs academy has an excellent languages department, which has benefited from the GET programme and from other programmes such as “Schools: partners for the future”—the PASCH initiative. The Scottish Government is aware of the challenges facing the GET programme, and officials are working with partners to find pragmatic solutions.

Brexit has caused great damage to such programmes. We need an immigration that meets Scotland’s needs, and we urge the UK Government to create better opportunities for young people to enjoy the benefits offered by mobility.

It has been almost four or five years since the Government removed the Erasmus+ scheme—or since we came out of the Erasmus+ scheme—and the Scottish Government has delayed any action on it. In the time that the Scottish Government has taken to set up a far smaller scheme, 6,000 students in Wales have gone across to 95 different countries. Why has it taken the Scottish Government so long to set up a replacement for Erasmus?

I know that the member did not mean to mislead, but she gave the impression that it was this Government that backed out of the Erasmus scheme; it absolutely was not. Let us just get that on the record.

Would I wish that we had been able to move quicker on this matter? Of course I would. We are working very closely with our partners in education—I had a meeting just last week—and particularly with the university sector, on what we have learned from the first year of the test programme and on the asks of the university sector and the college sector and wider asks. I do not just want to have a programme for the sake of having a programme; we want a programme that reflects the needs of the sector.

I have engaged directly with elements of the sector on some of the test work that they did last year, and I have been hugely impressed with it. We will build on that in the coming years.

My former Liberal Democrat colleague Kirsty Williams, who was the education Minister in Wales who introduced the Taith scheme, was able to do so at pace and, as Pam Duncan-Glancy has indicated, to the benefit of thousands of young people in Wales. Why has the approach taken by the Scottish Government been so different and so much slower than that of its counterpart in Wales?

Again, we are looking back the way, but I am trying to look forward, and that is not just out of convenience. We are where we are. As I said in my earlier answer, we are developing a scheme that reflects the aspirations and the asks of the education sector and our young people, and we will seek to build on that in the next few years.

On a point of order, Presiding Officer. I seek your guidance. At question 6, the Minister was asked a very direct question about what action the Scottish Government can take regarding the on-going Fife College staff pay dispute, and that question built on my earlier question at question 2 on what action the Government could take. In response to my question, the minister Graeme Dey asked what the Labour Party would do and, in response to question 6, he gave no answer at all. Is the minister unable or unwilling to take meaningful action to resolve the industrial dispute at Scotland’s colleges?

Could we have a point of order, please?

What can members do to get proper answers from these ministers?

Thank you, Ms Lennon. That is not a point of order, as I am sure you are well aware. There are many routes by which members can pursue answers from the Scottish Government ministers, and I would recommend all those means of procedure to the member to pursue.

That concludes portfolio questions on education and skills. We will turn to the next item of business after a short pause to allow front bench teams to change position, should they so wish.