Letter from the Minister for Higher Education, Further Education, Youth Employment and Training to the Convener - 24 September 2021
I am writing to update you on the next development in the National Transition Training Fund. Through the Fund we have created a new programme, Treòir, which aims to help aid recovery in education following the COVID-19 pandemic, while at the same time offering re-training and employment opportunities to creative freelancers across all of our inhabited Scottish islands.
Treòir will provide a programme of live, online, progressive arts-based cultural workshops that will support various aspects of Scottish culture, including Scotland’s indigenous languages and dialects, music, drama, dance and visual art; delivered across all our Scottish islands and in each primary school setting.
The programme has the potential to immediately employ a large number of creative individuals, many of whom have experienced a decline in their income due to Covid-19 and has the potential to transform the lives of creative freelancers by providing training and regular employment over a sustained period. Many of those employed would be residents of island communities, which are characterised by socio-economic deprivation and relatively low wages.
Treòir will contribute specifically to the delivery of the National Islands Plan, enhance access to upskilling and retraining opportunities in relation to the Future Skills Action Plan and contribute to the delivery of outcomes in the National Gaelic Language Plan 2018-23. As mentioned above it is funded by the National Transition Training Fund and also through Islands Programme funding.
JAMIE HEPBURN