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I am aware that we do not have a lot of time left; I will ask about workforce recruitment and retention, which has been mentioned, and about how important that is. The Promise Scotland submission highlights the workforce’s important role in reforming the system, but a survey that the Scottish Social Services Council published on 31 October found that all local authorities, bar one, were finding it difficult to fill social work vacancies, for the very good reasons that there are too few applicants with the required experience or qualifications and that the pay is less competitive than that of other employers.

The minister has told us that a workforce improvement plan is being developed and is due to be published in 2024. What involvement have you and your colleagues had in developing the proposal to move things to a better place?

That has been very well presented here, on a public platform.

You mentioned that you had had difficulty in getting staff for some of the courses that you wanted to run.

That makes sense.

At last week’s meeting, the witnesses suggested that we should not necessarily wait for an agreed consensus in order for a decision to be taken on the future of qualifications—in other words, a decision might have to be imposed, but such consensus has to emerge. What is the panel’s view on that? Do you think that we need to break the consensus approach so that people can have a bit more power to decide things locally?

Thank you. Does anyone else want to comment?

Most people have the idea that the Government should eventually take responsibility for many things. Should it be led along a path of working with other organisations and groups in society that have experience of the green skills and business elements to bring responsibility across a board before those are put into policy?

That is very helpful. Thank you very much indeed for that.

You make a strong argument. That would be a good way of presenting things. Peter Bain strongly looks as though he wants to answer.

I will try to ask some questions that are easy to answer, which should not do any harm. Having listened to everything that the witnesses have said, I am rather sorry that I am not going to school now rather than when I went to school—I did not always go to school, but I should have. This is me being quick, by the way, convener.

I listened to the concerns that were expressed about the provision of vocational qualification routes and the lack of available staff to fill such posts, which Peter Bain mentioned. How can teachers and headteachers change perceptions among pupils and their carers—their parents or whoever—about the value of vocational qualifications? To my knowledge, the approach has always been that people should go for their highers to get on in society, because that is the only way forward. How do you convince people—if they need convincing—that the vocational route is the correct route to follow at school?

Thank you, Mr Withers, for an interesting background and for the review, of course.

On the back of what you have just been talking about, the review suggested the importance of setting national priorities. You might not want to point the finger at who should take responsibility for that, but what are your thoughts on how those priorities could and should be divided? What should be taken into account?