The Scottish Government has published its Programme for Government 2025-26. The full document can be downloaded via the link below.
Programme for Government 2025-26 (PDF)
Extracts from the document – focussing on Skills and Employability – are reproduced below.
Skills for success
To capitalise on economic opportunities, we need people with the skills to grasp them. Our colleges and universities are vital anchor institutions across Scotland. We will work with partners to secure a long-term and sustainable future for further and higher education, developing our skills system for the future, including by:
- Maintaining our commitment to free tuition which means that unlike elsewhere in the UK, a Scottish student studying in Scotland will not incur additional debt of up to £28,605.
- Widening access to higher education for students from the most socio economically disadvantaged communities – towards our goal of 20% of all entrants being from the 20% most deprived communities by 2030.
- Subject to legislative processes, delivering a simplified post-school funding body landscape that is sustainable and efficient, consolidating apprenticeship funding within the Scottish Funding Council by March 2027, and student support funding within the Student Awards Agency Scotland by March 2026.
- Establishing a national Recognition of Prior Learning system – formally acknowledging an individual’s skills and knowledge gained through work experience, training, or other learning outside of formal education.
- Investing up to £2m to develop engineering skills in the Glasgow City Region, designed by the Clyde Maritime Cluster in partnership with Skills Development Scotland.
- Introducing a new Scottish Government led approach to national skills planning, and strengthen regional skills planning, to ensure that post school provision becomes more responsive to Scotland’s strategic skills needs and priorities.
- Reviewing and improving school-age and adult careers support, including better information on career choices, job prospects and earnings.
- Supporting schools to access film and screen learning – so Scotland has the workforce to meet the demands a£1bn film and screen industry will create.
- Providing £3.5m so that colleges can deliver the pipeline of skills our economy and public services need, with new programmes focused on care and offshore wind.
Helping people into work
While our commitment to the social safety net is unwavering, good quality, well-paid work provides an enduring route out of poverty. Our devolved employability programmes have supported tens of thousands of people to enter, and progress in, work – keeping people out of poverty and contributing to economic success. We will help people remain in work and strengthen pathways into employment for those furthest from the labour market by:
- Reviewing the delivery of employability programmes to maximise their effectiveness and bring forward proposals ahead of the Budget 26-27, including consideration of a national model.
- Supporting disabled people to move into sustainable employment through Specialist Employability Support from summer 2025. This will ensure “place and train” models are in place across all 32 local authority areas, supporting closer working between employability provision and employers.
- Investing in Parental Employability Support in every local authority area, with over £40 million made available to Local Employability Partnerships in 2025/26.
- Funding pilot projects that will develop actions employers can take to implement inclusive recruitment practices – including flexible working, support for disabled employees, and supporting people at risk of economic inactivity.
- Working with schools during academic year 25/26 to amplify good practice that supports school leavers to enter positive destinations, piloting with local authorities that have the lowest rates of school leavers entering positive destinations.
- Evaluating the impact of improved health and work services committed to in Programme for Government 2024, which will support up to 1,000 additional people in 2025-26 and beyond, and work with Public Health Scotland to galvanise employer action towards healthy workplaces.
