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 , enhance access to upskilling and retraining opportunities in relation to the and contribute to the delivery of outcomes in the National Gaelic Language Plan 2018-23. As mentioned above it is funded by the and also through Islands Programme funding.
JAMIE HEPBURN