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In the £30.2 million in the education budget, there is £20 million for post-Covid improvements. Can you break that down a little, minister? Is that specific to any sector in education? I do not see very much for higher education spending.

I might be on a different page. It is on page 13 of the Scottish Parliament information centre briefing. Under the heading “COVID-19 AND OTHER FUNDING CHANGES” are social justice, finance and the economy, and there is a section for education and skills that contains £20 million.

I am most interested in how we empower local communities. As you rightly said, Professor Mitchell, in the little podcast in which you were interviewed by Professor Roy, if we are going to get local communities to deliver well, they have to feel empowered and trusted. I am particularly interested in trust because, let us be honest, we are not in a very good place at the moment for politics and trust—my party has some responsibility for that.

I worry that, due to the pandemic, our Governments have become more interventionist and have had to take more decisions as a state, partly out of necessity and partly out of design, and that that has made it more difficult for local communities to feel empowered. Is it possible for local communities to become imbued with trust if we have Governments that are a bit more interventionist?

When it comes to health boards, for example, one of the things that was extremely impressive in the first wave of Covid was how well hospitals coped with the intense pressure at that time. I heard more than once that that was because doctors and other clinicians took charge of how wards were organised to look after people with Covid and those who did not have it but nonetheless had very serious issues. On schools, I heard that, because teachers were in charge of their schools instead of being at the behest of a lot of Government edicts, they got on better.

What I am interested in—and I think that you are, too—is whether, if that continues into the future, it will mean that our Governments will have to be less statist in their approach. Will they have to free up or perhaps devolve some areas to local authorities so that our Governments can get on with the business of governing? Instead of taking a bureaucratic, top-down and do-as-I-say approach, they can work on a free-thinking level. Am I correct in my interpretation of your view on that?

Yes.

Education has been prioritised as a big part of the recovery—certainly according to many of the witnesses who have attended the committee. That is quite a large chunk of money within the education and skills portfolio, so I am interested to know whether it is for the further and higher education budget. If I could get some information on that, I would be grateful.

Thank you.

Yes. I am interested in the strong commitment that the Scottish Government gave on extra medical places five years ago. It said that, in the intervening five-year period, we would have those extra 190 places in medical schools. I am interested in whether that £5.2 million is part of that commitment or is something new.

Yes, I would. I thank committee members for giving up their time to listen to what I have to say.

Most people around the table are aware that, during the 15 years that I have been in the Parliament, outdoor education has been a strong personal interest. As time has gone on, I have been struck by how much it means to many members across the political spectrum. You will know from recent members’ business debates and discussions that we have had on the subject that it is capturing the imagination.

In relation to the Covid situation, outdoor education and all the assets that it brings are vital to young people’s wellbeing. It is clear from what members have said in debates that there is an issue in relation to pressures on education and, especially, outdoor education centres.

I have convened the cross-party group on sport for some time. There is a distinction between sport and outdoor education, and one of the gaps in the Parliament is that we do not have a sufficiently discrete group on outdoor education. I spoke to various colleagues across the political spectrum when thinking about setting up the group, and they are very keen that I do so.

That is where we are. I did an informal consultation about it and spoke to a lot of people with whom I have considerable contact in the outdoor education world. We agreed that not only would it help the Parliament to engage with that increasingly important sector but it would help local authorities, schools and people who have a strong interest in the unmeasurable aspect of education, which I would defend as being the most important. We all feel passionately about that.

Those are the basic reasons for the group, convener. I set out its purpose in my paper.

That is correct.

That is very helpful indeed. On the reskilling issue, I have heard people such as Sandy Begbie talk about the young persons guarantee from the perspective that, although young people have particular issues at this time, many other issues involve the need to reskill people who have been in the economy, in a job, are perhaps still on furlough but are not necessarily going back to the job that was there before the pandemic. Can I press you a little on what priorities you feel need our attention when it comes to upskilling those who will probably find it very difficult to get back into the labour force?