Ms Fiona Longmuir:

I have been encouraged by the work the committee and the Department have been doing on apprenticeships, particularly in making them more inclusive. I am delighted that it seems to be a high priority. In all the communications about apprenticeships, inclusion is foundational. I am delighted to see that. As we scale the apprenticeships up, it is just a case of how we make sure we are not baking in those stereotypes. A lot of the time policies can be put in place and there are systemic issues, but it also about being aware of those kind of underlying, sneaky stereotypes that sneak into things. When we are scaling up and talking about apprenticeships, it is very important to be mindful of making sure they are inclusive. It is obviously at the front of people's minds, which is very encouraging to me.