On Thursday while the UK Parliament was closed down that week there was a significant contribution by the Scottish Parliament. It was focused on Women and Girls in STEM and one of the SNPs who took part in the discussion was Graeme Dey. He is the MSP for Angus South which is a role he has obtained since 2011. His contribution in the session was towards the end of the debate and here is the location to obtain the whole of his contribution and all of the other other speakers. I have listed some of his contributions below which are very significant focusing on the STEM and YMCA. It would be fantastic if some of the UK MPs could follow this up next week when they open up Parliament.

For learners at school, for the past three years, we have provided funding for the young STEM leader award. More than 2,500 young people from across Scotland have already participated in the scheme ….

…. Skills Development Scotland recognises that need and is taking a cross-sectoral approach in an attempt to address the issue. However, it is important that we attempt to tackle it by means of an holistic approach. The highlighting of female role models is critical, not least because we know that many women who have followed STEM pathways have done so because they are following in the footsteps of family members ….

…. On the subject of secondary school settings, I commend the work that is being done at McLaren high school and Bannockburn high school, in Evelyn Tweed’s constituency. In his report on the Scottish technology ecosystem, Professor Mark Logan talks about the chronic imbalance in computing science at school and the fact that gender role stereotyping removes almost half of our best future engineers from the workforce. I could highlight a variety of examples of work to address that. Toni Scullion’s work is one. In response to Michelle Thomson’s comments on digital, I point out that YMCA Scotland has supported a programme with CodeClan to address the recruitment, retention and progression of women in STEM ….

…. As we know, apprenticeships are a key way for employers to invest in their workforce and provide the skills that we need for now and the future. While girls achieve as well as boys in apprenticeships, they participate at a much lower rate. In acknowledgement of that, Skills Development Scotland has identified a series of practical steps that employers can take to offer a more flexible approach.