The UK and Scottish Governments should be commended for their #coronavirus policy interventions to date. There is, however, an area where more steps could be taken - skills.

Here, the Scottish Government could take the lead and serve as an example to the rest of the UK. 1/6

Alongside the many challenges we face, these coming months should also be an opportunity to boost skills development when time spent on training will not be crowded out by the usual demands of the job - especially for those on furlough. 2/6

The Scottish Government has a unique infrastructure in place to encourage individual skills development - through Individual Training Accounts administered by @skillsdevscot. We believe these should be a part of our response to the crisis. 3/6

@cipdscotland has today written to @jamiehepburn to consider temporarily extending ITA eligibility criteria to those put on furlough under the Job Retention Scheme. Ideally this should also come with boosted budgets and possibly looser training accreditation criteria. 4/6

Employees on furlough are being encouraged to take part in training and skills development. The Scottish Government can do this financially too.

This intervention would reflect the crucial importance of skills development at a time of significant uncertainty and disruption. 5/6

It could also pave the way towards an increase in lifelong learning across the UK.

This is a topic of significant public policy debate now – likely to only intensify as we come to the end of this crisis - and Scotland could again lead the way.

#CIPDScotPolicy

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