Blog by Sheenagh Adams, Keeper of the Registers of Scotland.

I heard great news this week that made me really proud to be part of RoS. A student who spent some time with us on work experience in our legal services team, working on the land registration bill before going to do a law degree, got first class honours. One of her finals papers was on the impact of the Land Registration etc. (Scotland) Act 2012. During her studies, she spent a year in Canada and we arranged for her to spend some time at the land register in British Columbia.

This news caused me to reflect on what we do to support learning and development, not just in RoS, but more widely. For example, our modern apprenticeship programme is now in its fourth cycle. The young people who have joined us have gained valuable qualifications, and some are now in management roles or pursuing professional qualifications with us in fields such as procurement. One is interested in going on secondment to a land registry in Australia or New Zealand, as we plan to offer such development opportunities as part of our 400^th anniversary celebrations next year.

Another example is the temporary employment scheme that we run over the holiday season. It meets our business needs, enables staff who need to take their holidays during the school breaks to do so, and gives school leavers, students (including one of my own daughters), people currently unemployed and looking for work, and those who want experience in the workplace to gain real experience in a paid role. There’s also our upcoming sponsorship of a master’s degree in legal studies that are relevant to RoS’ work. We hope that the successful student will work with us some of next summer, as well as presenting their research to various audiences. We’ll be sponsoring a geographic information system (GIS) master’s degree too.

All of this supports our strategic objectives of promoting continuous improvements that focus on providing public value for Scotland, and of promoting a positive culture where staff are flexible, skilled and creative.