Education and Lifelong Learning
Scottish Attainment Challenge (Dundee)
To ask the Scottish Government what progress is being made on the Scottish attainment challenge in Dundee. (S4O-05474)
Dundee is making good progress on implementing its Scottish attainment challenge improvement plan, which initially focuses on 11 primary schools and five nurseries and involves 2,600 primary-aged children and almost 1,000 nursery-aged children who live in the most deprived areas of the city. The Scottish Government is supporting the work there with a funding allocation of £2.14 million this year.
We understand that as much as half of the £2.14 million funding in year 1 of the four-year challenge programme may be unspent in the 2015-16 financial year and may not be available to Dundee City Council to spend on the attainment challenge, because it will be clawed back by the Scottish Government. Will the cabinet secretary please confirm that no money that has been allocated to Dundee will be clawed back by the Scottish Government and that all the money will be spent on the attainment challenge in Dundee schools?
It is absolutely correct that all seven local authorities that are involved in the attainment challenge can draw down only what they spend, but it is important for Dundee and the other areas to look at the programme over the four years. We are committed to investing £100 million over the four years.
I hope that Ms Marra is reassured that, as a Government, we have invited Dundee to develop its plans for 2016-17, as the investment via the Scottish attainment challenge involves not just our allocating a sum of money; councils have to draw down what they spend, and that additional resource has to be tied into a bespoke improvement plan. I also hope that Ms Marra is encouraged that, at the previous quarterly meeting between Dundee City Council officials and my officials, on 12 January, there were clear signs of increased activity across the primary schools and nurseries involved.
I welcome the First Minister’s recent announcement on the innovation fund. Will the cabinet secretary confirm whether local authorities and schools can apply for that money and what it will fund?
Cabinet secretary, Jenny Marra’s question was specifically about Dundee, but you might want to answer Colin Beattie’s question briefly.
I will be brief, Presiding Officer. The £1.5 million Scottish attainment challenge innovation fund was launched at the beginning of the month, and it is available to all schools in Scotland that do not already benefit from the attainment Scotland fund.
Education (Aberdeen City Council)
To ask the Scottish Government when it last met Aberdeen City Council to discuss education issues. (S4O-05475)
The First Minister undertook a private meeting with Aberdeen City Council and Police Scotland on 2 November, following the tragic death of the Cults academy pupil Bailey Gwynne. The Cabinet Secretary for Education and Lifelong Learning met representatives of the Scottish Local Government Partnership, including Aberdeen City Council, on 18 November, and directors of education or their representatives on 19 November at the Association of Directors of Education in Scotland conference. Scottish Government officials also met representatives from Aberdeen City Council in November to discuss their involvement with the attainment Scotland fund schools programme. Aberdeen City Council has four schools that are involved in that programme.
I thank the minister for that comprehensive answer. Aberdeen City Council has had difficulties in recruiting and retaining teachers, and the high cost of housing in the city has not helped the situation. What actions has the minister taken to help to attract more teachers to Aberdeen? Will he enter into a dialogue with the Minister for Housing and Welfare to see whether more investment can be made in housing for key workers in Aberdeen?
The member rightly points to a problem that affects Aberdeen City Council and a number of other local authorities in the north-east. A number of measures are being taken to address that problem. Key public sector workers are set to benefit from more than 120 new homes that are being developed at the Craiginches site in Aberdeen. The Scottish Government is also working to a timescale that will see Sanctuary Scotland Housing Association begin a two-year period of construction in spring this year. The Scottish Government is having on-going discussions with Aberdeenshire Council, which I am sure will involve a number of ministers and their officials, on other strategic opportunities to meet what I recognise are real needs in the teaching profession.
Minister, if you turn away from your microphone, members in the chamber cannot hear you.
Will the minister accept that the one thing that the Government should not be doing is penalising councils such as Aberdeen City Council and others in the north-east of Scotland for the very problem that he has described—the difficulty of recruiting teachers? Instead of reducing funding for those councils, the Scottish Government should surely be supporting them to make the recruitment that they need to make.
As the member is more than well aware, the Scottish Government’s grant has been cut by the United Kingdom Government—that is a fact that he did not and never does mention. Despite the difficulties, the Scottish Government has set out a number of arrangements with local authorities that are fair, although this year’s settlement is challenging, given the circumstances in which the Scottish Government has been put.
College Places (Employability Fund)
To ask the Scottish Government what plans it has to increase the number of college places funded by the employability fund. (S4O-05476)
Skills Development Scotland’s commissioning for the delivery of employability fund places in 2016-17 is under way. Places will be allocated in accordance with that process and on the strength of bids from colleges and other training providers. Separately, and in line with standard procedure, the Scottish Further and Higher Education Funding Council will discuss with colleges the element of the employability fund that it manages.
The cabinet secretary is aware that, in 2014-15, Scotland’s colleges exceeded their target of 116,269 full-time-equivalent places. Figures from the SFC’s statistical bulletin of 14 January 2016 show the delivery of 119,000 full-time-equivalent places.
Question!
There was a combination of 118,407 SFC-funded places, yet only an additional 671 employability places were funded by Skills Development Scotland.
Mr Brodie, question, please.
Will the cabinet secretary explain why?
Mr Brodie is right to say that colleges have exceeded our commitment, as they have done every year since 2011. He is also right to say that provision includes courses under the employability fund that are delivered by colleges and independent training providers. The nature of commissioning our funding arrangements means that, since 2013-14, colleges have been funded to the tune of £24 million annually by the Scottish funding council and Skills Development Scotland to deliver employability fund provision. During that period, colleges have also bid into the SDS openly procured funds to deliver places over and above that provision.
Before we move on, I say to Dr Simpson that I do not appreciate an intervention from a sedentary position to the chair. I will keep members to order.
Local Authority Education Services
To ask the Scottish Government what support it is providing to local authority education services. (S4O-05477)
We provide local authorities with almost £5 billion of annual funding together with advice and guidance to enable them to provide high-quality education services. We also provide specific funding for building new and improving existing schools, for the initial training of teachers, for the probationer scheme that integrates them into the professional workforce, and for the continuing professional development of teachers and school leaders. We also provide targeted support for authorities and schools with the greatest concentration of primary-age pupils living in areas of multiple deprivation through the £100 million attainment Scotland fund.
Scottish National Party-held North Ayrshire Council is proposing to cut £500,000 from its education services, and it will be the schools’ front-line staff who will bear the brunt of the axe. A survey that was carried out by the GMB in December found out that 100 per cent of its members who are employed in North Ayrshire schools believe that cutting back on clerical workers, home-school inclusion workers and pupil support welfare staff will have a detrimental effect on the services that are provided by each school, and so do I.
Could I have a question, please?
Councils across Scotland are increasingly cash strapped, and further cuts are coming. What assurances can the Scottish Government give me and constituents that no child’s education will suffer due to council cutbacks, and has the Scottish Government been in contact with North Ayrshire Council regarding its shocking proposal?
Over Scotland, the support that is given for education has been maintained. It is for individual local authorities to justify their decisions.
I return to a point that has been made by the Cabinet Secretary for Finance, Constitution and Economy: if the member believes that the local government settlement should be increased, she and her party are free to tell the Government and Parliament where in the budget she would find the money to fund such an increase.
Can the minister say how much funding is being provided to North Ayrshire Council to enhance educational attainment through the attainment Scotland fund?
I can certainly respond in writing to provide further detail, but I can say that the overall figures for North Ayrshire—[Interruption.]
Order, please.
I am answering the question that the member has just put to me.
North Ayrshire Council has been allocated £1.96 million from the attainment Scotland fund this year. That is being used to develop a learning academy with the focus on developing effective literacy and numeracy strategies and developing nurturing approaches across the authority. North Ayrshire also received £79,000 from the access to education fund this year for projects in schools that are aimed at reducing barriers to learning for pupils from deprived backgrounds.
European Union Students
To ask the Scottish Government what information it has on how many non-United Kingdom undergraduate European Union students are studying in Scotland. (S4O-05478)
The most recent data published by the Higher Education Statistics Agency shows that in 2014-15, the number of non-UK EU undergraduates studying at Scottish higher education institutions was 14,300.
What does the Scottish Government estimate are the costs and benefits of that, and has it made any progress towards implementing management fees?
I hope that Mr Pentland is not going to become obsessed with the constitution or hark back to old debates that took place in and around 2014. However, in terms of the spirit of his question, lots of evidence gives testimony to the excellence of our higher education system. That is why it is attractive to students across Europe who want to come and study here.
It is important that, while there has been an increase in EU students coming to Scotland, there has also been an 11 per cent increase in first-time degree undergraduates from 2006-07 to 2014-15, which has to be good news, along with the record levels of Scottish-domiciled students being accepted into universities.
Education (Dundee City Council)
To ask the Scottish Government when the Cabinet Secretary for Education and Lifelong Learning last met representatives from Dundee City Council. (S4O-05479)
I met with directors of education or their representatives from a range of local authorities on 19 November at the Association of Directors of Education in Scotland conference.
Dundee City Council is facing the largest council cut in mainland Scotland. Teaching staff are protected from the redundancy round, but what reassurances has the cabinet secretary sought to ensure that the important work for support for learning is not further reduced in the city?
I thank the new member for her question—this is the first opportunity that I have had to formally welcome her to her position in the Parliament.
It is important to recognise that the Scottish Government has always treated local government very fairly, despite the cuts to the Scottish budget from the United Kingdom Government, which Dr Allan mentioned. The 2016-17 draft budget confirmed that we will make available to local government a total funding package of £10.1 billion. That covers councils across Scotland, and it will increase to £10.3 billion once other sources of funding are included.
The Government is absolutely right to invest an additional £51 million in protecting teacher numbers. A high-quality graduate workforce is very important to all our children if we are to achieve our ambition of closing the attainment gap.
It is important to recognise that there is a broader education workforce and it is important to remember that, over the piece, the number of classroom assistants in Scotland has increased, not decreased.
If questions and answers can be a bit more succinct, we might get on a bit.
Student Bursaries and Loans
To ask the Scottish Government whether it considers that the replacement of bursaries with loans results in students from the poorest families having the biggest debt and a reduction in terms of widening access. (S4O-05480)
This year the Scottish Government has increased the level of bursary available to our poorest students by £125. In 2016, we will increase the household income threshold for eligibility for the maximum bursary of £1,875 from £17,000 to £19,000.
In tough economic times, the Scottish Government is working hard to put as much money as possible into students’ pockets, something that the National Union of Students asked us to do when the new student support package was launched in 2013-14. That is in stark contrast, of course, with the position in England, where new students starting a higher education course in 2016-17 will receive no bursary at all.
Our approach to higher education means that average student loan debt in Scotland is the lowest in the United Kingdom. It contributes to young people from the most deprived areas in Scotland now being more likely to participate in HE by the age of 30 than they were in 2006-07.
Young people from deprived backgrounds in Scotland who get to university are facing cuts to grants and bursaries. Now, 70 per cent of Scottish students who emerge debt free come from better-off backgrounds. Will the Scottish Government restore grants and bursaries to help poorer students succeed in higher education?
It is of course this Government that has maintained free tuition. We have retained bursaries, unlike south of the border. We have also retained the education maintenance allowance. I would hope—referring to my original answer—that even in these tough financial times we will always seek opportunities to put more money into students’ pockets. We know that student debt is a real issue for young people leaving university, starting their career, buying their home or starting their family.
I am pleased to say that our commitment to free tuition must have contributed to Scotland having the lowest average student loan debt. We have the lowest average student loan debt in the UK, the average being £9,500, compared with over £21,000 in England. I am confident that we are giving our young people a far better start to their working lives.
The cabinet secretary is aware that the Conservatives have decided to remove bursaries from the poorest students in England and from student nurses, while also removing the disabled students allowance. Can she once again give us an assurance that the Scottish Government will maintain those vital supports for students in Scotland?
Cabinet secretary—as briefly as you can, please.
We will not be scrapping bursaries; we will not be scrapping DSA support. We have quite a distinct approach to higher education and student support in Scotland. We have succeeded in putting more money into the pockets of students despite the financial pressures that we are under and we will continue to look for further opportunities.
Edinburgh College (Student Numbers)
To ask the Scottish Government how many students attended Edinburgh College in November 2015 and how this compares with November 2012. (S4O-05481)
The Scottish Further and Higher Education Funding Council is responsible for collecting participation data. Figures for the current academic year, 2015-16, will be published in January 2017.
Is the cabinet secretary concerned that what was the largest college in Scotland at the time of merger has had declining numbers ever since? It is a decline that seems to be being managed by the college, as it has handed back £3 million to the Scottish funding council this year because it did not get the anticipated number of students. The situation is exacerbated by the fact that the college is introducing a new enrolment procedure, which seems likely to make the problem even worse.
Will the cabinet secretary take a close look at what is happening at the college and strive to reverse that decline?
I assure the member that I am taking a close look at Edinburgh College and that the Scottish funding council has already given practical and indeed financial support.
The news of the difficulties that are being experienced by the college, whether in regard to finances or the number of students that it is attracting, is disappointing. I understand that Edinburgh College is working with the funding council to ensure that the college continues to offer a high-quality education for students. That will of course help to grow the local economy.
I have indicated the support that the funding council has already given. The funding council will continue to support the college in making the changes and improvements that are needed in both the short and medium term.
Education (Falkirk Council)
To ask the Scottish Government when it last met Falkirk Council to discuss education matters. (S4O-05482)
The Cabinet Secretary for Education and Lifelong Learning met directors of education or their representatives on 19 November 2015 at the Association of Directors of Education in Scotland conference.
Scottish Government officials met representatives from Falkirk Council in November 2015 to discuss their involvement with the attainment Scotland fund schools programme. Falkirk has one school that is involved in that programme.
The minister may be aware of new figures that have been released showing that Falkirk Council’s four private finance initiative schools, which were constructed for £63 million under a previous Labour Administration in 1998, will have cost around £420 million by the end of the contract period in 2025 and Falkirk Council will still not own them, making it possibly the worst PFI contract in history.
Does the minister share my serious concerns that Labour’s implementation of Tory policies has resulted in the Labour-Tory coalition in Falkirk having a financial black hole in its budget that is disproportionately higher than the vast majority of Scottish local authorities, with the resulting impact that that will have on education services?
The Scottish Government has made clear that the PFI approach that was used in the past has not delivered best value for the taxpayer in Scotland. Certainly the project in Falkirk that was mentioned by the member raises some big questions of that kind.
Alongside the Scottish Futures Trust, we have been encouraging procuring authorities to look at how they can better manage contracts to ensure that they deliver better value for money in the future and to identify areas for potential savings, such as through benchmarking, rescoping services and sharing insurance costs. We will continue to support and work with authorities to identify where those savings can be made, but the member makes the important point that we have to learn from some very big mistakes indeed that have been made in the past.
Attainment Scotland Fund
To ask the Scottish Government how many schools and children in local authorities that do not receive attainment Scotland fund support meet the programme’s criteria. (S4O-05483)
The attainment Scotland fund is supporting more than 300 primary schools, which collectively serve more than 54,000 primary age children who live in the 20 per cent most deprived areas in Scotland. That represents 64 per cent of the total number of primary age children living in Scottish index of multiple deprivation 1 and 2 areas across Scotland.
We are well aware that there are children living in poverty who do not live in the 20 per cent most deprived areas in Scotland. That is why the Scottish attainment challenge also provides a package of universal support that includes the £1.5 million attainment challenge innovation fund. That fund will provide support to other schools across Scotland, including secondaries, to explore and develop innovative approaches to raising attainment.
I thank the cabinet secretary for her response, but it did not really address the question that I asked. I think that the answer she was searching for was that 36 per cent of disadvantaged pupils live outwith those areas, representing around 30,000 pupils, all told. Can she explain to pupils from disadvantaged backgrounds in Orkney and the other 10 local authority areas why their needs are less deserving of attention than those of their counterparts in the other local authority areas across Scotland?
We will debate that issue at length later this afternoon. Then, perhaps, Mr McArthur will take the opportunity to tell us how he intends to pay for all his plans.
It is important to recognise that the approach taken by the Scottish attainment challenge is to focus on the areas with the highest concentration of disadvantaged youngsters, recognising that the scale of the challenge is greater in some areas of the country than in others. Nonetheless, as I said in my original answer, we recognise that there are children living in poverty in all parts of Scotland. Therefore, with any targeted approach, we have to ensure that we have a strong universal offer, giving us as many strings to our bow as possible to ensure that we reach the children who are most in need.
I have already alluded to the innovation fund. There is also the access to education fund. There are attainment advisers and there are other programmes such as the schools improvement programme and the attainment for all programme. There is a wealth of universal activity that is geared—front and centre—at closing the attainment gap and reaching those children who are most in need.
I am afraid that I do not have time to take all the supplementaries that have been requested. I will take one from Mary Scanlon.
Despite what has been said, the Scottish index of multiple deprivation is a very blunt and ineffective tool for identifying children with low attainment in rural areas. What is the Government doing to ensure that individual children—whether in Bettyhill in Sutherland or in Inverness—get the benefit of additional support when it is needed? How are those children identified?
That is the entire basis of the national improvement framework. The framework is very much about identifying the children who are most in need early in their school career, so that we can ensure that they get the right services and the right support at the right time.
Student Bursaries and Loans
To ask the Scottish Government what its position is on the impact on poorer students in Scotland of the United Kingdom Government replacing bursaries with loans. (S4O-05484)
The confirmation that the UK Government intends to abolish maintenance grants entirely for new undergraduate students in England from 2016-17 is of great concern to the Scottish Government because it raises the question of the potential impact on the Scottish funding block in future years.
I am grateful to the cabinet secretary for that response.
Scottish National Party MPs apparently oppose the move from grants to loans in England but presumably support the Scottish Government doing exactly the same thing for the poorest students in Scotland. Does the cabinet secretary believe that the debate around inequality would benefit from more honesty about who the winners and losers are in her system? It is a system that sees richer students twice as likely to get to university as poorer ones and which, as a result of the £40 million cuts to bursaries in Scotland, results in poorer students carrying the largest burden of debt.
Unfortunately, the member fails to recognise that, in the context of a record number of Scots being accepted into university, there is an increase in disadvantaged 18-year-olds applying and going to universities under this Government’s terms of office. He has to recognise that, in consultation with the National Union of Students and others, the Government responded to the very serious request to put more money into the pockets of students.
We achieved that with the introduction of the minimum income guarantee, which I have increased over the past year. The minimum income guarantee is the best support package in the UK for students living at home. Of course, as we move forward, there will be further improvements to the package, with an increase in the income thresholds. The Government has much to be proud of. I would have hoped that, in the spirit of an open debate about tackling inequality, Mr Smith would have the gumption to recognise that the Government has maintained bursaries, introduced a minimum income guarantee, retained free tuition and, unlike others, retained the education maintenance allowance.
Classroom Assistants (Secondary Schools)
To ask the Scottish Government how many classroom assistants have been employed in secondary schools in each of the last five years. (S4O-05485)
Data from the annual teacher census that is published by the Scottish Government shows that the number of classroom assistants in Scottish publicly funded secondary schools was 877 in 2011 and 2012, 948 in 2013, 1,090 in 2014 and 1,052 in 2015. Those figures show an increase of 20 per cent in the number of classroom assistants over that period.
Does the minister recognise the critical importance of not just classroom assistants but all support staff in ensuring that young people who have additional needs can overcome barriers to learning? At secondary school level, support staff have a crucial role in preventing young people from dropping out of the system altogether. Given their importance to closing the gap in education, what steps will the minister and the Cabinet Secretary for Education and Lifelong Learning take to ensure that local authorities are fully resourced to support the support structures in our schools as well as the teachers and materials?
Of course, I recognise the importance of all support staff in the education sector. The fact that the number of classroom assistants in the secondary sector has risen over the period is encouraging for that reason. To return to the local government settlement, I can only point to the fact that the draft budget confirmed that we are again making available a total funding package for local authorities of £10.1 billion. The important point that we have to recognise is the one that I and other ministers have made many times about our financial predicament as a country. However, that does not take away from the fact that, despite those difficult circumstances, we have shown our commitment to local government.
Home-schooled Pupils (Scottish Qualifications Authority Examinations)
To ask the Scottish Government what requirements must be met for home-schooled pupils to be eligible to sit Scottish Qualifications Authority exams. (S4O-05486)
Home-schooled pupils must be registered with a centre that is approved by the Scottish Qualifications Authority in order to sit exams. It could be either a school or a college.
What are the options for students who for medical reasons, whether physical or mental, cannot attend school to complete the course work that counts towards their final grade through curriculum for excellence? Such failure to undertake course work appears to preclude their sitting the exam. Will the minister look into the issue to ensure that home-schooled pupils who have physical or mental illnesses are not discriminated against in relation to course work?
I am happy to come back to Dr Simpson after I consider the issues that he raises. Home-schooled pupils in general—the member is aware that people are not always home schooled because of disability—can make arrangements to register with schools or colleges in order that they can be presented for exams. We hope that local authorities will take a reasonable approach—we encourage them to do so—to ensure that other work that is necessary to gain a qualification of the kind that the member mentions is made possible and is available. However, on the specific issue of young people who have physical or other illnesses and disabilities, I am more than happy to investigate that and get back to him.
University of the West of Scotland (Drop-out Rate)
To ask the Scottish Government what support it is providing to the University of the West of Scotland to reduce the drop-out rate, particularly among first-year students. (S4O-05487)
Retention rates at the University of the West of Scotland have improved over the past two years, although I am that sure the university would always want to do better. I am confident that the university is focused on increasing retention and is working with the Scottish Further and Higher Education Funding Council on a range of measures to support that. In the current academic year, UWS has been allocated more than £3.6 million from the widening access and retention fund that is operated by the funding council on behalf of the Scottish Government.
Given the potential financial impact on the Scottish higher education sector of the Government’s draft budget announcement, can the cabinet secretary confirm that the Scottish Government retains a commitment to ensuring that there is adequate funding in place to support the excellent work in student attainment at UWS, that funding will be safeguarded for that key policy initiative and that the possibility of additional funding is considered for universities such as UWS that are successful in widening participation in higher education?
Over the past four years the Government has invested more than £1 billion every year in higher education, and the draft budget that is currently before Parliament shows a proposed investment again of more than £1 billion. That is a not-insignificant amount of investment. John Scott is right to say that it is not just about getting young people from diverse backgrounds into university but about ensuring successful completion of their university courses and successful progression on to the world of work, which raises issues about how we support—both pastorally and academically—young people who achieve a place at university. The University of the West of Scotland has commissioned a specific report and has unleashed specific actions and initiatives to address that point.
Widening access is a core part of our programme for government, and through the funding council and through our guidance letter we will make clear our strategic priorities for the sector. Of course, the funding council has a role in liaising with, monitoring and supporting individual institutions via the outcome agreements.
Early Learning and Childcare (Dumfries and Galloway Council)
To ask the Scottish Government whether it will fully fund Dumfries and Galloway Council for the capital and revenue costs of the increase in early learning and childcare entitlement to 1,140 hours. (S4O-05488)
The Government has already provided local authorities with £329 million revenue and capital over two years in order to fund fully our most recent expansion of childcare to 600 hours. We have allocated an additional £140 million revenue and £30 million capital to local authorities in 2016-17. Dumfries and Galloway Council will receive an appropriate and proportionate share of that and future funding to meet its requirements. All local authority allocations are agreed with Convention of Scottish Local Authorities.
The Scottish Government’s discussion paper on expanding childcare states that
“Providing more flexible provision will be a key element of the expansion to 1140 hours pa”,
and that the Scottish Government
“will build on the work done through the ‘Scotland’s Schools for the Future Programme’ and the Scottish Futures Trust to support the expansion of local authority accommodation”.
Can the minister advise how negotiations with local authorities will be taken forward and what consideration will be given to the particular needs of rural areas, where access to childcare and early learning can be more difficult for families?
I thank Elaine Murray for raising those points. Work is on-going with the Scottish Futures Trust to scope out what we need in terms of capacity and the nature of that capacity. We are also working with the SFT to refine our understanding of capital requirements.
Dr Murray highlighted the rurality of Dumfries and Galloway. Rurality affects not only that area’s local authority. The issue needs to be part of our consideration about how we deliver flexibility. When I visited the Borders, I was impressed by how community childminders deal with barriers that they face because of the rural spread in which children and families live there. That is why the First Minister made an announcement about how we can enhance childminder provision. We are always acutely aware of the challenges that people are presented with in rural authorities, but we have given Dumfries and Galloway Council its appropriate proportionate share of the money that we have invested so far, which is nearly £15 million—a mixture of capital, revenue and additional funding for two-year-olds—and we will continue to work with local authorities and the Scottish Futures Trust to ensure that we can deliver for families in the way that we have set out.