Plenary, 29 Nov 2007

Meeting date: Thursday, November 29, 2007

Official Report 802KB pdf

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Question Time

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SCOTTISH EXECUTIVE

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Education and Lifelong Learning

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Scots Language

To ask the Scottish Government what consideration will be given by Learning and Teaching Scotland to including the Scots language in the experiences and outcomes headings in respect of language in the curriculum for excellence. (S3O-1437)

Learning and Teaching Scotland will produce draft outcomes and experiences for English language and literacy, which will include references to Scots. That will build on the guidance that has already been issued on the curriculum for excellence, which makes it clear that the languages and literature of Scotland provide a valuable source for learning about culture, identity and language.

I spent Tuesday afternoon at Kirkton primary school in Carluke with the bestselling author Matthew Fitt, who was giving lessons on the Scots language to primary 7 pupils. The children's reaction was incredible to watch. Every child was fully engaged and their confidence grew. That is not an isolated example of what can happen. Does the minister agree with me and the teachers at Kirkton primary school that the teaching of Scots in schools and the inclusion of Scots in the curriculum for excellence will increase the confidence and self-belief of Scotland's children, which in turn will make for successful learners?

Yes, I absolutely agree with Aileen Campbell. I think that I have mentioned the delightful time that I spent on the reading bus in and around Aberdeen taking part in the same kind of activity.

Much good work is going on in local authorities throughout Scotland. Matthew Fitt and James Robertson of Itchy Coo do a fantastic job in helping teachers and officials to show how the language that children hear in the playground and in their families can be built on in their learning of English and other languages. This morning, I had a delightful time judging the 2007 Itchy Coo competition. It was a delight to read all the entries and to see how well children write in their own language.

I call Margo MacDonald to ask a supplementary question—I ask her to bear in mind that the subject is the Scots language.

My genuine and heartfelt thanks, Presiding Officer.

The minister talked about the connection between learning Scots and an improved understanding of the English language. May I commend to her the teaching of Latin alongside Scots and English? According to a letter that I received today from a former HM inspector of schools, such an approach would undoubtedly help to promote the correct use of grammar and syntax.

I acknowledge the member's long-standing interest in the matter and I agree that learning Latin helps in the learning of other languages—it helped in my case. I understand that her letter to the Cabinet Secretary for Education and Lifelong Learning on the subject will be answered in due course.

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Higher Education

I will keep my question in plain English.

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will provide assurances that the future of higher education will be safeguarded. (S3O-1466)

The Government is committed to the future of higher education in Scotland. By maintaining high levels of Government funding, putting significant additional investment into university infrastructure, introducing legislation to scrap the unfair graduate endowment fee and establishing a high-level joint future thinking task force with Universities Scotland, we are demonstrating that commitment.

Will the cabinet secretary join me in congratulating the University of the West of Scotland, which covers part of the south of Scotland, on its status becoming official?

I was encouraged to read in the press that the minister is sympathetic to the additional funding needs of the sector and that she intends to increase funding when money becomes available. However, there is no guarantee as to when and how much funding will appear and there is certainly no guarantee that such funding will address the immediate problems that the sector faces. Therefore, will she advise the Parliament how universities will be supported to meet the staff pay settlement of £110 million that is coming in 2008, when the budget faces a real-terms cut, how they will compete for staff with universities south of the border and how that will affect their international competitiveness? Will she comment on the impact of the settlement on the Crichton campus and local colleges in the south of Scotland?

That might have been in plain English, but it included quite a number of questions. I will try to address the substantive ones.

I, too, celebrate the University of the West of Scotland receiving that title.

It will be far easier for the Government and the country to support the universities as a result of the budget revision that the Parliament agreed to yesterday. The Liberal Democrat finance spokesperson spoke against providing, for example, £3 million to the University of the West of Scotland.

That is rubbish.

Mr Purvis!

He spoke against providing £168,000 to Barony College and £368,000 to Dumfries and Galloway College. The development of those colleges and the Crichton campus will be supported by the provision of the additional £100 million in infrastructure investment to which the Parliament agreed yesterday evening.

Will the cabinet secretary confirm that, when she met university principals last week, she told them that, should additional funds become available, the Cabinet would look sympathetically on increasing the amount of money that is available to universities? Of course, the Parliament voted last week that, should additional resources become available, they should be spent on reducing business rates. Will she tell us what the priority is should additional resources become available?

The priorities for any additional resources will be determined by the Cabinet. In my discussions with university principals last week, which were positive and constructive, we recognised that there is an issue that must be addressed in the immediate short term. We are looking to see how we can work creatively with the universities to find support, particularly for the issues that they face in year 1 of the settlement. We also want to support universities over the longer term, particularly going into 2010, when issues will arise if the cap on tuition fees is taken off in England.

In working towards that, the Cabinet will make its decisions collectively, mindful of the vote in Parliament last week. Perhaps the timing and distribution of any additional resources will be subject to discussion. We have a three-year period and, going into the next number of years, we must decide what to do in the short term, the medium term and the long term. As I have said, we are particularly interested in supporting universities in the short term and the long term.

Does the cabinet secretary agree with John Swinney's words from January 2004 that giving a

"funding advantage to universities south of the border"

will be followed by

"a draining of Scotland's academic resources and Scotland's universities put to the financial sword"?

Is it not the case that the spending review settlement opens up a funding advantage for English universities of some 5 per cent now, not in 2010? Has Mr Swinney not ignored his own dire warnings? Has the cabinet secretary been able to promise the principals any additional funding to the current poor settlement?

There is no evidence that English universities have secured a competitive advantage at this time. Indeed, the English settlement for universities has yet to be announced. If Richard Baker looks at the current proposals, he will see that we have increased the universities' share of Government spend—marginally, but it has gone up since the previous spending review—and that we have achieved a very good settlement that provides competitiveness. We agree that it is not what the universities asked for, which is one of the reasons why we have to think about how we develop and shape them. Rather than debate the past, why does Richard Baker not congratulate the university principals on joining us in a joint future thinking taskforce to take the country and our universities forward?

The cabinet secretary knows well that Parliament unanimously supported the budget revision yesterday evening. She knows that by the voting record and she misrepresents the views of our party if she states anything else. The Liberal Democrats sought clarification on the status of the £100 million capital funding, and I will do so again today. At yesterday's Education, Lifelong Learning and Culture Committee meeting, the cabinet secretary saw evidence from Universities Scotland that the real-terms increase over the spending review period is 2.9 per cent. Will she confirm that that is correct?

David Caldwell from Universities Scotland stated yesterday that it would be helpful if we moved on. I did not debate the different figures and, indeed, I agree with him on that point. If we do not take into account the impact of the £100 million, the real-terms increase is 2.9 per cent; if we take it into account, the real-terms increase is 4.4 per cent. As Roger McClure from the Scottish Further and Higher Education Funding Council said yesterday, we must recognise that the valuable pump priming of capital this financial year will have a very important impact, not least because providing that capital releases revenue to support other projects that otherwise would not have been provided for.

I think that the very healthy capital settlement, not just this year but over the spending review period—there is 20 per cent extra capital infrastructure for universities—is to be welcomed. I urge Jeremy Purvis and other members to join university principals in taking the university sector forward and looking towards where we can be not just in 10 years' time but in 20 years' time, with a university sector that is fit for purpose.

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Educational Attainment

To ask the Scottish Executive how it plans to raise educational attainment. (S3O-1390)

The concordat that we have signed with the Convention of Scottish Local Authorities is founded on improving educational outcomes for all children and young people.

We will focus on improving the learning experience for children and young people by improving the fabric of schools and nurseries; developing and delivering the curriculum for excellence; and, as quickly as possible, reducing class sizes to a maximum of 18 in primary 1 to primary 3 and improving early years provision with access to a teacher for every pre-school child. In addition, our skills strategy describes our ambitions for developing skills in a lifelong learning context, from cradle to grave.

We are committed to working with local government and other partners in the education community to build on the new relationship. Our aim is to develop young people who are successful learners, confident individuals, effective contributors and responsible citizens, and so raise educational attainment in Scotland.

We know, of course, that the Government does not value children and education. There has been a real-terms cut in the budget for schools, children and social care. When we were in government, we passed legislation to give increased rights to children with additional support needs. In its manifesto, the Scottish National Party committed £30 million to an additional support fund for pupils with additional support needs. Where is it?

I realise that Ms Brankin and other members of her party are finding it difficult to get their heads round the new settlement with local government. All the money that is in education is contained in the local government settlement. That is why we are looking for the outcomes with local government.

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Lifelong Learning

To ask the Scottish Government what plans it has as part of its lifelong learning strategy to ensure that staff across the economy, including in the public sector and Government departments, have access to training and education for continuous development and for the transfer of skills. (S3O-1456)

The Scottish Government set out its ambitions for workplace learning and skills development, in both the public and private sectors, in the skills strategy, which was published on 10 September. I refer the member to that publication for a complete answer. "Skills for Scotland" seeks to ensure that vocational skills and qualifications have parity of esteem with academic skills and qualifications, through, for example, coherence with the three-to-18 school curriculum. It highlights the need to encourage employer demand for skills by supporting employers as they develop ambitious strategies for growth. We set out our commitment to increasing the effectiveness of employer engagement through, for instance, the laying down of specific challenges to the sector skills councils and supporting learning in the workplace through trade union learning representatives.

The skills strategy challenges and encourages learning providers and awarding bodies to support the transfer of skills by recognising the value of individuals' prior learning and wider achievement, which builds on the work of our world-leading Scottish credit and qualification framework. The strategy also spells out our plans for ensuring that our national training programmes continue to meet the needs of individuals and employers. The development of our combined skills body, skills development Scotland, which we aim to have up and running by April 2008, will make it easier for all employers to access the information, advice, guidance, training and support that they need to develop their workforce.

Does the cabinet secretary agree that, as nearly a quarter of Scotland's workforce is employed in the public sector, it is important to develop vigorously the aspect of the Government's skills strategy that involves exposing all public service employees to high-quality education and training? Does she agree that the skills in that process developed by organisations such as NHS Education Scotland are potentially transferable and that mechanisms should be developed to allow good practice to be disseminated across internal boundaries?

Many public service employers have good experience in quality education and training. NHS Education Scotland is a key employer in that regard. That is why it is singled out for special attention in the skills strategy. Officials from NHS Education Scotland were fully involved in the development of the document. It is important that we learn lessons that can be spread across the sector. That is something that the Government will encourage.

The cabinet secretary may be aware that the United Kingdom Government is proposing to place a duty on public bodies to recruit modern apprentices. Given that the public sector is a substantial employer in Scotland and that there is a lack of targets for modern apprentices in the skills strategy, would the Scottish Government consider emulating that proposal?

The fact that there is a lack of targets for the number of modern apprenticeships has been supported and applauded by many employers across the country, because we want to work on sustainability and retention in particular. However, I agree with John Park about the role of many public employers in taking on modern apprentices. I know that many councils are exemplar employers in that regard. We will do anything that we can do to encourage that.

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Universities (Funding)

To ask the Scottish Executive whether funding to universities will be reduced as a result of the proposed abolition of the graduate endowment and, if so, by how much. (S3O-1424)

No. The abolition of the graduate endowment fee will have no effect on the funding that is allocated to universities as the current law, if unaltered, stipulates that the income that is generated must be used for student support.

I am intrigued to know how money can be spent twice, but I thank the cabinet secretary for her answer.

We now know that the Government is cutting education maintenance allowance for 16 to 18-year-olds—a grant for children from poorer families who stay on at school. There are many pupils in the public gallery today who may be interested in that. How does that square with making a fairer Scotland? Will the cabinet secretary also confirm her previous position that bursaries to young students are not to be increased? Again, how does that fit with a fairer Scotland? Finally, will she confirm that a rise in the number of graduates from 10,000 to 11,000 would have produced an increasing stream of funds for maintenance grants to students, amounting probably to some £20 million in the long term, which will now be replaced from general funds? That money would have been available for her to use to fund universities.

Briefly, Dr Simpson.

Those universities will instead suffer a real-terms cut. How do all those cuts and changes reflect the SNP's programme to produce a fairer and smarter Scotland? I cannot see how.

We are growing investment in universities. There is an increase over the period of the spending review, which has been welcomed by many. The member is incorrect to make accusations about EMAs—the budget line is decreasing because of population changes.

On the central point, we cannot displace funding from the graduate endowment fee, because it was unreliable. The funding generated was not used by the previous Administration to fund student bursaries but was used to provide student loan subsidy. By abolishing the graduate endowment fee and replacing the funding stream for student bursaries from general taxation and the general block grant, we are providing a far more secure way of funding young students' bursaries in the future.

Question 6 is in the name of Charlie Gordon, who is not present.

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Primary Schools (Reading, Writing and Arithmetic)

To ask the Scottish Executive what initiatives it is taking to improve reading, writing and arithmetic in primary schools. (S3O-1381)

The development of literacy and numeracy are key themes running across the curriculum. The curriculum for excellence will ensure that our young people are successful learners, effective contributors, confident individuals and responsible citizens. Our policy of early intervention and cutting class sizes in early years will support that agenda. All teachers will have a responsibility to promote literacy and numeracy developments. Learning and Teaching Scotland has produced innovative examples of good practice and has supported a range of initiatives in primary schools, including Scotland reads and MR tracker.

How will the closure of eight Highland primary schools, which the SNP-independent Highland Council proposes, benefit primary education? Does the minister agree that the recent success in improving basic literacy and numeracy in West Dunbartonshire is a good example of what can be achieved? Does he agree that that model confirms that tried and tested learning by phonetic methods and basic number patterns remains the most successful way of raising educational standards among primary school children?

I am happy to agree with Mary Scanlon's point about the West Dunbartonshire initiative to eradicate illiteracy. I visited Gavinburn primary school in Old Kilpatrick in West Dunbartonshire last week and I was impressed with what I saw. Other local authorities should consider that model, but I know that good work is going on elsewhere in Scotland.

Mary Scanlon's first point is about matters that are for Highland Council.

I will take two supplementary questions, which must be brief, because we are over time.

As the minister knows, synthetic phonics was pioneered in Clackmannanshire, under an SNP council administration that was led by my esteemed colleague Keith Brown. What resources will be required to roll out synthetic phonics throughout Scotland?

Local authorities have an adequate settlement from the Government to progress any developments on that front. As far as I am aware, synthetic phonics and phonics in general have been around for an awful long time. I do not want to take credit away from my colleague from Clackmannanshire, but I recall learning phonics some 50-odd years ago.

Does the minister agree that delivering the curriculum for excellence and consequently improving reading, writing and arithmetic is entirely possible in small rural schools such as Sorn, St Xavier's, Littlemill and Crossroads primary schools in East Ayrshire, which the SNP-led council proposes to close?

As I said in response to a previous question, such matters fall properly within the local authority's remit.

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Europe, External Affairs and Culture

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International Aid

To ask the Scottish Executive when it plans to deliver the Scottish National Party manifesto pledge of doubling Scotland's international aid budget. (S3O-1427)

As the Cabinet Secretary for Finance and Sustainable Growth detailed in the Scottish budget on 14 November, the international development fund will rise to £6 million in 2008-09, will be the same in 2009-10 and will rise to £9 million in 2010-11. That is in line with our first 100 days commitment.

I welcome the doubling of the international aid budget over the Parliament's four-year session. That follows the precedent set by the previous Administration, which also doubled the aid budget during its tenure.

When will the Government conclude its review of the international development strategy and when does it plan to advise the Parliament of the outcome of that review?

I do not remember the previous Administration's doubling of the international aid budget.

I am happy to say that the end of October was the closing date for submissions to the small consultation on our website on how the international aid budget should be structured and what the strategy should be. The responses are being collated. Once I have seen them, we will produce a report that will be discussed with all stakeholders and relayed to the Parliament. I very much look forward to that.

The minister will doubtless be aware that this Saturday is world AIDS day. What priority will tackling the HIV/AIDS pandemic that affects parts of the world be given in the international aid budget? What pressure will the Scottish Government bring to bear on G8 countries to ensure that they meet their commitments to fund access to treatment by 2010 for everyone who is infected with HIV or AIDS?

I indicated to Karen Whitefield that we will look at the responses that we receive, so that we can target our budget to best effect. HIV and AIDS and other health issues in Africa and elsewhere concern everyone. One precious aspect of Scotland having committed a budget to international development is that there is cross-party consensus on the issue. We work with many other partners. For example, we work closely with the Department for International Development, as Scots contribute to international aid and to DFID funding through the United Kingdom taxes that they pay. We work closely with DFID to ensure that everything that we do here complements what DFID is doing and enables us to move forward on international development issues.

It is hard to eradicate HIV and AIDS. Through the health element of our international aid budget, we will work with DFID and the many other international players who are concerned about the issue to try to eradicate that terrible scourge, which affects far too many people in the world.

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Gaelic Language Digital Service

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will set out its position on a Gaelic language digital service. (S3O-1474)

As we have stated a number of times, we are committed to establishing the Gaelic digital television service. The Scottish Government is aware of the BBC Trust's interim conclusions and is confident that the BBC, the Gaelic Media Service and the other key partners are working together and will be able to provide the necessary evidence to ensure the successful delivery of this essential service.

There are still major concerns that any new Gaelic programmes may be available only online and will not be broadcast on TV screens, through Freeview or associated digital broadcasting services. What steps is the Scottish Government taking, or will it take, to ensure that the promised Gaelic television channel is established at the earliest possible date and is available to all?

The current programme is that the new channel will be on digital TV by the end of March. It will not be available on Freeview from its launch, but it will be available on satellite, via Sky, Sky Freesat and BBC and ITV Freesat, whose launch is expected in March 2008. Soon after that, the channel will be available on cable. As John Farquhar Munro suggested, both the Gaelic Media Service and the BBC plan to develop online access to services and will discuss with TeleG the use of the space on the Freeview channel that is used for Gaelic programming.

We are committed to the channel being available on Freeview as soon as possible. In the short term, we would like the Gaelic Media Service to work with the holder of the current Gaelic Freeview licence, so that before switchover at least some of the content of the new channel is available to everyone with Freeview. We are keen for the Gaelic Media Service and the BBC to make best use of all the methods of delivering the channel.

The Conservative party has an excellent record on funding Gaelic broadcasting. We were the first political party to recognise the need to fund Gaelic-language programmes separately. Does the minister agree that, if the proposed new digital channel does not provide programming that is aimed at increasing the number of Gaelic speakers, the BBC and the Gaelic Media Service will have missed a unique opportunity?

Jeremy Peat and the BBC Trust are concerned that the channel will not have enough educational output to increase the number of Gaelic speakers. As I said, I am confident that GMS and the BBC will be able to respond to the interim report, to ensure that the BBC Trust realises fully that education is an essential element of what we are trying to do.

Education—increasing the number of Gaelic speakers—is great, but our Gaelic heritage is about so much more than that. It is our culture and our heritage, and that in itself brings joy to a lot of people who are not native Gaelic speakers and who might not even be learners when they start to engage with the wonderful Gaelic culture. I am worried that the service might be seen as a purely educational tool, when Gaelic is so much more than that.

Will the minister confirm that one of the key issues that the BBC Trust might be considering at present is the potential appeal of any such channel beyond Gaelic speakers in Scotland? In light of that—which the minister has touched on—will the Government take the opportunity of the forthcoming official visit to the Parliament by representatives of the Isle of Man's Parliament to inform its submission to the trust? There are 2,000 speakers and learners of Manx Gaelic, some of whom have contacted us about the issue.

Alasdair Allan is right, and his point leads on from what I said earlier. Gaelic—and the culture and heritage that it brings—goes way beyond native Gaelic speakers and those who wish to learn. I was annoyed by a comment made in a newspaper about our new points-of-entry campaign. The comment was that having Gaelic on our point-of-entry signs was for native Gaelic speakers who were coming home from their holidays. There was no recognition at all of the Gaelic diaspora throughout the world and of the fact that so many people from the Isle of Man, Wales, Ireland and other Celtic nations will tap into what we are doing in this country and will be delighted to see Gaelic reaching out to all those other parts of the world. That is hugely important. I will be going to the Isle of Man in the next few months, but in the interim I would be delighted to meet any representatives from there who are visiting this Parliament.

I am sure that members will be interested to know that I am opening the Gaelic debating competition tonight. In doing so, I will be speaking Gaelic on live television. Given my previous performance on live television, I look forward to it with some trepidation.

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Regulation

I wish you well, Presiding Officer.

To ask the Scottish Executive what discussions it has had with the institutions of the European Union and the United Kingdom Government on Scottish National Party manifesto commitments on reducing regulation. (S3O-1379)

I also wish you well, Presiding Officer. I am sorry that I cannot be there to watch your glory.

I understand from Jim Mather, who has responsibility for policy on better regulation, that in delivering our better regulation commitments his officials work closely with the United Kingdom Government as well as with the United Kingdom permanent representation to the European Union, Regleg counterparts, the European Policy Centre task force on better regulation and officials in the European Commission.

I am glad that the minister brought up the name of Mr Mather. She will be aware that the SNP had three policy commitments in relation to business regulation in its manifesto. The first was to introduce regulations only once they had been approved by a majority of our EU neighbours; the second was to ensure that Scottish regulations did not have so-called British gold plating; and the third was to adopt the Better Regulation Commission's policy of one in, one out—meaning that each new regulation must replace another that has been repealed.

We all know that the aforesaid Mr Mather had no sooner slid into the back of his ministerial limousine than the SNP Government dropped the one in, one out policy. In those circumstances, will the minister assure us that the first two policy commitments are not equally dead in the water, and that there will be a reduced flow of EU-inspired base metal regulations over the four years of this session of Parliament?

The Scottish Government is committed to implementing better regulation measures. For example, under primary UK legislation, we are exploring the scope for introducing business-friendly legislation at Westminster, such as that requested by the Scotch Whisky Association.

We want to avoid gold plating EU legislation—either by rushing transposition or adding unnecessary hurdles for business. We are liaising closely with business on the transposition of EU regulations that are already in progress—for example, under the internal services directive. For existing regulations, we are using the regulatory reform group and other business stakeholder groups to ensure that business views are addressed in major reviews that are already under way—for example, on waste management.

We will increase the role and standing of the improving regulation in Scotland unit to allow it to work better with the industry-led group. We will roll out good practice on risk assessment, enforcement and sanctions to all arms of the Scottish Government and ask them to report on progress. I could go on.

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Cultural Policy

To ask the Scottish Government what discussions have been held with local authorities in relation to the delivery of cultural policy. (S3O-1432)

I, too, wish you every success this evening, Presiding Officer.

Local authorities already make a huge contribution to local cultural provision. The Scottish Government continues to encourage them to build on that and to strive for continuous improvement and excellent outcomes for all the people of Scotland, with meaningful community engagement and practical approaches. That is consistent with our manifesto commitment to widen access to cultural opportunities through the community planning process.

Recently, I met Councillor Harry McGuigan and representatives of the Convention of Scottish Local Authorities, who confirmed their commitment to work with us to promote cultural provision of the highest quality at local level. As in other many areas, the Government will work closely with local government and its community planning partners. I will also work with other key bodies, including creative Scotland, to progress our work in the area.

Several responses to the consultation on the previous session's draft Culture (Scotland) Bill supported the principle of dispersing collections more widely, with financial support being made available to enable the receiving museums to achieve appropriate standards of environment and security. I acknowledge the minister's understandable desire, which she expressed during her recent statement to the Parliament on culture, to assess how the present structures work before embarking on reform of the governance of the national collections. Nevertheless, will she give positive consideration to the proposed dispersal programme? What view might she take of it, particularly with regard to South Ayrshire?

Mr Scott is quite right. We have wonderful resources in our national collections that are used for outreach work, part of which involves a dispersal programme. As he described, there are issues about the best environment for pieces of work and the length of loans.

Since taking up my post and trying to understand fully the widening access agenda and the best way to approach it, I have found it quite frustrating that no work has been done to state categorically the ways in which our national collections and national companies already do such work on widening access. I want to map what has already been done before we start to talk about plugging the gaps and introducing new initiatives. The mapping will involve our understanding what the national collections have already done and discussing with them how they can go that bit further. A basic part of that work will involve our making sure that we make the best use of our collections and that, in the right circumstances, we disperse them so that as many people as possible have access to them. Of course, Mr Scott's area in Ayrshire would benefit from that too.

In the meantime, if Mr Scott wants me to look into a particular issue, I will be more than happy to do so.

Given that widely disparate levels of provision at the local level is one of the main problems in cultural policy, why has the minister ditched all the proposals and policies that were designed to address the problem? Does she realise that the Cultural Commission's thinking on rights and entitlements was designed precisely to address that problem? Does she acknowledge that the provisions that we included in the draft Culture (Scotland) Bill were an attempt to give practical effect to that? How will she ensure that local authorities deliver at a local level when there is no outcome indicator that relates in any way to culture?

As my colleagues and I have said so often lately, there is a new partnership going on in Scotland. We are moving forward and progressing, and part of that partnership involves working together and trust between national and local government. I do not believe, as the previous Administration did, that we have to micromanage absolutely everything that local authorities do.

We have to trust that those who are elected to local authorities and those who work for local authorities have the best interests of the electorate and the population at heart. The Opposition parties keep talking about cultural entitlement, which was mentioned in the guidance that was put in the draft bill by the previous Administration. It did not really understand what "cultural entitlement" meant, so it did not have the confidence to put it in the bill. The previous Administration believed that that looked good, but it actually had no teeth. What was the point of that?

Why did that Administration not, in eight years, carry out a mapping exercise of what was already happening before it started to introduce further micromanagement? Let us find out what is going on, see what we are about and plug the gaps. That is what widening access really means.

We started the session late, but we have just time for a quick question from Tricia Marwick and a quick answer from the minister.

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Schools (International Relationships)

To ask the Scottish Executive what encouragement the Minister for Europe, External Affairs and Culture is giving to schools, such as Pitteuchar East primary in Glenrothes, to develop relationships with schools in Malawi and other parts of the world. (S3O-1454)

I am working closely with the Cabinet Secretary for Education and Lifelong Learning to ensure that all our young people have an international education. It is important that they grow up with a knowledge and understanding of the world and Scotland's place in it, and that they develop a special Scottish world view.

I am terribly glad that Tricia Marwick had to pronounce "Pitteuchar" before I did. Fife has a wonderful culture, but I sometimes find the words quite difficult. I have been criticised for not speaking Gaelic, and I will now be criticised for not speaking Fife, but there you go.

As briefly as possible, please, minister. I am sorry to hurry you.

Malawi has proved a particular focus for Scottish schools, and I am looking at that just now. We must develop those links and arrange visits and learning opportunities. The primary school link with Malawi is a hugely laudable example of what is being done. It is important that schools are able to develop meaningful and sustainable links with any country. An awful lot of those links have been established with Malawi and beyond.

I assure the minister that "Pit-tew-ker" is the posh way of saying Pitteuchar. In Glenrothes, we say "Per-chucker".

Pitteuchar East primary school has had a link with Namadzi primary school in Malawi for three years. There are letter-writing and song-writing projects, among others. There are 15 schools in Fife that have established such links with Malawi. What work has been done by the Scottish Government to monitor the links between schools and other organisations in Scotland and Malawi? Does the minister intend to publish a list of those links, for the benefit of us all?

I rather like "Per-chucker"—that is good.

So many things are happening. Loads of primary schools are linking with Malawi, and I want a mapping exercise to be undertaken. Work is being carried out by the University of Edinburgh, which I hope will report back to me early next year, to produce a database of what communities in Scotland are doing to link with Malawi. Everywhere we go, we find some link between Scotland and Malawi—sometimes, in the most unlikely places. I think that it would be great for Scotland to know exactly what we are doing. That is important. I will look at the information when it comes back. If it needs to be improved, I will want to do that so that it shows the true extent of Scotland-Malawi twinning.