Chamber and committees

It was about not providing direct support to children and young people. If a call comes in from a child or young person—they are not always bordering the 16 age group; they can be quite a lot younger now—or their parent or carer, and that child or young person is in real distress, are they told to hang up and call another number? How is that handled?

Thank you.

Yes, it was about having a wider approach that teaches our young people strategies to promote their own wellbeing and mental health and to deal with anxiety.

Thank you all for coming today. It has been a really interesting and wide-ranging conversation. I want to talk about bullying in schools—children harming other children. Yes, the behaviour of children with additional support needs is an issue, but they are also often on the receiving end. The Morgan report has already been mentioned and we know that the strategies for additional support needs work for all children and young people. That is something to consider down the line. A lot has been said.

I am interested in a couple of wee points—you do not all have to answer all of them. I am interested in Covid, poverty and mental health. Are there wider approaches? Should we be looking to teach strategies to all our young people to enable them to cope better with the challenges that they face just now?

Secondly, I am interested in accountability. Accountability is part of the issue, because it is about relationships and supporting young people whose behaviour is not what we would hope it to be. There are sometimes situations where young people get away with it and are not held accountable, which is also not good.

My third question is about infrastructure. Are our schools just really big? I would be interested to hear from Joan Mowat, Nick Smiley, Colin Morrison and Cheryl Burnett in particular.

Do parents feel that there is enough focus on what we can do to support and protect young people who are being bullied? I hear quite a bit, especially from neurodiverse groups, that things are changed around the child who is being bullied while the bully goes through school in the normal way. The child who is being bullied might not be going to classes, physical education or extracurricular activities. Is that what you hear, too?

I want to go back to something else that you said. We have restorative practice and work on relationships, but bullying is still happening and it is a massive issue for parents.

The question was to Cheryl Burnett.

To ask the Scottish Government what funding has been allocated in the Scottish budget 2023-24 to tackle child poverty. (S6O-02367)

Last week, a report by End Child Poverty, entitled “Local indicators of child poverty after housing costs, 2021/22”, highlighted that the unacceptable levels of child poverty that remain across the UK are likely to worsen due to the devastating impact of the Tory-driven cost of living crisis.

Although investment within its fixed budget by the Scottish Government, and initiatives such as the Scottish child payment alongside the newly established cash-first approach to tackling food insecurity, are welcome, what fiscal levers would the Scottish Government require to enable it to truly alleviate the pressing issue of child poverty?

I am pleased to speak in this debate as a member of the Education, Children and Young People Committee. I add my thanks to all those who gave evidence to the committee, to the clerks and to my colleagues for their hard work.

The regionalisation of colleges has helped to ensure the delivery of attractive, high-quality educational opportunities and has provided Scotland’s students with choices by creating colleges at scale. Duplication in the provision of courses has reduced, and stronger school-college and other local partnerships have been fostered as a result.

To me, the inquiry has also highlighted how college regionalisation lies at the heart of Scotland’s just transition. The climate emergency is undoubtedly one of the biggest challenges that we face as a world. The Scottish Funding Council’s 2021 report “Coherence and Sustainability: A Review of Tertiary Education and Research” emphasised the significant role that colleges must play in the drive for a green recovery by equipping our citizens with the education, skills and training that are needed for new and emerging jobs. Locally, New College Lanarkshire has integrated sustainable policies as part of the strategy and it plans to be carbon neutral by 2042.

Colleges are anchor institutions in our communities, and regionalisation has strengthened their ties to universities, schools, local authorities and local businesses. New College Lanarkshire has developed diverse partnerships that have led to wide-ranging developments. The smart hub that has been developed in Lanarkshire in partnership with North Lanarkshire Council and the University of Strathclyde has been funded by the Scottish Government’s advancing manufacturing challenge fund. It has opened up manufacturing innovation and robotics to educators and businesses alike. The college has also worked with ACS Clothing to create a spectacular ozone chamber mural.

Those are very different examples, but they both demonstrate the remarkable innovation and creativity that lie at the core of our college sector.