Chamber and committees

In an earlier response, I mentioned that there are co-benefits to universal breakfast club provision across our primary and special schools. We know that, in order to learn well, children must eat well. Although most children can rely on doing so, many cannot, so such meals will provide a nutritional start to the day. With up to an extra hour of care for children being provided at the beginning of the day, the policy also helps parents and carers through the cost of living crisis by allowing them to take up employment or increase their working hours.

This year, we will invest £3 million in our bright start breakfasts fund, which will provide 9,000 breakfast club places and support more than 20,000 children across Scotland, including those in Edinburgh and East Lothian, in ensuring that they have a healthy start to the day. Our commitment to provide a universal breakfast offer from August 2027 is supported by £15 million of investment in this financial year, which will be used to prepare for the transition.

I am always interested in how other jurisdictions are pursuing policies. We look across the border and elsewhere in that regard.

It is worth noting that a great deal of work has already been undertaken in Scotland on the roll-out of breakfast clubs. Nearly half of all primary schools in Scotland already provide one. In my initial answer, I mentioned the transitional funding that the Government is providing, and we have identified ongoing funding, too. Work is under way with the Convention of Scottish Local Authorities and individual local authorities to ensure that every child can access the co-benefits of a breakfast club. Equally, we recognise that, given certain practical issues, including those relating to rurality, there will have to be flexibilities.

We believe that every young person should receive an excellent education that equips them to succeed in life. The Scottish Government’s priorities are to ensure all learners achieve the expected levels in literacy and numeracy, and that they engage in learning across the curriculum while developing attributes necessary to be successful learners, confident individuals, responsible citizens and effective contributors.

Scotland’s curriculum is designed to equip young people with the foundations that they need for success. It has been endorsed by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development as the right approach for Scotland.

I will frame my response on the generality of the question, which was about the importance of literacy for our young people. Literacy plays an absolutely foundational role in lifelong learning, wellbeing and tackling poverty, which is why, in response to the initial question, I ranked it among the top issues.

I remind members that the latest data shows that the proportion of pupils who are achieving their expected curriculum for excellence levels in literacy has reached its highest recorded level for the second consecutive year in both primary schools and secondary schools.

I absolutely take on board the points that the member raises. My initial answer set out that more than £13.5 million is already being made available for festivals on the islands, but I understand the point that he makes about those festivals having to be facilitated by transport links and so on.

I am happy to continue to work with the member and my ministerial colleagues in the transport portfolio to ensure that what is quite a significant investment can be put to best use through the availability of excellent transport links.

I absolutely recognise the contribution of the folks whose names Liam McArthur has put on the record. I wish Pete and Gail McAndrew the very best of luck for the festival. I think that he said that it is taking place this weekend, in which case I hope that the weather holds up, as that could add something very special to a bluegrass festival.

On the general point about Scottish traditional music, I remind members of the Government’s manifesto commitment to create a new national performing company for traditional music, which I think we all agree is exciting. I will be absolutely sure to engage with Liam McArthur and take advantage of the expertise of his constituents as we develop that new and exciting proposal.

Although local authorities have the statutory duty for managing and maintaining the school estate, the Scottish Government is working closely with the Convention of Scottish Local Authorities, local authorities and the Scottish Futures Trust to drive further improvements. We are also developing a business case for a successor to our £2 billion learning estate investment programme, advice on which will come to ministers for consideration later this year.

That work builds on real progress. Our latest school estate statistics show that 92 per cent of school buildings are now in a “good” or “satisfactory” condition. As well as being a record high, that represents a significant improvement on the figure of 62.7 per cent in 2007, which was the position that we inherited when we took office in 2007.

The Scottish Government and Creative Scotland have currently committed more than £13.5 million towards festivals on the islands. That comprises 16 awards totalling £12.9 million over three years, through multi-annual funding, and seven awards totalling £662,000 this year, through the expanded festivals funds, all for arts organisations delivering island festivals. Creative Scotland and Screen Scotland also support island festivals through Culture Collective, Screen Scotland’s film festivals fund, Film Hub Scotland, the open project fund and the National Lottery awards for all. We are very pleased to do so, noting the value of those events.

Local authorities will make estate decisions in consultation with communities to ensure that solutions for campuses reflect local priorities and deliver the best outcomes for learners. However, it is worth noting that our learning estate investment programme already includes examples of integration and inclusion across age groups, denominational and non-denominational schools, learners with additional support needs and community users. Examples include the Dunfermline learning campus, the Faifley community campus, the Neilston primary school campus, the Tain three-to-18 campus and the Wallyford learning campus.