Chamber and committees

Did CERG have any influence on key Scottish Government policy decisions? Did you feel that it had status and was listened to?

What I am hearing suggests that there seems to be a bit of a disconnect between overarching policy and the way in which it is implemented at local level. It is interesting to know that.

Thank you. I think that I caught most of that.

I will move on to a slightly different issue while I still have my time. I remind everyone of my entry in the register of interests: I am currently an associate member of the NASUWT.

I come to Mike Corbett first. Your written submission states:

“Any strategy”

for effective recovery as we move forward is going to

“require an effective focus on the workforce”.

Can you give us your top three tips on workforce planning and how we can ensure that the education workforce is taken care of as we recover?

I am reassured by your answer.

The Social Work Scotland submission includes the sentence:

“What we do know is that this has been a lengthy and traumatic period of national and worldwide insecurity.”

It is important to highlight that.

The submission also mentions

“parental mental health, domestic abuse, and problematic parental alcohol and substance use.”

With our remit, the committee is trying to be as holistic as possible. Schools have a major part to play in the recovery, but I am interested in the witnesses’ perspectives on a multidisciplinary approach. They have touched on it in relation to early intervention, social work and community support services. There are so many agencies that I am a wee bit concerned that we are not as joined up as we could be. Do the witnesses have any perspectives on that?

I thank our colleagues in the education sector for their continuing hard work.

I will.

I have spoken to colleagues, teachers and headteachers alike, and I have to say that, in the majority of cases, I concur that mitigations and adaptations are taking place.

There can be no question but that ensuring the safety of children and young people, as well as all educational staff, is of paramount importance to everyone in this chamber. I therefore welcome the opportunity to contribute to the debate, and I thank Michael Marra for raising this important issue and Shirley-Anne Somerville for the amendment.

The debate highlights the need to follow the best Covid advice and to work together to implement mitigations at pace and consistently across Scotland. Anyone who has taught in schools knows only too well that creating a safe and healthy environment is paramount. School staff are well aware of how to create and maintain safe environments, because those are the foundation of the health and wellbeing that are necessary for learning and teaching. It makes learning fun, lively and sociable for children and young people.

I taught throughout the pandemic, and I keep in regular contact with educational colleagues, so I have some understanding of school environments. Only this morning, at the Education, Children and Young People Committee, we heard about examples of CO₂ monitors being installed in classrooms, connected to wi-fi and monitored by teachers and centrally by department officials. We know that that is happening, although not necessarily in every council.

I thank Michael Marra for that question. I was about to go on. I have already said that there is excellent good practice. Councils need to share that best practice with each other to make the most of the £10 million Scottish Government funding that they have already received.

I note the comments of a few members, including Willie Rennie and Rhoda Grant, on the variance of school buildings. Had councils not been saddled with Tory-inspired and Labour-backed private finance, we would have modernised schools and we would have more revenue in the education budget for councils to go even further. Promises that were made at that time to provide schools that were meant to be fit for the 21st century failed to include CO₂ monitoring.

I can remember standing at a hustings 20 years ago, talking about the private finance initiative. I was a teacher and I was accused of trying to take away new buildings from schools. I said at the time that we were mortgaging our children’s future, and that is exactly what we have done. In Glasgow alone, 10 per cent of the education budget is still paying for PFI mortgages.

We can build a co-operative approach to working out solutions. With council officers, teachers and education representatives working together in the spirit of a fair work approach, we can ensure that necessary adaptations are made to our school estate and implemented to meet the inevitably ever-changing health and safety guidelines as we respond to Covid.

It is welcome to hear from education representatives such as Larry Flanagan, the general secretary of the Educational Institute of Scotland, who reported that a survey of his members found that

“in the majority of schools, our members feel that ventilation issues have been addressed.”—[Official Report, COVID-19 Recovery Committee, Date; c 4.]

As members know, the Scottish Government’s guidance continues to be informed by the advisory sub-group on education and children’s issues, as well as the Health and Safety Executive.