Chamber and committees

Did you say that someone else was coming in on that?

Thank you. That matter has been raised before—getting out the money as quickly as possible has caused issues in relation to showing where the money has ended up. It might have been allocated to a department for one thing but then used for something else, because of the need for urgent action.

I go to my second question. Is the Auditor General aware of any plans by the Scottish Government to present a comprehensive report on changes to budgets and final expenditure as a result of the pandemic? If not, would such a report be helpful, and when could it be expected?

In Renfrewshire, spending on culture and heritage decreased by more than a third between 2016 and 2019; Clackmannanshire saw a drop of 27 per cent, and Glasgow saw a drop of 18 per cent. How will the minister promote culture locally when some of her party’s own councils are slashing their arts and heritage budgets by a third?

Okay.

No, I do not agree—[Interruption.] I think that we should be told today. At committee today—[Interruption.] At committee today, some of the comments included that, to release the anxiety that is out there, we need a decision sooner rather than later. A decision that could take up to another three months is no good; we need a decision now so that the schools can plan ahead. They are already planning to have exams, but we need to take away pupils’ anxiety. They need to know now that the exams will go ahead.

Kaukab Stewart made a political football of the issue in her speech, although she said that it was us who were doing that. She also said that the SNP had made a world of difference to education, but the results do not show that.

Michael Marra spoke about how teachers are working exceptionally hard to support pupils. We totally agree with that. His contribution was really good. Claire Baker’s was also excellent. She talked about all the problems that we have in relation to regression in literacy and numeracy.

To conclude, the chamber is in agreement that exams should go ahead this year, but pupils, parents and—

I would like to make some progress.

In a way, those things are as important as exams. Therefore, I ask the SNP Government to offer a guarantee and to commit not only to the exam diet being held this year but to school plays and sports days going ahead, too. It is a small ask, but it would mean so much to so many pupils, parents and teachers.

My colleague Meghan Gallacher reminded us that the First Minister asked to be judged on her education record. What a record that is. The First Minister told us that education was her top priority and said:

“I want to be judged on this.”

I think that it is fair to say that the First Minister has been judged and has been found wanting. Meghan Gallacher told us that the SNP’s record on education is a tale of broken promises and failed reforms, and she is right. If members go to any school in Scotland, they will find that sentiment echoed by parents at the school gates.

The international performance of our education system should not be ignored either, as Pam Gosal noted. Although the results of the OECD reports might not matter much to the SNP, educators overseas are paying close attention and are coming to their own conclusions.

Pam Gosal also noted the lack of progress that has been made on the attainment gap. I have now lost count of the number of times that I have heard SNP politicians tell us that the gap is closing. The reality is that, after seven years and £1 billion, the Scottish Government has made little headway. Closing the attainment gap is the First Minister’s “sacred responsibility” and her “defining mission”. If this is how she goes about her sacred task, I shudder to think what happens to the projects at the bottom of her in-tray.

Jamie Greene refreshed our memories of the chaos of last year’s exams, the fiasco that was the appeals system and the failure of the SNP Government to tackle inequality in education. All of that is, of course, before we even get to the Scottish Government’s humiliating climbdown over primary 1 testing, which it implemented against the will of this Parliament—a decision that, two years on, is still coming back to bite it.

I will touch on some of the contributions around about. Shirley-Anne Somerville said that contingencies are needed to ensure that we are doing all that we can to keep schools open and that exams take place. She said that it is her firm intention that they should go ahead, but we are looking for a commitment to that today, so that schools know that the exams are going ahead and they can plan ahead. That would give clarity to teachers, parents and pupils.

The Scottish Conservatives have come here today with one very simple ask—that Scottish pupils be treated with respect. Throughout the experience of the past two years, our young people have not been able to enjoy that right. Instead, they have been shunted from classroom to home and back to classroom, with little consideration of the effect that any of that was having on their mental health, the attainment gap or—more importantly, some would argue—their grades.

As with so many aspects of Covid, clarity is what we need right now—clarity on exams, clarity on face masks in schools, clarity on the attainment gap and clarity on the free laptop for every child that never arrived—but the truth is that clarity is one of the many things that the Scottish Government has failed to provide. It is obvious to anyone that the confusion is having a detrimental effect on our children’s wellbeing. It was necessary only to listen to today’s meeting of the Education, Children and Young People Committee to hear at first hand from the experts about the impact that that confusion is having on an education system that was once the envy of the world.

Exams are not the only thing that have been affected; the whole school experience has been affected. Scottish students have lost out on many of the extracurricular school and social activities that play such an important role in their development. All members will remember their own school sports days. For the past two years, many Scottish children and their families have missed out on creating those special memories. For them, there have been no prizegivings, no sports days, no nativity plays and no end-of-year shows.

From large-scale events, such as Edinburgh’s Hogmanay, to smaller ones, such as Prestwick’s Christmas market, events organisers have had a tough festive period. That has had a knock-on effect on other businesses, including bed and breakfasts, which have already had a difficult year. Cancelled events have only added to their problems.

My question is twofold. How much of the £21 million to support culture and events is now in the pockets of recipients? What support has been provided to B and B owners and other providers of short-term accommodation since December 2021, and what plans are there to introduce additional support?

Your report sets out the progress that has been made in recruitment to and staffing of the programme management office. Are you content with that progress? Earlier, Joanne Brown mentioned the success in delivering a number of savings, so that work seems to have been a success.