Chamber and committees

My amendments 130 and 208 in this group go to the heart of what I am trying to achieve as part of the bill, which I think is something that we all want to achieve: building confidence in the new organisation. I have listened to the cabinet secretary, who outlined that we need to do that for carers and for teachers, but we also need to do it for parents. That is why I want to see that triad as part of the bill; why I am pleased that the committee has agreed an amendment on a parent, or guardian, or carer, being part of the strategic advisory council; and why my amendment 130 would ask that qualifications Scotland has a specific duty to set up a parent and carer charter. It is important to provide that definition.

I take on board what the cabinet secretary has said in relation to care-experienced young people and the interest committees, which I think are working quite well to take forward the Promise in that area. There is a really positive role to be played in that regard.

For Stephen Kerr’s clarification, I support amendment 278. [Laughter.] I think that it would add value to the bill. I will end my contribution there.

On reflection, I think that there are drafting issues with amendment 131. As the opportunity exists for additional amendments to be lodged, I am happy, at this stage, not to press amendment 131 and to work with ministers and others ahead of stage 3.

Amendment 131, by agreement, withdrawn.

Section 14—Corporate plan of Qualifications Scotland

The rationale for including that in the wording of the amendment is that it would be the headteacher who would sign off on providing the support rather than such evidence being provided by each teacher. The minister will come in at some point and, if there is wording in the amendment that needs to be simplified or corrected, I will be happy to take that forward.

Welcome back, everybody. I welcome the cabinet secretary’s amendments that we discussed this morning in relation to BSL. That is something that we have raised on a cross-party basis.

I lodged amendment 131 in relation to additional support needs. The recent Audit Scotland report in February pointed to the need for a fundamental review of needs and planning and resourcing for additional support for learning. The amendment comes from a number of discussions with teachers, parents and pupils on the bureaucracy that surrounds additional support for learning. I hope that it will present an opportunity to simplify things for those who need additional support.

Currently, each teacher is asked to provide evidence of additional support needs. The amendment would simplify that to just be one teacher—the headteacher. I hope that that would make a real difference to the guidance going forward and that it would be a helpful reform. There will potentially be additional improvements that can be brought forward ahead of stage 3, as I am sure that members will have other learnings that they would want to bring to the bill ahead of stage 3 proceedings.

I move amendment 131.

I accept that, cabinet secretary, because I think that we need to move this forward. All members who have been part of this committee—not just those of us who have joined quite recently, but those who have served in the Parliament for decades—have wanted to see this reform achieved. I am looking at Willie Rennie when I say that. [Laughter.] As I have said, I accept what the cabinet secretary has said.

I am grateful to the member for lodging her amendments. It is important that the issue is included in the bill.

Each institution that I have met has a very different set of supports available. For example, at the University of Edinburgh, which has a large international student intake, some of its duty of care is related to language barriers. Other institutions have been providing useful support in relation to mental health, which the member has mentioned. They may also provide access to food banks or more holistic support while someone is going through their studies. Is that what the member envisages being created through the bill, or is she just pointing towards what should be a wider package of duty of care? I would hope that the Government would be quite open to such a package being part of the bill and to working on a set of principles around what that could look like.

To get back to the heart of the issue, my concern is that the Government has not said what model it wants and a review is not acceptable. To go back to Liz Smith’s point and to Stephen Kerr’s helpful pointing out of other models in different parts of the UK, we need to see that decision as part of the bill, not a review.

Given the extensive conversation that we have had this morning, would the cabinet secretary and other members be mindful of not moving the amendments to this part of the bill, so that we can go away and look at it again, perhaps including with Ken Muir? He would be a useful person to look at the founding principles that he wanted to see in the bill; at the best model that can be brought at stage 3; and at whether there is consensus on that. If not, as Ross Greer has outlined, the majority in Parliament will take the least bad option, and that will not help to deliver the foundations of what we want these two institutions to do. Is the cabinet secretary mindful of that, so that we can move this meeting forward a bit?

Willie Rennie pursued some of the questions that I had about the University of Dundee, cabinet secretary. However, because we have you here, I have to ask, as an Edinburgh MSP, about the University of Edinburgh. I have received hundreds of emails from concerned students and staff there because it is proposing to make £140 million in cuts. What engagement and communications have you and other ministers had with the University of Edinburgh specifically to look at the similar pattern that is now unfolding for members of staff at that university?

Have you undertaken a piece of work specifically on mainstreaming? The subject of mainstreaming and the different needs of children was raised yesterday in Parliament. You have touched on additional support for learning—Audit Scotland’s recent report on that was pretty damning. Are you likely to do a piece of work to look at the different models of different councils and how they are providing different outcomes?

Ahead of your coming to the committee, I looked back at the November 2023 report that you commissioned into children in Scotland who are homeless—specifically, at some of the recommendations. Do you think that the Scottish Government has taken any of those forward?