Chamber and committees

Our aims and principles make clear that there should be availability of counselling services during school holidays, to ensure continued support to vulnerable young people. However, it is a matter for local authorities to decide how to deliver the service to best suit the needs and circumstances of children and young people in their area.

It is important to highlight that school counselling is just one of a range of services in place to support children and young people’s mental health. Our work on supporting children and young people’s mental health and wellbeing is set within a context of much wider support for children and young people’s mental health within communities and in relation to specific concerns.

Through the children and young people’s Community Mental Health and Wellbeing Supports and Services Framework, the Scottish Government is providing local authorities with £15 million per annum to fund community-based mental health supports for children and young people aged 5-24 (26 if care-experienced), their family members and their carers. The services are focussed on prevention and early intervention, and include supports for positive mental health and wellbeing as well as for emotional distress.

The Scottish Government does not hold this information. The Scottish Government collects data on teachers through the annual teacher census, statistics from this are available on the Scottish Government website at: https://www.gov.scot/publications/teacher-census-supplementary-statistics/

The programme is now in its third year following the initial pilot. In total 279 applications have been received from the General Teaching Council for Scotland (GTCS) registered teachers across Scotland. 166 have been successful in gaining a place on the programme since it began.

Pilot programme 2017 85 applications

Cohort 1 (2021-22) 56 applications

Cohort 2 (2022-23) 53 applications

Cohort 3 (2023-24) 85 applications

The Scottish Government does not hold this information.

The SFC’s “College Infrastructure Strategy: The Approach to Delivering Scotland’s College Infrastructure”, published in November 2022, recognises that investment in college infrastructure is needed and will identify future infrastructure investment needed for a sustainable college estate. It is a collective approach between the SFC and colleges and aims to develop a 10-year Infrastructure Investment Plan for Scotland’s colleges. The work on delivering the strategy has begun and this will include baselining the condition of the college estate.

The pre consultation draft of the Islands Connectivity Plan Long Term Plan for Vessels and Ports, published in December 2022, indicates that the Northern Isles Ferry Service freight vessels are scheduled to be replaced and the passenger vessels project developed between 2026-2031. As these projects progress, engagement events will be held to enable key stakeholders to contribute to the outcomes. CMAL will communicate details of the various engagement events when arrangements are made. The business case work will be reviewed when complete and all future funding for delivery will be determined as part of the annual Scottish Budget setting process, as is normal.

The Scottish Government is currently considering next steps and will update the Scottish Parliament later this year.

Codeclan was a private sector enterprise and its financial stability was the sole responsibility of its management and board of directors.

The Scottish Government and Scottish Enterprise worked intensively with CodeClan to explore every possible option to secure a sustainable future, including commissioning the support of private sector consultants.

Ministers are legally bound by subsidy control rules which set clear thresholds on the level of public funding that can be injected into private businesses. In this case the sum required to place the business on a stable footing significantly exceeded these thresholds, with no guarantee of future viability.

We have met with the Scottish Council of Deans of Education to discuss their concerns.

The recent teacher pay deal is the largest in twenty years and was made against a challenging financial backdrop. It is in that context that we have had to review funding commitments across the programme.

We continue to value the importance of professional development for teachers as demonstrated by the range of professional learning and leadership programmes provided by Education Scotland and detailed on their website Education Scotland | Professional Learning and Leadership . In addition, we are investing £800,000 this year in the Into Headship programme to support future school leaders.

We are open to considering reinstating funding for masters-level learning for teachers should future budget provisions allow.

The Scottish Government has no plans at present to conduct research into the need for incontinence bins in men's toilets in Scotland.

The Scottish Government does not hold this information, because it is statutory responsibility of local authorities to manage and maintain their school estate.

This government has a strong record on the school estate, working in collaboration with local authority partners. The 2023 school estate statistics show that 90.7% of schools were in a good or satisfactory condition in 2023, up from 90.4% in 2022 and 61.1% in 2007. Since 2007-08, 1,098 school builds or substantial refurbishment projects have been completed.

The Scottish Government’s £2 billion Learning Estate Investment Programme is being delivered in partnership with local authorities and will build on this progress.