Chamber and committees

It is important to acknowledge that PISA is one source of evidence amongst a broader set of data. Achievement of Curriculum for Excellence (ACEL) 2023-24 data showed that ACEL levels for numeracy in primary and secondary schools were at their highest ever levels. The 2024 National Qualifications data also showed progress in maths attainment, with both entries and passes for Higher Mathematics increasing between 2019 and 2024.

The Scottish Government and Education Scotland are taking forward the Curriculum Improvement Cycle which introduces a systematic approach designed to ensure that Scotland’s curriculum remains relevant, forward looking, clarifies the role of knowledge and ultimately supports high quality teaching and learning. The review is considering the curriculum in a planned and systemic way, including alignment between the Broad General Education and the Senior Phase.

Work to update all eight curricular areas of CfE is underway, with mathematics being prioritised. The National Mathematics Specialist Advisor has been working closely with Education Scotland to consider all elements of the mathematics curriculum, informed by a wide range of evidence, including PISA data. Outputs of this initial phase of work have been shared in the second discussion paper published by Education Scotland on 19 December 2024.

Work is underway to continue to update and strengthen the Literacy and English Curriculum through the Curriculum Improvement Cycle. Other activities include Education Scotland publishing a suite of professional learning resources on Learning to Read in the Early Years, supported by complementary professional learning; and continued investment in the Read Write Count and Reading Schools programmes.

Inspiring young people to study STEM and promoting excellence in the delivery of STEM education sit at the heart of our STEM Education and Training Strategy. In the last Financial Year alone, the Scottish Government provided over £1.74 million to a range of organisations which support the high-quality delivery of STEM education.

The Scottish Government has committed to increasing international evidence around numeracy and literacy by re-joining the Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS) for the assessments in 2027, and the Progress in International Reading Literacy Study (PIRLS) for the assessments in 2026. The next PISA assessments will take place in Scotland in September and October 2025. The Scottish Government and Education Scotland are developing a programme of support to help schools and pupils to participate in the assessments.

The Scottish Government remains committed to tackling school violence and supporting staff wellbeing.

In 2025-26, we are providing over £2m to implement the Violence Prevention Framework, delivering actions including addressing youth violence, the carrying of weapons and violence in and around schools.

The 2025-26 budget also sets out an additional £29 million of investment for Additional Support Needs (ASN). This will include an allocation for both local and national programmes to support the recruitment and retention of the ASN workforce, with £28 million directed to local government and £1 million retained for national work. This investment will continue to be a joint endeavour with local authorities, who retain the statutory responsibility for the delivery of education in Scotland.

An agreement reached with COSLA will see local government and the Scottish Government working together to restore teacher numbers to 2023 levels in 2025, freeze learning hours, and make meaningful progress on reducing class contact time for teachers. To support this, we are providing £186.5 million to local authorities in 2025/26 to restore overall teacher numbers across the country to 2023 levels and maximise the number of teaching posts available.

The Scottish Government invited the OECD to assess the implementation of Curriculum for Excellence (CfE) in primary and secondary schools in 2020. The OECD report Scotland’s Curriculum for Excellence - Into the Future endorsed CfE as the right approach for Scottish education and made a number of recommendations for further improvement. Education Scotland are now taking forward the Curriculum Improvement Cycle to ensure Scotland’s curriculum remains forward looking and supports high quality teaching and learning, with Numeracy and Mathematics and Literacy and English the first curricular areas to be reviewed.

We continue monitoring literacy and numeracy levels through the Achievement of Curriculum for Excellence (CfE) levels which are published annually and present proportions of pupils from P1, P4, P7 and S3 pupils who have achieved the expected CfE Levels in Reading, Writing, Listening & Talking, Literacy and Numeracy. The latest data available (2023-24) shows record levels of literacy and numeracy by primary (P1, P4 and P7) and secondary (S3) pupils.

In Literacy, the proportion of pupils achieving their expected CfE level are at their highest ever level in both primary (74%) and secondary schools (88%). In Numeracy, 80% of primary and 90% of secondary pupils achieved the expected CfE levels.

We will continue to expand the data and evidence available to the system, by joining the next cycle of PIRLS (Progress in International Reading Literacy Study) in 2026 and TIMSS (Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study) in 2027, while continuing to participate in PISA (Programme for International Student Assessment) this year.

The Scottish Government remains committed to implementing a high quality and clinically safe thrombectomy service. We have invested £39 million to date on expanding access to thrombectomy. While we continue to face significant financial challenges, we are committed to further expanding the service, ensuring access is as equitable as possible.

Whilst the Scottish Government cannot currently provide a timeline for expanding the service, Scottish Government officials and NHS planners have been asked to work at pace on developing a plan for the next steps for service expansion.

We have also provided funding for thrombectomy nurse posts in spoke sites with high rates of ischaemic stroke and this will support maximising access to thrombectomy across Scotland. Procurement of a national artificial intelligence imaging tool is also underway and, once implemented, this will help improve detection of patients with strokes suitable for thrombectomy.

The Fostering a positive, inclusive and safe school environment guidance was published on 17 June.

This non-statutory guidance aims to support schools to foster a positive, inclusive and safe school environment through their approaches to positive relationships and behaviour. In particular, it provides clarity to all members of a school community – staff, parents and children and young people – on the use of consequences as part of relationships and behaviour policies.

We have also published new guidance for local authorities and schools on using risk assessment processes to mitigate or minimise violent, aggressive and dangerous behaviours exhibited by children and young people at school.

While our aim is to provide information whenever possible, in this instance the work required to research, analyse and collate the data for each requested year would quickly breach the PQ cost threshold.

Some of the information is available on the Scottish Government website in the annual Budget documents, which will include budget allocations for some public bodies. Links to these are included below. The information only goes back to 2015-16 when Scottish Government revised its approach to provide greater transparency. Prior to this, spend on public bodies was generally amalgamated into portfolio budgets.

2023-24: https://www.gov.scot/publications/scottish-budget-2023-24/documents/
2022-23: https://www.gov.scot/publications/scottish-budget-2022-23/documents/
2021-22: https://www.gov.scot/publications/scottish-budget-2021-22/documents/
2020-21: https://www.gov.scot/publications/scottish-budget-2020-21/documents/
2019-20: https://www.gov.scot/publications/scottish-budget-2019-20/documents/
2018-19: https://www.gov.scot/publications/scottish-budget-draft-budget-2018-19/documents/
2017-18: https://www.gov.scot/publications/scotlands-budget-draft-budget-2017-18/documents/
2016-17: https://www.gov.scot/publications/scotlands-finances-key-facts-figures/documents/
2015-16: https://dera.ioe.ac.uk/id/eprint/21090/1/00460440.pdf

Further information may also be found on some public bodies’ funding in their published audited accounts, which can be found online on their websites. Links to these is provided in the National public bodies directory (https://www.gov.scot/publications/national-public-bodies-directory/).

Assessing the total economic impact of cybercrime losses on households in Scotland is challenging, as a significant proportion of these crimes are not reported to the police. In recognising the value of improving the evidence base on this topic, new questions were added to the Scottish Crime and Justice Survey (SCJS) for 2023-24 onwards. New headline findings were then published on the 10th June 2025 (Scottish Crime and Justice Survey 2023/24 - gov.scot).

Further analysis of the survey shows that 2.2% of adults (aged 16+) living in private households in 2023-24 lost money as victims of a cyber-enabled fraud or computer misuse crime. The vast majority of these crimes were fraud. The median amount lost was £103 per crime, though a minority lost significantly more with 9% of crimes above £1,000. In around half of all cases (48%), the ultimate direct economic impact on the household was limited, as they received a full or partial refund (most often from a bank or building society).

It is estimated that completion of the A9 Dualling Programme between Perth and Inverness will result in an average of three fewer fatalities annually with early analysis of dualling the A96 between Inverness and Aberdeen estimating an average of one fewer fatality every two years.

The Key Reported Road Casualties Scotland 2024 publication shows that while overall casualties decreased in 2024, the number of fatalities increased by 9%.

The Scottish Government, Police Scotland and the National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) are working together to help protect organisations from cyber criminals, by identifying fraudulent websites, preventing phishing emails, blocking phone numbers and ultimately bringing those responsible to justice. We encourage everyone who wishes to report a fraud to contact the police and to report suspicious sites to NCSC using the reporting tool on their website.

Partners will continue to share knowledge and learning around fraud activity. Fraud is committed by a broad range of criminals, from domestic lone actors to complex international organised crime groups.