Chamber and committees

The Scottish Government has provided £367,177 of grant funding per year to CALL Scotland in the last five years. This grant is for services which deliver a positive and enabling impact on the provision of support to children and young people, who can benefit from assistive technology or augmentative and alternative communication.

There has been a period of exceptional market volatility due to a range of global factors such as the Covid pandemic and the conflict in Ukraine as well as the impact of Brexit. As a result of this, projects have experienced cost pressures out-with normal inflation expectations.

The Learning Estate Investment Programme carried out an evidence-led assessment of these issues which resulted in an increase of 11% in support to projects reaching contract close from August 2022 to December 2023 inclusive, and impacted on 20 projects.

The projects which form Phase 3 of the £2bn Learning Estate Investment Programme continued their development activities while the funding process was being assessed.

This included a range of work specific to each location, for example, site selection, surveys and tests, community consultation, brief development and early design work.

As there is no reason for this work to have been delayed by the announcement, no additional anticipated costs have been reported.

All projects have confirmed that they are working towards the same Phase 3 operational completion date of December 2027 as previously required.

To maximise the efficiency of delivering the Phase 3 projects, collaboration has been encouraged. For example, 5 local authorities in the north of Scotland have formed a group to share learning. In addition, a joint workshop with all local authorities who have Phase 3 projects has been held to ensure they have knowledge of all projects and can identify common challenges and opportunities.

It is the statutory responsibility of local authorities to manage their school estate. Therefore, the Scottish Government does not hold this information.

I refer the member to question S6W-24236 answered on 8 January 2024. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament’s website, the search facility for which can be found at http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/parliamentarybusiness/28877.aspx

We published guidance in June 2017 - ‘Included, Engaged and Involved – Part 2 – preventing and managing school exclusions’ - for teachers. The guidance gives a stronger focus on supporting positive behaviour and approaches that can be used to prevent the need for exclusion.

The series of summits I held with a wide range of stakeholders on behaviour in schools concluded in November. The summit process culminated in the publication of the Behaviour in Scottish Schools Research (BISSR), which provides the accurate national picture in relation to behaviour in Scotland’s schools.

In my statement to Parliament on 29 November, I confirmed that a multi-year plan is in development to tackle instances of challenging behaviour, working with local authorities, trade unions and others.

We are currently working with the Scottish Advisory Group on Relationships and Behaviour in Schools to establish what actions are required to respond to the findings of the summit process and BISSR. The national action plan will be published as soon as possible.

The Scottish Government continues to keep Preference Waiver Payments (PWP) under review through the Teacher Induction Scheme Ongoing Review Group and Strategic Board for Teacher Education.

The Strategic Board for Teacher Education, which is made up of a range of key education stakeholders, is looking at issues around the recruitment and retention of teachers in Scotland in detail. This will include consideration of the Teacher Induction Scheme.

The Scottish Government does not hold this information.

The assignment of probationer teachers to individual schools is a matter for each local authority.

All children and young people should receive the support that they need to reach their full potential. Local authorities are under a statutory duty to identify, provide for, and review the support that they provide for pupils with additional support needs.

The Scottish Government has continued to invest an additional £15m per year since 2019-20 to help local authorities respond to the individual needs of children and young people. This investment is monitored via information collected through the annual school staff census. The latest figures show that this funding has helped contribute to the highest recorded number of support staff in schools, 16,606 in 2022.

We are committed to supporting the education workforce, and we are providing local authorities with £145.5m in this year's budget to protect increased teacher numbers and support staff.

HM Chief Inspector is committed to promoting openness and transparency in the inspection process. Educators and practitioners are kept well-informed about inspections, including the focus areas and methodologies employed by inspection teams.

HM Inspectors assess the quality of education in Scottish schools using various quality indicators from 'How good is our school? (4th edition).' This document outlines the evidence collected during school inspections. Additionally, briefings for headteachers, parents, and Parent Councils are provided and updated annually at the beginning of each academic year. These updates are available on Education Scotland’s website. Moreover, when specific or mid-year changes occur, separate advice notes are published on the website.

In November 2023, I requested that the interim Chief Inspector enhance the evidence collected about behaviour during inspections.

Consequently, HM Inspectors will place greater emphasis on gathering evidence about behaviour and strategies for promoting positive relationships during inspections. An Advice Note for schools outlining the approach will be published in early January 2024, and will apply to inspections notified from January 2024.

The interim Chief Inspector will continue to issue additional inspection advice notes as needed, ensuring the inspection process remains transparent.