Chamber and committees

The Scottish Government continues to work closely with local employability partners in each local authority to promote and drive an increase in the reach of our services across all of Scotland.

At a local level, Local Employability Partnerships will deliver a mixed economy of provision bringing together a range of partners including, third sector organisations, ensuring that they continue to have a core role in provision of support based on local demand.

Support available through the Young Person’s Guarantee was delivered through Local Employability Partnerships, with Local Authorities acting as lead accountable body.

Employability support for young people is now delivered through No One Left Behind, which continues to utilise the Local Employability Partnership approach for delivery of support.

Awareness and promotion of the Young Person’s Guarantee among employability staff was achieved using existing networks and communication channels.

The Scottish Government, in partnership with local authorities, has been pioneering the transition to net zero in schools through the £2bn Learning Estate Investment Programme (LEIP). The LEIP targets the reduction in operational energy - e.g. heat, light, power, catering and ventilation - in new and refurbished projects.

LEIP funding is predicated on the achievement of outcomes, including measuring the amount of energy consumed in comparison with a set target level. To better understand this issue, a comparison was carried out between schools constructed or refurbished to Building Regulation standards and the enhanced specification required to meet the LEIP level. This included, for example, improved insulation, higher levels of airtightness and controlled ventilation with heat recovery. While the cost of these measures varies depending on the individual project, an assessment indicated that costs were likely to be approximately 5-8% higher. While the target energy level is only mandatory with LEIP projects, local authorities have been adopting this approach in other projects across their estates, as well as looking at other measures that could be adopted such as the use of solar photovoltaics, heat pumps or wind turbines.

As the LEIP continues, further measures are planned to support the transition to net zero. These include using zero direct emissions heating systems, encouraging the use of electric vehicles by providing charging infrastructure and introducing a new target for embodied carbon. The cost of achieving these outcomes will vary with individual projects, however, an assessment has indicated a range of 6-7% extra might be required. Many of these initiatives are already being included in projects within the current phases of the LEIP and in local authority investment in their learning estate.

The SQA will be replaced by the new qualifications body in late 2025, after the 2025 exam diet. There will be a period of transition with transfer arrangements in place to support this process.

The intention is for the Scottish Qualifications Authority to continue to operate at the time of the 2024 and 2025 exam diets, with the new qualifications body being established in late 2025, after the 2025 exam diet.

The new body will therefore be responsible for overseeing the 2026 exam diet.

The Scottish Government announced the launch of the Young Person’s Guarantee in November 2020, with the aim to protect young people against the immediate economic effects of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Between November 2020 and March 2023, 1019 employers have signed up to the Young Person’s Guarantee, offering 35,790 opportunities to 16-24 years olds in Scotland.

Decisions by the Scottish Qualifications Authority (SQA) on the 2023 appeals service were informed by extensive feedback on the 2022 services from the wider education community - including over 3,500 learners, parents, carers, and practitioners, as well as school, college, local authority and teacher and lecturer union representatives on the National Qualifications 2023 Group and SQA’s Advisory Council.

The evaluation of the feedback (as at https://www.sqa.org.uk/sqa/105647.12132.html ) identified a number of themes in relation to the 2022 service, including that the majority of respondents were concerned about issues relating to perceptions of fairness and equity.

Following careful consideration of these views, the appeals service for 2023 was aligned with the service used before the pandemic, with important enhancements. The service continued to be free and was available to all learners to appeal directly to SQA and, unlike in 2022, the service was available regardless of a learner’s estimate.

The approach taken is comparable with other appeals services in the rest of the UK and internationally.

As with all SQA policy decisions, a full Equalities Impact Assessment was undertaken in relation to the 2023 appeals process. This can be accessed at: https://www.sqa.org.uk/sqa/files_ccc/eqia-nq-2023-assessment.pdf .

SQA’s approach to grading the exams in 2023 was based on its established awarding processes. Using ‘grade boundaries’ – the marks needed to achieve an A, B or C grade in each course – SQA checked that each assessment was set at the right standard or level of difficulty.

During the grade boundary setting process, SQA appointees – experienced course teachers and lecturers who are subject experts in each course – determined the grade boundaries by looking at all the available assessment evidence and course information, including the impact disruption and course modifications had on how young people performed in the assessments. For example, I understand that evidence indicated there had been particular challenges seen across the cohort around developing listening skills in modern languages. In recognition of this, adjustments were made to grade boundaries.

This process ensured fairness for this year’s students while maintaining national standards. Adjustments to grade boundaries were smaller this year than in 2022, reflecting the continuing recovery in skills, knowledge and understanding on the part of students.

The Scottish Government does not hold this information. Individual local authorities may gather this data.

The Scottish Government commissions six-monthly reports from local authorities on school counselling services which asks for number of young people accessing counselling, broken down by gender and year groups. The reports also seek information on outcomes, inward and outward referrals as well as the issues young people are presenting with.

Within the reporting form there is a free text box where authorities are encouraged to share additional information, such as information on waiting times if they have that data available. Although some authorities have reported that services are at capacity, no concerns have been raised about young people’s needs not being met.

The Teacher Workforce Planning Advisory Group (TWPAG) considerations are based on an annual statistical model which estimates the number of ITE students required to achieve particular pupil teacher ratios. TWPAG includes representatives from local authority employers, as well as university providers of ITE, teacher unions and the General Teaching Council for Scotland.

TWPAG’s considerations are based on annual statistical model which estimates the number of ITE students required to maintain pupil teacher ratios. This model is based on a number of inputs including projections about the number of pupils in the system, churn in teacher numbers (for example recruitment, maternity leave, retirements, returners,) and the retention rates of ITE students.

To ensure effective and evidence-informed longer-term teacher workforce planning, the Scottish Government has commissioned an external analysis and research exercise that will bring together a range of factors including current teacher numbers, pupil teacher ratios and the projected decline in the number of school-aged children. This analysis will inform decisions on education workforce planning for future years.