Chamber and committees

The Scottish Government does not recognise these reported claims.

The Scottish Government worked closely with the teaching unions, including the EIS, and local government partners to reach a historic 28-month pay deal that has a cumulative value of 14.6%, which is the largest pay package for teachers in over twenty years.

The summary of 2022 reports will be published in the coming weeks at: Access to counsellors in secondary schools and children and young people’s community mental health services – summary reports - gov.scot (www.gov.scot)

The Scottish Government is not aware of these reported comments from the EIS. The up to date national picture on Behaviour in Scotland’s Schools will publish later this year.

Local authorities currently provide six monthly reports on school counselling services which include information around number of children accessing the service, improved outcomes, counsellor numbers and the types of issues young people are presenting with.

A summary of the reports submitted in 2022 will be published on the Scottish Government website in the coming weeks at: Access to counsellors in secondary schools and children and young people’s community mental health services – summary reports - gov.scot (www.gov.scot)

The responsibility for the provision of secure transport lies with local authorities, and the development of this specification is being led by COSLA.

Discussions with key partners around the use of the specification are ongoing and will be discussed at the national Secure Care Group Meeting on 2 October. The Secure Transport Working Group aim to introduce the specification as soon as possible to assist local authorities in commissioning these services.

The Deferral Working Group was established to guide and assist evaluation of the pilot approach and assist preparation and planning for full implementation of the associated legislation in August 2023.

Interviews were undertaken with 30 parents as part of the pilot evaluation and the findings from the evaluation were shared with the working group.

Results from a parent survey about deferrals conducted by Glasgow City Council was shared with the working group.

Give Them Time, a group who campaigned for the additional year of funded ELC for children who defer, attended the working group in July 2021 to share the views of parents they work with and these views were also fed in through officials at further meetings.

Ultimately, the costs of the strategy will be determined by the actions which are included when the strategy is finalised. These will require to be assessed and agreed within the context of the 2024-25 Published Budget process.

To support development of the strategy we have spent more than £70k on research and engagement since the announcement was made; and have provided grant funding to the Association for Real Change (ARC) Scotland.

The Scottish Government has committed to rejoining the Progress in International Reading Literacy Study (PIRLS) and the Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS) with the next cycles, PIRLS 2026 and TIMSS 2027, reporting in 2027 and 2028 respectively.

Data on reading, mathematics and science performance will continue to be available in the interim period from the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) 2022 results which are being published in December 2023 and PISA 2025 results, which will be published in 2026. In addition, literacy and numeracy attainment results from the Achievement of CfE Levels data collection are published each year in December for P1, P4, P7 and S3 pupils.

As a Non-Departmental Public Body (NDPB), SQA operates at arm’s length to ministers and is responsible for its own operational decisions, including decisions relating to course assessments.

SQA’s decision to return to full course assessments for the National Qualifications in 2023-24 was made following engagement with the National Qualifications Group and wider education community, informed by extensive feedback gathered as part of their evaluation of the 2022 arrangements.

I discussed these matters directly with the Chief Examiner, including feedback from the SSTA and other teachers, and received assurance that the impact of the removal of modifications will be carefully considered in the grading process in 2024.

The most recent data on sports participation is from the 2021 Scottish Health Survey, which shows that the average percentage of children aged between 11 and 15 that had taken part in a sport activity in the past week was 65%.

The Scottish Government does not track the participation of children aged between 10 and 15 in cultural activities.