Chamber and committees

I refer the member to the answer to question S4W-30648 on 22 March 2016. 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.

The Attainment Scotland Fund supports 57 schools and seven challenge authorities to focus and accelerate targeted improvements in literacy, numeracy and health and wellbeing. Advice was issued to the seven challenge authorities when the fund was launched in February 2015, setting out the priority areas on which to focus their proposals. Advice for the 57 schools in the Schools Programme was provided to the relevant schools in October 2015. Authorities and Schools were also guided through face to face meetings with Education Scotland and the Scottish Government.

Based on this guidance, schools and authorities involved in the Attainment Scotland Fund were asked to develop bespoke plans which identify a range of interventions and strategies to raise attainment of children living in deprived areas.

<>The latest statistics on free school meal uptake were published on 17 June 2015 in the Scottish Government statistics publication - Summary statistics for attainment, leaver destinations and healthy living, No. 5: 2015 Edition. Table 9b, which can be accessed at: http://www.gov.scot/Publications/2015/06/2579/6

sets out that of all primary 1-3 pupils who were registered and present on the day of the survey, 129,674 (79.3%) took free school meals.

The Nutritional Requirements for Food and Drink in Schools (Scotland) Regulations 2008 set high nutritional standards that all food and drink served in schools must meet. The Regulations are monitored by Education Scotland Health and Nutrition Inspectors and supported by Healthy Eating in Schools: A Guide to Implementing the Nutritional Requirements for Food and Drink in Schools (Scotland) Regulations 2008, which can be accessed at:

http://www.gov.scot/Publications/2008/09/12090355/0.

The Minister for Learning, Science and Scotland’s Languages had a constructive meeting with the University of the West of Scotland Student President, Jack Douglas, on Thursday 17 March 2016, at which this report was discussed.

The higher education student loan, bursary and additional living-cost grants are 52 week allowances, already covering the full academic year. They are paid in monthly instalments (normally 9 or 10 instalments a year) to ensure students receive more support during term-time, when their capacity to work is reduced and their reliance on loan and bursary support is greater. Discretionary funds allocated to colleges and universities each year can also be used to provide additional support to students experiencing difficulty over summer months.

The latest figures demonstrate that retention has improved for full-time students in both college and university since 2008-09. The Scottish Funding Council also continue to invest strategic funds from the £14.7 million Widening Access and Retention Fund to support improvement.

We want to maintain this progress and we therefore commend the Students’ Association for their contribution to this important issue.

Our plans are to invest £475 million in train improvements: more trains, more seats and more services across Scotland.

By early 2018 the new longer, greener, quicker class 385 trains will serve communities in East Lothian. On peak services, when the new six car Hitachi class 385 trains are introduced, more than 40% extra seats will be provided. More immediately ScotRail are committed to ensuring they provide as much capacity as possible from their current rolling stock to meet passenger demand.

On ticketing, there have been some passengers queuing at Waverley after their journey to buy tickets. ScotRail will soon launch a “Buy Before You Board” campaign and I would encourage passengers to do so, particularly at the closest stations to Edinburgh, as train staff have limited time to sell tickets before arrival at Waverley.

Attainment Scotland Funding for schools from the seven challenge authorities is provided via a grant offer to their local authority. The amount schools in a challenge authority receives is a matter for the authority, as is the date they receive it.

Support through the Attainment Scotland Fund is also being provided to 57 schools via their local authorities by means of specific offer of grants for each school. Funding for the 14 authorities with one or more schools in the Attainment Scotland Fund Schools Programme was confirmed in January 2015, with grant claims expected before the end of the financial year. The Scottish Government have not received any draw down claims from authorities to date but expect the allocated funding to be drawn down by 31 March 2016.

CodeClan, Scotland's first digital skills academy, is a social enterprise with a remit to operate commercially. Its design and curriculum have been agreed by industry representatives, and are aimed at meeting the immediate need for software developers in businesses across Scotland. The Scottish Government has awarded £1.56 million through the Digital Scotland Business Excellence Partnership to support its start-up costs. CodeClan's business plan sets out a route to be fully self-sufficient, working in partnership with industry.

The Scottish Government will continue to work with CodeClan, and other digital skills academies as they are established, along with public sector partners and industry to ensure that Scotland’s digital skills issues and needs are tackled effectively.

Funding from the Attainment Scotland Fund is provided to local authorities by means of specific grant, which is drawn down quarterly. The final grant claims for the seven challenge authorities are expected by the end of the financial year, and so none of the authorities have yet claimed their full allocation from the fund. To date, the amount claimed per authority is set out in Table 1. This will increase substantially once final claims are submitted and processed.

Table 1

Challenge Authorities	Spend to 31 December 2015
Clackmannanshire Council	£265,436
Dundee City Council	£265,800
Glasgow City Council	£705,826
Inverclyde Council	£200,804
North Ayrshire Council	£210,081
North Lanarkshire Council	£308,790
West Dunbartonshire Council	£418,043

Funding for the 14 authorities with one or more schools in the Attainment Scotland Fund Schools programme was confirmed in January 2016, with grant claims expected by the end of the financial year and so none of these authorities have yet claimed their allocation from the fund.

The Scottish Government has made £6.6 million available to address digital skills shortages. We are working with key partners from Skills Development Scotland, the Scottish Funding Council, Education Scotland, academia and industry to tackle the issues set out in 2014’s digital skills investment plan.

The measures taken to increase the number of software developers in Scotland include support for:

CodeClan; the industry-led digital skills academy.

The Digital World marketing campaign that targets both women and young people

An International Talent Attraction programme

Transition training in both Highland and Lowland Scotland

A digital skills partnership, creating a strong link between further education and higher education and industry needs

Every year Skills Development Scotland (SDS) produces a modern apprenticeship demand statement which summarises the annual returns that are completed by sector skills councils and sector skills bodies to indicate their expected levels of demand for modern apprenticeship (MA) places for the coming year.

The MA demand process also incorporates evidence from the regional skills assessments and sectoral skills investment plans on demand for skills by region and industry or sector. This information helps SDS to make informed decisions regarding the allocation of funded MA across sectors and across the MA frameworks as part on an annual contracting round.