Chamber and committees

As part of the Student Support Action Plan, announced in April 2020 and in response to the Covid-19 pandemic, an additional £2.2m of HE Discretionary Funds were distributed to colleges and universities that month for immediate use. In June 2020, the first instalment of the 2020-21 HE Discretionary Funds (£11.4m) was brought forward from August to June for immediate use. The second instalment is due to be issued in February 2021.

Details of the allocations can be found at: https://www.saas.gov.uk/files/315/saas-discretionary-fund-allocations.pdf

The Student Awards Agency Scotland (SAAS) have committed to monitoring spend of Discretionary Funds over the coming months and will ask institutions for a high-level update in October 2020.

Detailed spend analysis of Discretionary Funds by institutions is a requirement of the annual audited verification process with this analysis of the 2019-20 FY funds, encompassing the ring-fenced £2.2m available in October. The analysis of 2020-21 FY funds is expected in October 2021.

These funds will supplement any individual hardship funds that colleges and universities may have set up for their students.

In addition, Scottish Government has committed £5m of additional support to colleges and universities to support students who are struggling to afford to buy, maintain and connect the equipment they need to benefit from digital learning. Scottish Government have also recently announced phase 2 of Connecting Scotland - a £15m fund which will support 23,000 people to digitally connect. Phase 2 will prioritise disadvantaged families with children and young people leaving care.

The teacher census supplementary data and support staff data for 2019 were published on 31 March 2020.

Teachers census supplementary data: https://www.gov.scot/publications/teacher-census-supplementary-statistics/

Support staff supplementary data: https://www.gov.scot/publications/school-support-staff-statistics/

As this is an operational matter relating to grant information, I have asked the Chief Executives of Scottish Enterprise, Highlands and Islands Enterprise and South of Scotland Enterprise to respond to you directly.

We have engaged with education authorities throughout the COVID-19 period and there has been significant progress in the delivery of the counselling through schools commitment. It is expected that all schools will have access to counselling services by the end of October 2020.

The accrual of interest on student loans is provided for in The Education (Student Loans) (Repayment) Regulations 2009, a UK Statutory Instrument that impacts on all UK borrowers.

There are currently no circumstances whereby interest would stop accruing (unless repaid in full, or written off). As a result, where a borrower is on maternity/paternity leave there is no provision in these UK Regulations to prevent or pause the accruing of interest in these circumstances.

However, the interest rate on student loans that impacts Scottish students is based on the lower of either the Bank of England base rate +1% or the Retail Price Index (RPI). The current interest rate for Scottish borrowers is 1.1%. This compares to other borrowers in the rest of the UK who are repaying on different plan types where the interest rate is 5.4%.

We remain fully committed to working with partners to undertake a review of the use of co-ordinated support plans to ensure that children and young people with the most significant additional support needs are receiving the support that they need to reach their full learning potential.

However, the Covid-19 pandemic has presented unprecedented challenges for our education system, and we recognise that as children and young people return to full time learning, it is critical that we do not make any additional demands on the system. Therefore, we will continue to keep the situation under close review and take forward this important work when it is appropriate to do so.

This work will be undertaken within the wider context of the independently chaired review of implementation of additional support for learning which will be used to inform the review of the use of Co-ordinated Support Plans. We anticipate that a response to this report will be published in the autumn.

We are deeply concerned by reports showing that people from some minority ethnic backgrounds have been disproportionately affected by COVID-19.

In order to improve our understanding of and respond to the risks and impacts, we have established an Expert Group Reference Group (ERG) on COVID-19 and Ethnicity, involving academic and experts, to consider the data and evidence and to challenge, inform and shape the Scottish Government’s future work. This will include how analytical partners across the Scottish Government, National Records of Scotland, Public Health Scotland and the NHS can improve and make the best use of data.

The recent report from National Records of Scotland on COVID-19 deaths by ethnicity, published on 8 July, starts to give us a better understanding. However, as highlighted in its methodology note , due to the degree of inconsistency in how individuals have reported, or have had reported on their behalf, their ethnicity, specifically between the “White Irish” and “White Scottish” categories over time and between datasets, it was not possible to carry out an analysis which would enable robust conclusions to be drawn on COVID-19 related mortality for the White Irish ethnic group.

The changes to basic disclosure under Part 2 of the Management of Offenders (Scotland) Act 2019 Act ("the 2019 Act") require operational changes to the system of disclosure certificates issued by Disclosure Scotland.

Disclosure Scotland activated their business continuity plan in light of Covid-19 and are focusing on their vital safeguarding role during these challenging times. This means commencement could not take place as had been planned for the summer of 2020. Disclosure Scotland and the Scottish Government have been working to set a new implementation date for the delivery of these important changes.

The Scottish Government is hopeful that Part 2 of the 2019 Act will be able to be commenced at some point in 2020, but that very much depends on the current situation. Once I am able to, I will announce when commencement of Part 2 of the 2019 Act will take place.

The Scottish Government recognises the importance of involving young people in decision making processes which affect their lives, including in decisions made regarding learning and education settings.

As such the Scottish Government has engaged with children and young people throughout the COVID-19 pandemic to gather their views and ensure these are reflected in planning and decision making processes.

This includes supporting the Scottish Youth Parliament, YouthLink Scotland and Young Scot to deliver the ‘LockdownLowdown’ survey of 2,418 young people which concluded in April 2020 and supporting the Children’s Parliament to deliver their ‘How are you doing?’ survey of 3,968 children which concluded in May 2020.

I also held a panel discussion meeting with a group of 19 children and young people on 17 June 2020 to discuss the impact of COVID-19 on learning and educating settings. Topics discussed included learners experiences of learning at home, additional support schools, local authorities and government can provide to help overcome barriers to learning during COVID-19, learner concerns regarding a return to school in August, learner hopes for the new school term in August, the mental health and wellbeing of learners during COVID-19 and any positive impacts of the COVID-19 crisis on learning or learners.

The Scottish Government are also working with partners in the third sector to establish an ‘Education Recovery Panel’ of children and young people who will represent the views of learners in the education recovery process throughout the recovery period.