Chamber and committees

On 20 March 2020 we published the Year 2 progress update on our Race Equality Action Plan. A final year report of this Plan will be published in 2021, which will include consideration of activity across all relevant portfolios.

Scotland’s curriculum is not prescriptive. It provides teachers with a flexible framework through the experiences and outcomes. Education Scotland are in the process of work to exemplify how race equality can be addressed in education through whole schools approaches and the ethos and life of the school as well as across all curricular areas. An external reference group, including BEMIS and CRER, are guiding the work and a race equality in education resource for practitioners is nearly complete, due for launch in September.

Education Scotland have also developed a quick reference guide to existing key resources for practitioners about Black history and BAME heritage, including colonialism. We plan to make use of existing groups, including the Ethnic Minorities Resilience Network and members of the Diversity in the Teaching Profession working group, to inform whether any further action is needed.

On 20 March 2020 we published the Year 2 progress update on our Race Equality Action Plan. A final year report of this Plan will be published in 2021, which will include consideration of activity across all relevant portfolios.

Scotland’s curriculum is not prescriptive. It provides teachers with a flexible framework through the experiences and outcomes. Education Scotland have developed a quick reference guide to existing key resources for practitioners about black history and BAME heritage, including colonialism and slavery. We plan to make use of existing groups, including the Ethnic Minorities Resilience Network and members of the Diversity in the Teaching Profession working group, to identify any additional resources and inform whether any further action is needed.

The Scottish Government has released guidance on how public and customer toilets can open safely. This guidance has been sent directly to local authorities to assist in planning the safe reopening of public toilets. We are reviewing current policy on an on-going basis taken into account the latest scientific and medical evidence. You can view a copy of the guidance on the Scottish Government website here .

The Scottish Government has released guidance on how public and customer toilets can open safely. The decision to open public toilets in commercial businesses is to be made by the operator. You can find a copy of the guidance here .

On the 30 th of June 2020, I announced during the daily media briefing that visiting restrictions are being relaxed in hospitals from 13 July, in line with Scotland’s Coronavirus Route Map. In addition we are also developing additional guidance for Maternity Services specific to visiting within the maternity and neonatal setting.

This means that partners of pregnant women will be able to attend ante-natal, clinic, scan appointments and visit women on postnatal wards.

The new guidance can be found here: https://www.gov.scot/publications/coronavirus-covid-19-hospital-visiting-guidance/ .

Information on Psychiatry specialty vacancies in the last 12 months, broken down by NHS Board, can be found on the TURAS NHS Education for Scotland workforce statistics site at:

https://turasdata.nes.nhs.scot/workforce-official-statistics/nhsscotland
-workforce/publications/02-june-2020/data-tables/

Due to the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on collation of more detailed data by Boards, reduced vacancy data is being reported for this quarter - March 2020.

Scotland-level data on vacancies for Consultants, Nursing & Midwifery and Allied Health Professionals for March 2020 is not available.

Information on Clinical Radiology vacancies in the last 12 months, broken down by NHS Board, can be found on the TURAS NHS Education for Scotland workforce statistics site at:

https://turasdata.nes.nhs.scot/workforce-official-statistics/nhsscotland
-workforce/publications/02-june-2020/data-tables/

Due to the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on collation of more detailed data by Boards, reduced vacancy data is being reported for this quarter - March 2020.

Scotland-level data on vacancies for Consultants, Nursing & Midwifery and Allied Health Professionals for March 2020 is not available.

At the moment the guidance on the return to school for those shielding is provided within the re-opening of schools guide, which is available from https://www.gov.scot/publications/coronavirus-covid-19-re-opening-schools-guide/  It provides a range of guidance in relation to the circumstances where a pupil themselves is shielding, or is living with someone who is shielding. For children who are themselves shielding it says “People with serious underlying health conditions are strongly advised to follow shielding measures to keep themselves safe and not to attend school in person.”

In my statement to Parliament, I stated that “we still need to protect those in our society who might not be able to attend school for health reasons. and to the continued need for blended learning as a contingency." Attached is a link to the official report which will confirm this http://www.parliament.scot/parliamentarybusiness/report.aspx?r=12713&i=114985 .

In her statement to Parliament the First Minister said “In addition, before the end of July we will provide further advice to those who are shielding. If we can, we want to move away from the current position of blanket guidance for all shielding people to much more tailored advice about risk and how to mitigate it.”

The Education Recovery Group, which I chair, is considering the recovery phase of the education system, including delivery of the assessment of National Qualifications in 2020-2021. Our priority continues to be to ensure fairness for all learners.

Each year, schools prepare young people for exam conditions using a range of approaches which are a regular part of the curriculum. This will continue to be an area of work that will be important for schools to give consideration to.

It will continue to be the responsibility of individual schools and local authorities to develop and deliver a tailored approach that supports the needs of young people in the next academic session, in consultation with parents and carers.

There were 232 deaths registered by Sunday 7th June where coronavirus was the sole cause of death recorded on the death certificate.

For more information on how cause of death is determined please see:

https://www.nrscotland.gov.uk/statistics-and-data/statistics/
statistics-by-theme/vital-events/deaths/deaths-background-information .