Chamber and committees

In January 2025, the First Minister launched the Scottish Government anti-racism commitment, which acknowledges that racism exists within our education system, interpersonally and institutionally. This Government is committed to eradicating that racism through our anti-racist actions and policies.

We are tackling racism through the Anti-Racism in Education Programme, embedding anti-racist principles across the curriculum. We also provide funding to Education Scotland to deliver professional learning for teachers on anti-racism, including the award-winning Building Racial Literacy programme. In March 2026, the Scottish Government published a Whole School Approach to racism and racist incidents in schools, which is designed to assist school leaders, school staff, and local authorities to implement a consistent and robust whole school approach to responding to racism and racist incidents in schools.

Scottish Ministers are committed to improving the educational experiences of children and young people with additional support needs and recognise the important role all staff play in supporting those who are most vulnerable.

The 2026-27 budget set out an additional £29m of investment for local and national programmes to support the recruitment and retention of the ASN workforce. We will also continue to work in partnership with local government to support schools to develop positive learning environments and promote positive relationships and behaviour through the delivery of our Relationships and Behaviour in Schools Action Plan. Further detail in relation to the timing and staging of manifesto commitments will be announced in due course.

In relation to school education, the Scottish Government provides grant funding to the Development Education Centres to deliver the Global Citizenship in Scotland programme. This provides professional learning for educators to build the skills and confidence they need to deliver Learning for Sustainability and Global Citizenship Education. In 2026-27, this funding totals £330,000. We also provide grant funding to Keep Scotland Beautiful to deliver the Climate Action Schools programme, which includes delivery of Eco-Schools Scotland. Global Citizenship is one of the optional topics learners can choose as part of their Eco-Schools work. In 2026-27, this funding totals £425,000.

In addition, the government’s curriculum agency, Education Scotland, continues to promote the work of Global Citizenship Education organisations through its educator networks, professional learning opportunities and via the Education Scotland website.

The following table provides the outcome of applications that Advice Direct Scotland have received to the Scottish Emergency Heating Oil Scheme.

These management figures are taken from a live administrative database and so could be subject to future revision. There are various caveats with the data and should not be regarded as officials statistics, these caveats are noted below.

Scottish Ministers are supportive of the principles of the European Declaration on Global Education to 2050, in particular its emphasis on climate justice, equity and equality, sustainability, diversity, inclusion, and human rights.

The Declaration aligns with the Scottish Government’s commitment to Learning for Sustainability (LfS) in schools, which includes Global Citizenship Education. LfS is embedded in key national education policies and frameworks and is reflected in our National Improvement Framework. LfS is an entitlement within the Scottish 3-18 curriculum, and both sustainability and social justice are reflected in the General Teaching Council for Scotland Professional Standards for Teachers.

In addition, the Scottish Government’s Anti-Racist Curriculum Principles, Breaking the Mould, include significant connections with global citizenship. In particular, that children and young people will be critical thinking global citizens that challenge discrimination and prejudice through an understanding and awareness of the behaviours, practices and processes that create injustice in the world.

We recognise that workforce capacity is fundamental to the successful delivery of our funded childcare expansion, just as it was fundamental to our successful delivery of 1140 hours of funded early learning and childcare. Our approach to expansion will involve working closely with local authorities, private and third sector providers, representative bodies, and trade unions across the childcare sector and wider civil society, to ensure that workforce requirements are understood and addressed.

A detailed breakdown on the number of eligible properties by local authority is not held centrally.

For those living in Scotland who are reliant on heating oil or liquid petroleum gas, they can visit the home heatingadvice.scot website to review the eligibility criteria and make an application.

The Scottish Government recognises the importance of empowering headteachers in schools across Scotland, as set out in the SNP manifesto, to ensure continuous improvement.

We will build on the 2018 Joint Agreement with COSLA on school empowerment, which led to the creation of the Headteachers’ Charter and Devolved School Management Guidelines as we strive to support and advance these ambitions. This work provides the foundations for school leaders to take a greater role in enhanced decision-making in areas such as staffing, budgets, curriculum and school improvement.

Over the past decade there has been £1.75 billion investment into the Scottish Attainment Challenge programme. This includes Pupil Equity Funding, which has been one of the most significant changes in Scottish education which Ministers have introduced over the last ten years, empowering headteachers with direct funding to support the children and young people in their schools. Scottish Attainment Challenge funding has been publicly committed for 2026-27, and we are carefully considering how best we can build upon the progress that has been made.

As part of the Scottish Government’s commitment to Public Service Reform, specific projects on education and skills are bringing together a range of education bodies with the purpose of delivering improved service outcomes and supporting the education system overall, including headteachers in our schools.

I refer the member to the answer to question S7W-00937 on 25 June 2026. All answers to written Parliamentary Questions are available on the Parliament's website, the search facility for which can be found at https://www.parliament.scot/chamber-and-committees/written-questions-and-answers.

Information about how the Apprenticeship Accelerator Grant scheme will operate will be set out in due course.