Chamber and committees

We know that Covid is affecting the learning of all children and young people, and we have published an Equity Audit examining the particular impact on children and young people from disadvantaged backgrounds. This government is also investing £182m in the Scottish Attainment Challenge in‎ 2021-22, including £127m in Pupil Equity Funding to support those from disadvantaged backgrounds. This builds on the £750m investment in the Scottish Attainment Challenge over the course of this Parliament.

Specific funding committed as part of a longer-term programme up to 2021-22 to enable children to catch-up on missed education includes:

• £105m for additional teachers and other support staff
• £90m to help offset the additional costs required to implement protection measures and support safe, open and welcoming schools
• £25m devices & connectivity
• £51m for free school meal alternatives during remote learning and school holidays
• £45m support for schools and families
• £60m education recovery funding to support and accelerate learning recovery

Information on the number of teachers in posts was collected in the September 2020 school staff census and were published in December in the 2020 the Summary Statistics for Schools in Scotland, available here: https://www.gov.scot/publications/summary-statistics-schools-scotland-2020/

The Scottish Government collects data on an annual basis in the school staff census in September of each year so does not hold data on the number of teachers in post in May 2007. Information on the numbers of teacher in post in the September 2006 staff census, from the same academic year as May 2007, is available in table 6.1 of the 2019 Teacher Census Supplementary Statistics, available here: https://www.gov.scot/publications/teacher-census-supplementary-statistics/

Information on primary school class sizes is collected annually in the September Pupil Census. Statistics on class sizes from the 2020 census were published in Summary Statistics for Schools in Scotland 2020 , available here: https://www.gov.scot/publications/summary-statistics-schools-scotland-2020/ .

There are no quarterly economic growth statistics for (a) North Ayrshire and (b) Arran. The Office for National Statistics produces annual GDP statistics for local authorities. The latest release can be found at https://www.ons.gov.uk/economy/grossdomesticproductgdp/datasets/
regionalgrossdomesticproductlocalauthorities .

Overall, we have committed over £375 million as part of a long-term programme of recovery.

This includes £160m, which can be broken down as follows:

• £80m for teachers and other support staff
• £50m to help offset the additional costs required to support safe, open and welcoming schools
• £25m devices & connectivity
• £3m youth work
• £2m The Promise as part of the Care Review

In addition to that, we have also committed funding, which includes:

• £51m for free school meal alternatives during remote learning and school holidays
• £45m support for schools and families
• £25m more for teachers and support staff
• £40m more to offset the additional costs required to implement protection measures in schools
• £60m education recovery funding to support and accelerate learning recovery and enable children to catch-up on missed education.

The estimated completion costs for the vessels is unchanged since last estimate at £110.3m - £114.3m. The delivery of 801 is planned for the range April 2022 to June 2022 and the delivery of 802 is planned for December 2022 to February 2023.

Tim Hair, Turnaround Director of Ferguson Marine is preparing an update, for the Rural Economy and Connectivity Committee, on the delivery timetable and budget for vessels 801 and 802. This will be submitted prior to parliamentary recess on the 25th March and will be the first of regular quarterly updates on progress as requested by the committee in their report on ferry procurement.

Information on teacher vacancies in North Ayrshire from 2016 to 2019 can be found at:

Teacher vacancy survey 2016 to 2019 - gov.scot (www.gov.scot)

Information on Arran only is not available.

A survey was not undertaken in 2020 due to the expectation that all teaching resource will be required to support education recovery and as such vacancies are expected to be very few in number. Since the start of the pandemic over £300 million has been invested in support of education recovery. This has helped to recruit an additional 1,400 teachers and over 200 support staff.

Current teacher vacancy information is available from individual local authorities or at: www.myjobscotland.gov.uk .

Total gross revenue expenditure on education per school pupil in the North Ayrshire Local Authority is presented in the following table, at primary and secondary school level.

Figures for Arran are included in the North Ayrshire Local Authority total and are not available separately.

Health Boards are aware of the need to work within the nationally agreed prioritisation schedule to manage the administration of their vaccine supplies. This prioritisation will also include a limited number of non-clinical staff who are working in COVID-19 red pathways and/or as part of vaccinations teams. This includes ancillary staff, such as cleaners, porters, secretaries and receptionists, who may have social contact with patients but are not directly involved in patient care.

Some staff may also be prioritised ahead of others for the vaccine due to their age and/or underlying medical conditions.

We are seeking detail from HM Treasury on any consequential funding along with detail in relation to the planned tax and levy as a result of the UK Government’s recent announcement.

I will set out a sustainable path forward next month and I hope by that time we will know the details of the consequentials.