Chamber and committees

I refer the member to question S6W-24236 answered on 8 January 2024. 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

We published guidance in June 2017 - ‘Included, Engaged and Involved – Part 2 – preventing and managing school exclusions’ - for teachers. The guidance gives a stronger focus on supporting positive behaviour and approaches that can be used to prevent the need for exclusion.

The series of summits I held with a wide range of stakeholders on behaviour in schools concluded in November. The summit process culminated in the publication of the Behaviour in Scottish Schools Research (BISSR), which provides the accurate national picture in relation to behaviour in Scotland’s schools.

In my statement to Parliament on 29 November, I confirmed that a multi-year plan is in development to tackle instances of challenging behaviour, working with local authorities, trade unions and others.

We are currently working with the Scottish Advisory Group on Relationships and Behaviour in Schools to establish what actions are required to respond to the findings of the summit process and BISSR. The national action plan will be published as soon as possible.

All children and young people should receive the support that they need to reach their full potential. Local authorities are under a statutory duty to identify, provide for, and review the support that they provide for pupils with additional support needs. This includes support arising from a neurodivergence.

The Scottish Government funds the National Autism Implementation Team to produce materials to support professional learning and development for those working with children and young people with autism. This includes content for all Initial Teacher Education courses on autism and how to support autistic pupils, the provision of autism and inclusive practice resources and the Autism Toolbox , which is available for all school staff.

The Scottish Government also funds Dyslexia Scotland to produce materials and professional learning opportunities for those working with children and young people with dyslexia. This includes the Addressing Dyslexia Toolkit and free online professional learning modules on dyslexia and inclusive practice and a GTC Scotland accredited professional recognition programme.

The Scottish Government is committed to improving the educational experiences of children and young people with additional support needs. Ministers will work with teachers and support staff to provide additional professional learning opportunities while seeking to build on the Additional Support for Learning Action Plan.

In December 2023, we launched our public consultation for the Learning Disabilities, Autism and Neurodivergence Bill. The consultation runs until 21 April, and we are encouraging as many people and organisations as possible to take part.

The Scottish Government does not hold this information.

The term additional support needs under the Education (Additional Support for Learning) (Scotland) Act 2004 (the 2004 Act) applies where for whatever reason children or young people are unable to benefit from school education without the provision of additional support. Therefore, the information requested in relation to colleges and universities is not applicable.

An additional support need may not be permanent and does not require a diagnosis. There is a wide spectrum of support that may be needed, from support to overcome barriers arising from health or disability to support for social and emotional reasons, therefore, each child or young person’s needs are unique.

Under the 2004 Act appropriate agencies have a duty to help an education authority discharge their duties unless the help asked for:

• Is incompatible with the agency's statutory or other duties; or
• unduly prejudices the agency in its discharge of its own functions.

For the purposes of the Act, an appropriate agency can be any NHS Board. Therefore, education authorities may make a request to an NHS Board, that a child or young person receives speech or language therapy or attends occupational therapy, where appropriate.

On counselling, local authorities provide six-monthly joint reports to the Scottish Government on both access to counsellors in secondary schools and children and young people’s community mental health services.

The most recently published information (3 November 2022) can be found at the following link:

Access to counsellors in secondary schools and children and young people’s community mental health services: summary report - July to December 2021 - gov.scot (www.gov.scot)

The Scottish Government continues to keep Preference Waiver Payments (PWP) under review through the Teacher Induction Scheme Ongoing Review Group and Strategic Board for Teacher Education.

The Strategic Board for Teacher Education, which is made up of a range of key education stakeholders, is looking at issues around the recruitment and retention of teachers in Scotland in detail. This will include consideration of the Teacher Induction Scheme.

The Scottish Government does not hold this information.

The assignment of probationer teachers to individual schools is a matter for each local authority.

The number of properties expected to be liable for the Intermediate Property Rate (IPR) in 2024-2025 before any reliefs are applied is presented in the below tables, broken down in Table 1 by property class, and in Table 2 by council area. Property class is a classification used by Scottish Assessors to describe the type of property, and does not necessarily accurately reflect the use of a property. The Scottish Government does not hold property-level data on industry sectors.

These tables are based on the non-domestic valuation roll as at 1 October 2023.

Figures in these tables are rounded to the nearest 10.

Table 1: Number of properties liable for IPR in 2024-2025 by property class

I have asked Teresa Medhurst, Chief Executive of the Scottish Prison Service (SPS), to respond. Her response is as follows:

With the exception of 2 prison cells at HMP Open Estate, Castle Huntly, all other cells across the SPS estate have access to natural light.

All prison cells have access to artificial light sufficient for reading purposes.

I have asked Teresa Medhurst, Chief Executive of the Scottish Prison Service (SPS), to respond. Her response is as follows:

SPS does not record this information. However, as defined in the Prison and Young Offenders Rules (Scotland) 2011, individuals must have, and do have, access to showering/washing facilities a minimum of every second day.