The Scottish Government keeps the eligibility criteria for free school meals under regular review to take account of any developments which may impact upon it. The eligibility criteria was last amended in April 2023. We notify local authorities whenever any changes are made to the eligibility criteria to enable them to invite fresh applications for free school meals under the new criteria.

We are currently reviewing the existing eligibility criteria for free school meals in light of the latest increases to the National Living Wage, which were announced by the UK Government on 21 November 2023.

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

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.

In line with The Scottish Government’s commitment to co-design the Centre for Teaching Excellence, The Scottish Government has undertaken useful engagement with a number of important stakeholders including COSLA, the Scottish Council of Deans of Education, the General Teaching Council for Scotland, professional associations and trade unions and the Strategic Board for Teacher Education to discuss the overall approach to co-designing the Centre.

The Centre will focus on quality learning and teaching, helping Scotland to remain at the cutting edge of teaching practice by, for example, distilling research and evidence into practical and digestible support for every teacher and practitioner in Scotland, meeting a widely recognised need in the system.

The role and remit of the Centre, how it operates, its interaction with teachers and practitioners, performance measures, and associated costs and timescales will be considered as part of the design process.

In light of COSLA and local authorities’ responsibilities and key leadership role as the employers of teachers, The Scottish Government believes that the Centre would be strengthened if it were to have joint oversight by COSLA and is keen to work with COSLA in this regard.

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-23878 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 https://www.parliament.scot/chamber-and-committees/written-questions-and-answers

As I set out in my statement, we have a record number of additional support assistants in our schools, and this has been supported by the £830m spent on additional support for learning in 2021-22. This level of spend on additional support for learning is a record high.

We have maintained our record level of investment in pupil support assistants by providing authorities with a further £15m per year since 2019-20 to specifically support schools and authorities to respond to the individual needs of children and young people. As a direct result of our continued investment, we now have the highest recorded level of pupil support assistants. In 2022, 307 additional pupil support assistants were recruited. This builds on the increase of 1,036 from the previous year (2021) and brings the total number of pupil support staff in Scotland to 16,606.

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-23878 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 https://www.parliament.scot/chamber-and-committees/written-questions-and-answers

The Scottish Government does not hold this information.

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

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 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)