Chamber and committees

The Scottish Government has been progressing a number of areas of work in relation to articulating and embedding anti-racism in the curriculum. This has included the introduction of anti-racism curriculum principles Breaking the Mould, published in June 2023 which were co-designed with young people, educators and organisations with anti-racism expertise.

To support the education sector in designing and delivering an anti-racist curriculum we have also funded a range of programmes including: funding for diversifying texts and projects in school libraries; professional learning programmes for history teachers on the role of the British Empire in world history and its legacy today, and the impact of the Transatlantic Slave Trade; and small grants for young people-led anti-racist clubs to deliver school-based activities highlighting the importance of an anti-racist learning environment.

In particular, we have partnered with the Development Education Centres to support early years practitioners and teachers to effectively deliver age appropriate curriculum content aligned with the Breaking the Mould principles. This work has culminated in the development of a suite of new online resources that cover health and wellbeing and personal and social education, which were published in 2024. The online resources include workshop plans, activities and animations to support classroom learning on issues such as discrimination, bias, stereotyping and identity as well as the causes and impacts of racism. The roll out of these resources is supported by funded online and in-person professional learning.

We are also currently working with the Children’s Parliament to create a new resource for children on racism and rights in education.

As part of the Anti-Racism in Education Programme - gov.scot (www.gov.scot), the Scottish Government has established the Racism and Racist Incidents (RRI) workstream. This workstream is focussed on developing support for schools and school staff to improve understanding of racism and to ensure that these issues are properly identified and addressed.

The RRI workstream is currently developing practical guidance for schools to support them to respond to racism and racist incidents, including strengthening approaches to recording and monitoring.

It is anticipated this guidance will be published in Spring 2025.

The Scottish Government is aware that supplies of various ADHD medicines continue to be intermittent. The supply of medicines and associated legislation are a reserved matter for the UK Government and the Scottish Government continues to engage with them on all medicine supply issues. At present, information provided by the UK Government indicates that some ADHD medicine shortages will continue into early 2025.

Scottish Government officials continue to monitor the situation for any further developments and are maintaining a close dialogue with all Health Boards to help manage these medicine supply disruptions. The Chief Pharmaceutical Officer (CPO)

for Scotland is a member of a UK-wide Medicines Shortage Response Group that supports the management of medicine shortages. In addition, the CPO will be holding a roundtable meeting with key stakeholders in Scotland on 12 November 2024 to better understand the impact of ADHD medicine shortages locally and to determine if there is any further action that can be taken to strengthen our response.

Children and young people should feel happy, safe, respected and included in the learning environment and all staff should be proactive in promoting positive relationships and behaviour in the classroom, playground, and wider learning community.

It is for teachers, head teachers and other professional educational practitioners to decide the development and implementation of the curriculum within the overall framework. Schools are encouraged to work closely with parents and carers on the development and delivery of learning and teaching.

Guidance is, however, made available on health and wellbeing, such as relationships, sexual health and parenthood education, and is updated regularly. The Racism and Racist Incidents Sub-group of the Anti-Racism in Education Programme is currently developing guidance on a whole-school approach to preventing and responding to racism and racist incidents in schools, including how to engage with children and young people.

As part of the Scottish Government’s commitment to embedding the Breaking the Mould anti-racism curriculum principles, we have funded development of new online anti-racism in education resources, antiracisted.scot published last month. Personal and Social Education was identified as the priority for curriculum development by children and young people that were part of the Anti-Racism in Education Programme and this was selected as the first topic for focus. The resources were created by the Development Education Centres in collaboration with a range of different voices and perspectives. The voices of learners from St Euan’s Primary School in Clydebank and Drumchapel Hight School in Glasgow are reflected in the animations as well as other areas of the resource.

A number of approaches are being used to collect and publish effective practices underway in schools and local authorities that embed anti-racism practices in schools:

• Case studies are being gathered and published to illustrate Scotland's Breaking the mould: Principles for an anti-racist curriculum | Resources | Education Scotland located on Education Scotland’s Anti-Racist Curriculum Principles – Promoting Anti-Racist Education in Scotland (glowscotland.org.uk) web-based resource.
• As part of Education Scotland’s Anti-Racism Mentors project, alumni from the Building Racial Literacy programme are also providing case studies of effective anti-racist practice.
• Case studies taken from examples of practice that inspectors see in schools are shared on the Education Scotland webpage, Promoting improvement through sharing highly effective practice | Inspection and review | Education Scotland. Through inspection and review, HM Inspectors continue to identify and share highly effective practice, within and across sectors. They work closely with a range of organisations to disseminate good practice and build the capacity of establishments and authorities to provide education and services for children, young people and adult learners of the highest quality. HM Inspectors exemplify and promote good practice through web-based publications, video extracts and events.

The Education Leadership and Professional Learning workstream of the Scottish Government’s Anti-Racism in Education Programme includes a wide range of stakeholders who bring their expertise and experience to inform strategic actions. Facilitated by Education Scotland, this workstream contributes to the ongoing review of what anti-racist professional learning is available to all school staff, from the national anti-racist professional learning programme, Building Racial Literacy, to more local offers and self-directed professional learning resources.

In May 2023 the Scottish Government published an analysis of survey data of health boards’ arrangements: Myalgic Encephalomyelitis/Chronic Fatigue Syndrome Services in Scotland: Findings from an analysis of surveys issued to NHS Boards in Autumn 2022 (www.gov.scot) for the care and support of individuals with ME/CFS, with the aim of establishing a clearer picture of variations in service provision around Scotland.

The report sought to map ME/CFS support and service provision, review implementation of the 2021 NICE guideline and identify barriers to this, and highlight areas of good practice or where further support is needed to embed the guidance.

We have since gathered updated information on ME/CFS care from every health board in Scotland and are currently preparing to publish a revised report later this month.

In February 2023, Education Scotland published the report of its thematic review on approaches to recording and monitoring of bullying incidents in schools. This report can be accessed at: Approaches to recording and monitoring incidents of bullying in schools (education.gov.scot).

In January 2024 Education Scotland published an online resource following a second phase of its thematic review, which looked at good practice in preventing and responding to bullying behaviour. This resource includes examples of schools responding to increases in prejudice-based behaviours. Information and case studies can be accessed here: Preventing and responding to bullying | Bullying | Resources | Education Scotland.

The findings from the thematic inspection are informing the work of the Racism and Racist Incidents workstream. This includes the development of resources which are focused on preventing and responding to racism and racist incidents, including strengthening approaches to recording and monitoring, and developing guidance on a whole-school approach to anti-racism.

We expect schools and local authorities to record all incidents of bullying and violence in schools.

In 2019 we introduced a consistent national approach to recording and monitoring bullying incidents in schools. HMIe carried out a thematic review of approaches to recording and monitoring incidents of bullying in schools and published its report in February 2023.

As part of its response to this review, the Scottish Government established a working group to review Respect for All, its national anti-bullying guidance as well as the supplementary guidance on recording and monitoring bullying incidents. The updated guidance will be published in November 2024.

The Scottish Government spent approximately £4.2 million on the preparation to roll out Pension Age Winter Heating Payment between May 2023 and August 2024. This primarily relates to the development of systems to deliver the benefit but also covers costs associated with the public consultation, analysis of responses and relevant publications.

Given the short notice of the change in policy following the UK Government’s decision, DWP will deliver Pension Age Winter Heating Payment this winter ahead of Social Security Scotland delivering in 2025-26.

The systems to deliver Pension Age Winter Heating Payment have been designed and developed in line with the Digital Scotland Service Standards, reusing existing technology where possible, to ensure value for money. The service design and the digital systems developed for launch in Winter 2024-25 will be reused when Social Security Scotland delivers the payment next winter (2025-26), although some changes will be required to reflect the new eligibility rules.