Chamber and committees

Ireland is one of our closest neighbours. The cross-party group would be about fostering further links for culture and business and giving the Irish voice in Scotland a place to be heard. The Irish community is one of the biggest migrant communities in Scotland, and it is important that the Scottish Parliament has a distinct place where people in that community can come to tell their stories and tell us about the successes that they have had while living in Scotland, as well as something that enables us to strengthen the link between the two islands.

Good morning, cabinet secretary. I will ask a couple of questions about the OECD report, which was, in general, very positive. However, the OECD raised a number of areas where there is room for improvement by the Scottish Government. Have you reflected on your approach and, if so, how?

On a slightly different matter, but one that is still to do with the OECD, how have the impacts on the college and training sectors been factored into any responses to the OECD report that you have made to date?

Is that the message that you will be taking forward?

I suspect that you will give a statement at some stage. Nonetheless, will your implementation of the report reflect the OECD’s suggested approach?

I will follow on from what we have heard from my two colleagues who spoke previously. Last year was unique, but how did the SQA ensure that that year’s results were consistent across the country? Fiona Robertson has not spoken in any detail about that. We have heard from Willie Rennie and others that local authorities and schools were doing things in slightly different ways, so how did the SQA ensure that results were consistent?

A wide range of things is looked at. That is very helpful.

I am not sure whether this question is for Gill Stewart or for Fiona Robertson. What role did the SQA play in the overall quality assurance process?

I have a question on the same topic for Fiona Robertson. What role did the SQA have in feeding into what that quality assurance was going to look like?

I have been a member of the education committee in previous sessions and I have not always been kind to the SQA, but I am not sure that there was an awful lot more that it could have done in the circumstances that were thrust on it on this occasion.

I am fine, thank you.