Chamber and committees

The census is annual. It comes out in December, so we have not had it long. In the interim period, we have to rely on our on-going discussions with local authorities. As I said, the official teacher census is published every December. We will monitor the situation very closely with local authorities in the interim, but that will not involve official statistics until that point.

The issue of supply staff is key and it ties into the point that you have made. Although there are teachers on temporary contracts who would wish to be in permanent employment—that is what the Government wants to see, and that is why I have made the funding available—there are some people who wish to be on a temporary contract and who want to work in that way. We will never change that entirely, because part of the workforce wants to be flexible. What is key is that we do everything that we can to encourage local authorities to have permanent contracts, where at all possible. The number of supply staff is exceptionally important to allow for a flexible workforce, particularly at this time.

I should make the committee aware that, earlier in the pandemic, we put a call out via the General Teaching Council for Scotland for retired teachers to come back into the profession for some time, should they want to. The uptake of that was exceptionally low—a very small number came forward from that call. I understand that the uptake was similarly low in other countries that have tried that method of approach. However, we are looking to do that again to see whether any difference can be made. We expect the numbers to be low again, as in other countries, but we think that that is something that should be approached.

The Government has provided a fair overall settlement for education and local government. I encourage Mr Rennie to put forward, perhaps for the first year, costed budget alternatives and to say whether he would like to take the money from health, justice, transport or our work on net zero. We have set out in the budget where the money is going. If Mr Rennie wishes more money to be provided, he has to say where it will come from, given that the entire budget has been spent. He can demand that more action be taken, but he has to suggest where the money will come from if he is not satisfied with the Government’s budget proposals.

We had the equity audit, which the Government published, and we have exceptionally regular discussions at the Covid-19 education recovery group—CERG—on the issue. The national improvement framework report that was published in December included evidence on the issue, too. Clearly, there were some gaps in what could be collated for that report because of the impact of Covid, but that is certainly one of the key areas where we will also be able to see the impact of the pandemic. We also keep in regular discussion with our international council of education advisers, and we learn what we can from that. I have regular contact with my teachers panel and the Scottish education council to ensure that, in the interim periods between the official statistics being delivered or NIFs being published, we discuss the impact of issues regularly with stakeholders.

The reason why the material was not collated as part of the work around the NIF is that it was not possible to do that during the period of the pandemic.

We have looked carefully at what schools can publish, given the implications of Covid for that. I hope that the committee will appreciate that there were understandable reasons why some of the material could not be delivered. Of course, again, we have the material from our stakeholders that is being looked at in this regard, as well as material from the Scottish Qualifications Authority that relates to secondary schools.

Convener, you have frozen on my screen. I do not know whether the problem is at my end or at the committee’s end. I do not know whether anyone else on the committee can hear me, but I have lost the convener.

Certainly.

As I was trying to say to the convener, we have more teachers now than we have had since 2008. We have seen that addition in the teacher census that came out. We know how much funding we put in—that is the £145.5 million—and we know how many teachers that should employ. As I said, that is 2,500 teachers and 500 support staff. That is what I am looking to see a change in.

As I reiterated to the convener, there may be changes to that, because local authorities may decide to vary the numbers between teachers and support staff. We cannot put an exact figure on that, because we are not dictating to local authorities how the money should be spent. Quite rightly, it is up to local authorities to determine local need.

That is certainly the aspect that I am looking at. I know what funding went in, and I know what that funding can produce. We will keep a close eye on the figures to ensure that that is what the funding actually delivers.

A recent survey by the Educational Institute of Scotland showed that this has been an exceptionally difficult time not only for teachers but for other school staff, too. This is a very difficult time for everyone as we go through the pandemic. Teachers have had to adapt very quickly to what has been happening, which has been exceptionally difficult. I pay tribute to them. We have taken teacher wellbeing very seriously and have invested £2 million in that. We will continue to ensure that there is support from Education Scotland for teachers, because we recognise that this is a very difficult time for them.

It is a bit early for us to be able to determine the impact that the money has had, but we are keeping a close eye on the situation. When the figures have been updated through the teacher census, we will be able to determine whether that is happening.

That is certainly the clear wish and encouragement from Government and, to be fair, local authorities are picking up on that, but the figures will not show up until the next teacher census.

I am certainly happy to take that away and see what can be done. It is one of the challenges that the education budget presents. A lot of the education budget sits within the local government budget, as well as in other Government portfolios, most obviously the finance and economy portfolio, which particularly impacts on skills. I would be happy to report back to the committee on that and to point it in the direction of that spend if that would be helpful, convener.