Chamber and committees

Despite a small increase in the diversity of Scottish teaching in recent years, we acknowledge that there is still unacceptable under-representation of BAME teachers at all levels in Scotland’s schools – the Scottish Government continues to be committed as a minimum, to doubling existing numbers by 2030 through implementing the recommendations of the Teaching in a Diverse Scotland report.

The Black Lives Matter (BLM) movement, will we hope, help to improve awareness and the importance of ensuring that our teaching profession, at all levels, reflects the broader diversity of the Scottish population. The messages which are stemming from BLM, should act to encourage more active leadership and engagement by all key Scottish education stakeholders, to help achieve many of the report’s recommendations.

The Scottish Government is committed to delivering the Islands Growth Deal and welcomes the significant progress made by Shetland Islands Council, Comhairle nan Eilean Siar, Orkney Islands Council and partners in developing project proposals.

I spoke with Iain Stewart MP, Under Secretary of State for Scotland, on 29 June and emphasised the need for the UK Government to announce funding arrangements for the Islands Growth Deal as soon as is practicable to enable things to move forward.

Investment in the regional growth deals will be a vital enabler of economic recovery in our rural areas, but only if we can move forward at pace to put the deals in place. I reinforced this point with Mr Stewart in seeking early progress and underlined that the Scottish Government is ready to move forward as soon as the UK Government is able to do so.

As I outlined in response to S5W-29680 on 8 June 2020; due to the unprecedented impact of Coronavirus we have made the difficult decision to delay preparation and publication of the 2019-20 Progress Report on Child Poverty, which was required by end June 2020.

This has allowed officials to focus efforts on protecting communities from the impacts of the virus in line with the powers provided by the Coronavirus (Scotland) Act 2020.

We will consult with the Poverty and Inequality Commission in relation to progress made and the further progress required, ensuring they have the time they need to consider this request.

Tackling child poverty remains an absolute priority and we are committed to publishing the report as soon as reasonably practicable in the circumstances.

All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament's website, the search facility for which can be found at http://www.parliament.scot/parliamentarybusiness/28877.aspx .

Activity on Island Communities Impact Assessments (ICIAs) had, regrettably, to be put on hold to enable Scottish Government officials, across a number of portfolios of relevance, to focus on delivering the response to the COVID-19 pandemic, including specific, targeted engagement with islands communities with resilience matters and drawing in resources from across Government and our partners on their behalf.

However, as communicated at a recent meeting with the Chief Executives and Leaders of the Islands Authorities at the Islands Strategic Group on 26 May 2020, we had been exploring how to recommence this work, given that civil service resources are gradually being released back to portfolio teams. The development of regulation for ICIAs has now been re-activated and prioritised, and a timetable for the implementation of ICIAs has been finalised.

Owing to the reduction in sitting time that the Scottish Parliament currently is operating, and the need to strictly prioritise urgent COVID 19 legislation, it is difficult to give a firm timescale for the coming into force of the provisions relating to ICIAs. However, the current aim is that the necessary regulations will be laid later this year, and we will seek to do as early as possible within the context of the Parliamentary constraints outlined, in recognition of the importance of this to our islands communities.

Since 2014, the Scottish Government and Education Scotland have supported local authority staff, including staff from school settings, to attend Mental Health First Aid Training. School staff could include teachers, teaching assistants and additional support needs staff. We do not hold the information on which school staff have received the training. Local authorities and schools were encouraged to identify members of the school community who were best placed to identify pupils who may be struggling with mental health issues.

Following the training, practitioners can then attend an additional element of the programme called ‘Training for Trainers’. This allows the practitioners to train local staff to deliver the training in their schools. Education Scotland produce annual reports on delivery of Mental Health First Aid Training. The reports for years 1-4 of the are available on the Scottish Government website at: https://www.gov.scot/policies/schools/wellbeing-in-schools/ .

In addition, we have established a working group to enhance existing materials and develop a new professional learning resource which will equip all school staff to support children and young people. This will enhance the strategies already available to schools and will be published towards the end of 2020.

As stated in the Programme for Government 2018-19, we anticipated that the investment of over £60m in additional school counselling services across Scotland would create around 350 counsellors in school education. Local authority plans to implement the commitment were received earlier this year and are showing that overall plans are in place to meet the commitment in full.

The 2018-19 Programme for Government, included a commitment to enhancing support and professional learning materials for teachers on good mental health, including, ensuring that by the end of academic year 2019-20, every local authority will be offered training for teachers in Scotland’s Mental Health First Aid (SMHFA) Training using a ‘train the trainer’ model to enable dissemination to all schools.

All 32 local authorities have been offered the Scottish Mental Health First Aid training .

The Scottish Funding Council does not normally monitor the delivery of qualifications in real time or get involved in the detail of the assessment process at institution or subject level. However, the Scottish Funding Council has been surveying institutions on COVID impact and all have assured that they are working hard to put in place alternative arrangements to ensure that students can complete their studies and be fairly assessed.

In terms of assessment and registration for particular professions, each Professional, Statutory and Regulatory Body will have a slightly different approach to what it requires from providers at this time. However, we understand that training courses that support accreditation towards a professional body have continued online with many student counsellors given the opportunity to work towards becoming competent in them delivering therapy online with support provided via placement providers and via college/university teaching.

Additionally, SQA has been providing advice and support to centres to ensure that disruption to the delivery of counselling training within our approved centres is minimised and mitigated as much as possible. The Centres involved have been able to adapt delivery and assessment models to facilitate remote learning and assessment including, where appropriate, evidence of competence from online and telephone counselling sessions.