Chamber and committees

I shall lead a debate in Parliament on the recommendations of the Independent Review of Qualifications and Assessment on 28 February 2024.

The Scottish Government does not allocate fully registered teachers to local authorities. Statutory responsibility for the recruitment and employment of teachers and all other support staff in local authority schools sits with individual councils.

Probationer teachers progressing through the Teacher Induction Scheme (TIS) are placed with local authorities through an allocation process. This is a placement and not employment. Where the number of probationers exceeds the number of places offered initially by local authorities these are subsequently allocated on a supernumerary basis. As previously indicated in answer to S6W-23885 this number was initially 626. To date there are over 500 deferrals and withdrawals from this year’s initial cohort so the 600 “supernumerary” figure as of May 2023 does not mean there are 600 surplus teachers.

An update on the provision of digital devices was given in the 2024-25 Scottish Government Budget.

In order to maximise the impact of capital funding available, we will seek to provide support at a household level, targeting investment specifically at disadvantaged families with children. This approach will improve equity of access to devices and connectivity for those who need it most, helping families realise the broad range of benefits associated with digital inclusion. It will also enable access not only to digital tools and resources for learning, but to digital society and online public services. Through doing so, it will expand the impact of this investment beyond learners to their wider families.

A note of the Head Teacher Taskforce meeting held on 27 June 2023 can be accessed here: Head Teacher Taskforce on Exclusion minutes: June 2023 - gov.scot (www.gov.scot) .

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-25063 on 27 February 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 .

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-25062 on 27 February 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's International Education Strategy was published on 7 February 2024.

Scotland's International Education Strategy - gov.scot (www.gov.scot)

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-25100 on 27 February 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 brought forward the Colleges of Further Education and Regional Strategic Bodies (Membership of Boards) (Scotland) Order 2023, which places a requirement for assigned college boards, regional college boards and both the Lanarkshire Board and the Glasgow Colleges’ Regional Board to have two Trade Union nominees, one from the lecturing staff unions and one from the support staff unions.

The Order came into effect on 31 January 2024 and trade unions are currently working through their election processes to nominate individuals to boards.

The Scottish Government works with the Scottish Funding Council, Colleges Scotland, and College Boards to ensure good governance.

We also engage with regional strategic boards, trade unions, student associations, and the College Development network, through the Good Governance Steering Group, to ensure the implementation of governance improvements across the sector.