Chamber and committees

The Scottish Government does not hold this information, because it is statutory responsibility of local authorities to manage and maintain their school estate.

This government has a strong record on the school estate, working in collaboration with local authority partners. The 2023 school estate statistics show that 90.7% of schools were in a good or satisfactory condition in 2023, up from 90.4% in 2022 and 61.1% in 2007. Since 2007-08, 1,098 school builds or substantial refurbishment projects have been completed.

The Scottish Government’s £2 billion Learning Estate Investment Programme is being delivered in partnership with local authorities and will build on this progress.

The Scottish Government has working relationships with the Welsh Government on a number of issues but does not currently publish minutes of its meetings. This is to preserve a safe space for officials to discuss a range of matters.

While there are no plans to publish minutes of meetings with Welsh Government officials where areas of mutual interest including the Scottish Education Exchange Programme have been discussed, our engagement with the Welsh Government is helping to inform our Exchange Programme test and learn project.

Public Health Scotland (PHS) does not collect data on the waiting times patient experience for dyslexia screening.

The Scottish Government is currently considering next steps and will update the Scottish Parliament later this year.

The Scottish Government does not hold this information. We have therefore sought information from the General Teaching Council for Scotland (GTCS).

GTCS advised that they process applications by country of qualification as opposed to the location of the applicant and have therefore provided information based on the origin of the qualification (Scotland, rest of UK, international) rather than the location of the applicant.

Qualified in Scotland (hold a recognised teaching qualification from an accredited Initial Teacher Education (ITE) programme)

Applicants are invited to apply between November and February in the final year of their programme. The application process concludes when the ITE pass lists are received from Higher Education Institutions (through June and the start of July). Individuals are then added to the Register of Teachers once the applicant has paid their annual registration fee. In this cohort, 2,767 applications were concluded for the start of the 2023-24 academic year.

Qualified outside of Scotland (QoS)

GTCS use the same process for all QoS applications no matter where the applicant is currently domiciled, as their assessment process focuses on the qualifications held.

GTCS receive 1,300 applications from individuals who have qualified as teachers outside Scotland on average each year. They carry out individual assessment of these applications to ensure that their qualifications meet their standards.

For applications received where the qualification gained is from a country outside Scotland but within the UK, it is currently taking 10 weeks from the date of submission of the complete application (where all required documents are included) to individual assessment by a Case Officer.

For applications received where the qualification gained is from a country outside Scotland and outside the UK, it is currently taking 5 months from date of submission of the complete application (where all required documents are included) to individual assessment by a Case Officer.

The programme is now in its third year following the initial pilot. In total 279 applications have been received from the General Teaching Council for Scotland (GTCS) registered teachers across Scotland. 166 have been successful in gaining a place on the programme since it began.

Pilot programme 2017 85 applications

Cohort 1 (2021-22) 56 applications

Cohort 2 (2022-23) 53 applications

Cohort 3 (2023-24) 85 applications

Our aims and principles make clear that there should be availability of counselling services during school holidays, to ensure continued support to vulnerable young people. However, it is a matter for local authorities to decide how to deliver the service to best suit the needs and circumstances of children and young people in their area.

It is important to highlight that school counselling is just one of a range of services in place to support children and young people’s mental health. Our work on supporting children and young people’s mental health and wellbeing is set within a context of much wider support for children and young people’s mental health within communities and in relation to specific concerns.

Through the children and young people’s Community Mental Health and Wellbeing Supports and Services Framework, the Scottish Government is providing local authorities with £15 million per annum to fund community-based mental health supports for children and young people aged 5-24 (26 if care-experienced), their family members and their carers. The services are focussed on prevention and early intervention, and include supports for positive mental health and wellbeing as well as for emotional distress.

We have met with the Scottish Council of Deans of Education to discuss their concerns.

The recent teacher pay deal is the largest in twenty years and was made against a challenging financial backdrop. It is in that context that we have had to review funding commitments across the programme.

We continue to value the importance of professional development for teachers as demonstrated by the range of professional learning and leadership programmes provided by Education Scotland and detailed on their website Education Scotland | Professional Learning and Leadership . In addition, we are investing £800,000 this year in the Into Headship programme to support future school leaders.

We are open to considering reinstating funding for masters-level learning for teachers should future budget provisions allow.

The Scottish Government does not hold this information.

The SFC’s “College Infrastructure Strategy: The Approach to Delivering Scotland’s College Infrastructure”, published in November 2022, recognises that investment in college infrastructure is needed and will identify future infrastructure investment needed for a sustainable college estate. It is a collective approach between the SFC and colleges and aims to develop a 10-year Infrastructure Investment Plan for Scotland’s colleges. The work on delivering the strategy has begun and this will include baselining the condition of the college estate.

The Independent Panel on Career Pathways for Teachers was established in August 2018 in response to a request from the Scottish Negotiating Committee for Teachers (SNCT).

The final report of the Panel published on 30 May 2019 set out 10 recommendations aimed at developing and supporting new flexible and exciting career pathways for teachers and headteachers.

The Scottish Government remains committed to working with the SNCT and partners to progress these ambitions.