Chamber and committees

The Scottish Government recognises the importance of ensuring schools are a safe supportive space for all young carers. The answer to question S6W-28953 on 29 August 2024 provides greater detail on how we are supporting and raising awareness of young carers in education.

In addition, to encourage schools to consider having young carer leads or champions, we have funded Carers Trust Scotland to launch the “Young Carers School Challenge”. This programme supports and encourages all schools who sign up to:

• Have a young carer champion
• Have all school staff undertake Young Carer Awareness training
• Have a young carers charter or policy
• Correctly record all young carers on the school system (SEEMiS)
• And to forge partnership links with their local carer organisation

This challenge is currently in the pilot phase with 5 Local Authorities (covering both primary and secondary schools) trialling in these areas:

• Dumfries and Galloway
• South Ayrshire
• Falkirk and Clackmannanshire
• East Renfrewshire
• Argyll and Bute

More local authorities have committed to sign up once the pilot period has ended.

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.

As set out in our National Carers Strategy, the Scottish Government recognises the importance of young carers being identified in schools so that they can be supported in achieving their educational and wider goals.

This is why we fund an Education Officer post at Carers Trust Scotland to work with Education Scotland, the General Teaching Council for Scotland, and the Scottish Qualification Authority on improving young carer awareness, identification, and support in education. This has led to an accredited e-training module to help education staff understand, identify, and support young carers.

This e-training module has recently been refreshed to add information about supporting young carers in their transition into further or higher education or employment. Additionally, we have funded Young Scot to work with young carers to create a page on their platform which hosts information and resources for young carers about what support is available to them at key transitions, such as moving from Primary to Secondary School; and from Secondary School onto further education or work. Skills Development Scotland are also highlighting to career advisers the additional support young carers may need at this pivotal time.

Scottish Child Payment is delivered under Section 79 of the Social Security (Scotland) Act 2018, which enables Scottish Ministers to top-up a qualifying reserved benefit, such as Universal Credit. Students in receipt of the Paramedic, Nursing and Midwifery Student Bursary may therefore be eligible for Scottish Child Payment if they are in receipt of such a qualifying benefit.

Student nurses and midwives in Scotland continue to receive a high level of support including, where they are eligible, our non-means tested, non-repayable annual bursary of £10,000, plus associated allowances.

The Scottish Government has committed to carrying out a review of the Paramedic, Nursing and Midwifery Student Bursary.

The Scottish Government’s position is as set out in the draft Education (Scotland) Bill which indicates that the Board must consist of one or more members who have knowledge of the interests of the staff of Qualifications Scotland (QS).

Ensuring an effective staff voice in QS is a priority for the Scottish Government. We are committed to working with the SQA and their two recognised trade unions to explore all options to ensure effective engagement is established for QS and that it meets Fair Work requirements.

The SQA Chair, appointed in November 2023, has been tasked with leading the organisation through reform and the establishment of Qualifications Scotland. As part of this, the Chair has been commissioned to provide advice on how the organisational design and leadership structures of Qualifications Scotland can best deliver this Government’s reform commitments. This includes advice on structures which will ensure a greater focus on the delivery of qualifications and related support services to schools, as well as further strengthening of the separation between awarding and accreditation functions, building on the proposed measures in the Education (Scotland) Bill.

We recognise the financial challenges faced by all students, including nursing, midwifery and paramedic students, and know that this has been exacerbated by the cost of living crisis.

The Scottish Government package of support for Scottish student nurses, midwives and paramedics is at its highest level and remains the highest level of support available to nursing, midwifery and paramedic students across the UK. The annual £10,000 bursary is non-means tested and non-repayable.

Last year the Scottish Government created a short-life working group comprising representatives from the Scottish Government, Student Awards Agency Scotland (SAAS) and higher education institutes (HEIs) to review the clinical placement expenses guidance. This was in response to growing student concerns and following the Royal College of Nursing roundtable.

This group recently concluded its review and the revised guidance was finalised on 1 July 2024. This work will ensure students continue to be refunded as promptly as possible and provides students with greater clarity and flexibility on issues such as claiming advance payments. A national frequently asked questions document has also been developed to ensure greater consistency in the application of the guidance by HEIs across the country.

In addition to this, the Scottish Government has committed to carrying out a review of the package of financial support for those in receipt of the nursing, midwifery and paramedic student bursary.

The Scottish Government is committed to promoting the rights of disabled people and ensuring that they benefit from all that we are doing to improve people’s lives. This includes ensuring that all serving Armed Forces personnel and veterans living in Scotland, as well as their families, are able to access the best possible care and support; enjoy their rights on an equal basis to others; and participate fully and lead their own lives.

Creative Scotland’s regularly funded organisations are contractually obliged to develop and implement Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Action Plans. This covers all aspects of the organisation including audiences and marketing. Creative Scotland are also involved in “All In”, a UK wide initiative from Arts Council England, developing a new UK arts access scheme for D/deaf, disabled, and neurodivergent people, representing the Scottish perspective.

VisitScotland’s website already provides information on the benefits for event organisers of engaging further in accessible tourism and how events can create their own access guides.

Regards to the development of a standardised booking system, the Scottish Government expects all relevant organisations to comply with the requirement of the Equality Act 2010 and relevant codes of practice published by the Equality and Human Rights Commission, and address their broader duties under UK health and safety and equalities legislation including the requirement for service providers to make reasonable adjustments in circumstances where a disabled person is placed at a substantial disadvantage compared with non-disabled people. The Equality and Human Rights Commission is an independent, and reserved public body, and therefore cannot be directed by Scottish Ministers.

Local authorities are responsible for communicating any Glow service changes to their staff. Education Scotland made local authorities aware of this global change announced by Microsoft at the Glow Key Contacts meeting in August 2023, which is the primary conduit between Education Scotland and local authorities for information sharing and engagement regarding Glow. Changes have been discussed at a number of subsequent meetings and Education Scotland issued formal email communications on this topic to this group in October 2023, January 2024, March 2024, and June 2024, as well as publishing detailed guidance on Glow Connect. Education Scotland has also undertaken a survey to assess impact.

Education Scotland and the Scottish Government have been in regular and direct contact with Microsoft officials since the global changes were announced by Microsoft to their services in August 2023. That engagement has primarily focused on wider changes to tenancy storage limits under the A1 Licence which is the subject of our existing contract with Microsoft. It is as a result of this direct and prolonged engagement throughout the past year that Microsoft have agreed that the Glow Microsoft tenancy will not be subject to this restriction to storage limits during our contract term.

The free offer of offline desktop applications for Office 365 was intended for personal and home use. The vast majority of local authorities have not relied on this for school-based devices. In all cases, local authorities have in place, or are putting in place, alternative arrangements which afford access to the desktop version of Office products in schools and on council-issued devices.