Chamber and committees

Bullying or racism of any kind is unacceptable and must be addressed quickly and effectively whenever it arises. Schools need to be clear on the distinctions between bullying and other forms of prejudice such as racism.

It is for schools and local authorities to decide what action should be taken depending on the individual circumstances of challenging behaviour. We expect schools and authorities to record and monitor all incidents of bullying and racism in schools.

On 23 February 2023, HM Inspectors of Education published their report of the thematic inspection we commissioned on the national approach to recording and monitoring bullying incidents in schools.

There are positive findings in the report that we should build on. However, we acknowledge that there is also room for improvement and we are taking immediate action to ensure schools and school staff have the right support in place to prevent and respond to bullying.

We are also working with a wide range of anti-racism organisations to further strengthen resources and approaches to prevent and respond to racist incidents through the Anti-Racism in Education Programme Board.

This Government firmly believes that every child growing up in Scotland, regardless of their background, should have an equal chance of attending university and participating in higher education.

We worked with Universities Scotland and the Scottish Funding Council to ensure that all of Scotland’s higher education institutions committed to guaranteeing an offer of an undergraduate place at university to care-experienced applicants who meet minimum entry requirements. This was effective from autumn 2019 for learners entering university in autumn 2020.

We also introduced the Care Experienced Bursary in higher education in 2017 and further education in 2018, replacing loans with non-income assessed, non-refundable bursaries.

Many young people leaving school may first attend college before progressing to university at a later stage. In the college sector, 3.6% of enrolments to full-time HE and 9.6% of enrolments to full-time FE courses in 2020-21 were from care-experienced students.

University remained an attractive destination for many college qualifiers in 2020-21, with 41.6% going on to university. Of those who qualified in 2019-20, 93.0% of care-experienced leavers from full-time HE college courses and 94.0% from full-time FE courses with known destinations were in work or further study 3-6 months after qualifying.

The Scottish Government remains committed to “Keeping The Promise”. The Promise was published in February 2020 and highlighted the need for robust “scaffolding” or support network to support care leavers or those with care experience.

Continuing Care and Aftercare are both components of ground breaking measures introduced in the Children and Young People (Scotland) Act 2014 to improve outcomes for young people leaving care by supporting and developing positive transitions.

We are also committed to ensuring a range of positive destinations, including transition into employment and other training opportunities.

By the end of Q3 2022-23, there have been 401 new Modern Apprentice (MA) starts from individuals who self-identify as care-experienced, and 151 of these are in the 16-19 year old age bracket. Skills Development Scotland Management Information data shows that there are currently 630 care-experienced MAs in training, with 17 of these individuals in West Dunbartonshire.

Our national skills agency, Skills Development Scotland (SDS), have operational responsibility for our MA programme and provide funding contributions towards the cost of training and assessing apprentices, on behalf of the Scottish Government. SDS continue to engage with training providers to support the promotion of apprenticeship opportunities to care experienced individuals.

Additionally, funded through our Developing the Young Workforce programme, MCR Pathways and Career Ready target young people from care-experienced and less advantaged socio-economic-cultural backgrounds and communities. Both are currently operating in West Dunbartonshire and help young people to progress to a positive post-school destination.

The Scottish Government established the Independent Strategic Review of Funding and Commissioning of violence against women and girls services to develop a new funding model to ensure victims have access to high-quality, accessible specialist support.

The call for written evidence is one part of the overall data collection process undertaken by the Review team, which includes around 80 engagement sessions with stakeholders. The final report will be considered by Ministers once complete, and it would be premature to comment on the views expressed by those who submitted responses before the Review has analysed all data collected and made recommendations.

The final report and the evidence provided to the Review will also inform the upcoming refresh of the Equally Safe strategy.

The Scottish Government established the independent review to develop a new funding model to ensure victims have access to high-quality, accessible specialist support. The call for written evidence is one part of the overall review process which includes around 80 engagement sessions with stakeholders.

The Call for Evidence report refers to respondents’ views that wide geographic coverage is needed for a range of services, including refuge. The necessity to take a holistic approach to the provision of services supporting people experiencing violence against women and girls, with a combination of different services working together in a coordinated way, was also flagged.

The Funding Review, as per its remit, will seek to provide recommendations on “the development of a Scotland-wide framework which establishes a definition of the minimum level of specialist service provision” and Ministers will consider it’s recommendations in due course.

The Scottish Government established the Independent Strategic Review of Funding and Commissioning of violence against women and girls services to develop a new funding model to ensure victims have access to high-quality, accessible specialist support.

The call for written evidence is one part of the overall data collection process undertaken by the Review team, which includes around 80 engagement sessions with stakeholders. The final report will be considered by Ministers once complete, and it would be premature to comment on the views expressed by those who submitted responses before the Review has analysed all data collected and made recommendations.

Our Equally Safe Strategy for preventing and eradicating violence against women and girls emphasises the importance of challenging the underpinning attitudes which enable such violence to take place, including in education settings. That is why we provide over £900k per year of funding to support education-based programmes and initiatives aimed at preventing gender-based violence including Rape Crisis Scotland’s National Sexual Violence Prevention Programme, Equally Safe at School, and the Mentors in Violence Prevention peer education programme. Our Gender-Based Violence in Schools Working Group is also developing a framework to carry forward this work.

The Scottish Government along with the Scottish Funding Council work with and engage on an ongoing basis with a range of stakeholders including Universities Scotland and individual institutions, to monitor and secure the long term sustainability of the sector as a whole and ensure that Scottish Universities continue to deliver world class education. These issues were discussed at a recent meeting between myself and Universities Scotland. As part of that discussion, it was recognised that as autonomous institutions Scottish universities are responsible for managing their long term institutional stability as operated through their own entry requirements, admissions policies and budgets. It was also agreed that it was vital to explore further the impact of the UK Government’s policy on immigration on Scottish Universities’ international student recruitment.

We are firmly committed to implementing the social housing tenancy related provisions at Part 2 of the Domestic Abuse (Protection) (Scotland) Act 2021 (the 2021 Act).

Work on the wide range of tasks necessary to commence Part 2 of the 2021 Act is progressing as a priority. This includes secondary legislation, changes to court rules and forms, model tenancy agreements and the development of statutory guidance in consultation with stakeholders.

We aim to bring Part 2 of the 2021 Act into force by early 2024, subject to the necessary rules and forms of court also being in place.