Chamber and committees

The Scottish Government has committed £329 million over the next two years to fully fund a significant expansion in early learning and childcare. The allocation and distribution of this funded has been agreed with COSLA.

Funding is distributed to local authorities as part of their block grant, and it is for them to make decisions on how funding is allocated in their area, ensuring they meet their statutory duties. Where this involves partner providers it is therefore the responsibility of local authorities to determine fair and sustainable settlements locally with their partner providers, while securing high quality provision, as set out in the early learning and childcare statutory guidance 2014.

Evidence from reports such as the Joseph Rowntree Foundation Closing the Attainment Gap in Scottish Education published in May 2014 and School Education, prepared by Audit Scotland in June 2014, have helped to inform work on raising attainment, including the Scottish Attainment Challenge. Through our inspection processes and using the new Insight benchmarking tool for the senior phase in secondary schools, we are able to focus on the disparities between different pupils, across schools and local authorities. The Scottish Attainment Challenge will give support further analysis and research at local authority and school level. We will continue to work in partnership with local authorities and schools to better our understanding in this area.

Data on qualification awards, by type of qualification, are currently published annually (in August and updated in December) by the Scottish Qualifications Authority.

In addition, the Scottish Government will publish an annual report on progress in implementing the Developing the Young Workforce programme, including data showing progress towards the 11 key performance indicators. This will include key performance indicator 3: Increase the percentage of school leavers attaining vocational qualifications at Scottish Credit and Qualifications Framework level 5 and above by 2021.

We are working with key partners to develop an improvement framework which will set out clearly how we will monitor and evaluate the progress and impact we are making in improving attainment and wider achievement. This will ensure that all partners in education are clearly focused on improving educational outcomes and increasing equity, and will include evaluation of the impact of spend on raising attainment.

Our approach to raising attainment is universal, and has a firm foundation in all our key policies and programmes which affect children and young people, the pillars of which are Curriculum for Excellence, Teaching Scotland’s Future, Getting it right for every child, the Early Years Framework and Developing Scotland’s Young Workforce.

There are a range of activities already underway and planned, which are supporting authorities and schools across Scotland to raise attainment and reduce the attainment gap. These include the innovative Raising Attainment for All programme; the new Read, Write, Count literacy and numeracy campaign; attainment advisors in every local authority in Scotland; roll out of the Insight tool to help authorities and schools to analyse strengths and identify areas for improvement; and the £1.5 million Access to Education Fund, which is available to schools to help reduce barriers to learning experienced by pupils from disadvantaged backgrounds.

We recently launched the Scottish Attainment Challenge, backed by the £100 million Attainment Scotland Fund over four years to drive forward improvements on educational outcomes in Scotland’s most disadvantaged communities. This fund will complement the existing activities and programmes which are available in all areas of Scotland by developing a new, targeted initiative focused on supporting pupils in the areas of Scotland with the highest concentrations of deprivation.

Local authorities and schools have tracking and monitoring arrangements in place to measure achievement and performance of pupils from P1 to S3, and report on this locally to elected members and parents. At a national level, the Scottish Survey of Literacy and Numeracy, the Programme for International Student Assessment and other educational performance data provide us with information on learner achievement and progress. The Scottish Attainment Challenge and a national improvement framework will help provide increased focus on improvement and achievement at both national and local level.

In partnership with Scottish Government, NHS Education for Scotland (NES) has produced and updated ‘The Matrix’ – A Guide to Delivering Evidence-based Psychological Therapies in Scotland since 2008. The Matrix summarises the evidence base for psychological therapies, offering guidance on choosing the most effective therapies for mental illness and disorder, and on the training and governance structures necessary to ensure safe and effective practice. NES also supports the training of both mindfulness teachers and supervisors across Scotland.

Following graduation from medical school, postgraduate medical training encompasses two years of foundation training followed by, in the case of those choosing general practice, either three or four year GP specialty training which would lead to individuals joining the General Medical Council’s list of qualified GPs. The training GPs undergo is competency-based and, through a variety of rotations in different clinical placements (in both primary and secondary care settings) and regular assessments, is designed to equip them with the knowledge and experiences they need to fulfil their general practitioner role. The training is not predicated on the numbers of hours or percentage of patients’ conditions encountered.

The way GPs are trained is subject to review following the shape of training review.

In all cases, decisions on the management of an individual’s healthcare, is a matter of professional judgement for the responsible healthcare provider. Based on their assessment of the condition and clinical need of an individual patient, a practitioner will undertake the physical examinations they consider necessary to identify the need, if any, for treatment or further investigation; and where appropriate and necessary, make that treatment or further investigation available, including referral to other healthcare professionals and services. In managing patient healthcare, practitioners are expected to follow national clinical guidelines and any local guidelines and care pathways agreed locally by their health board.

The General Medical Services Contracts (Scotland) Regulations 2004 require that essential services must be provided by all GP contractors. They include the management of registered patients who are ill or who believe themselves to be ill with any acute, chronic or terminal condition. Essential services are paid for mainly through global sum payments to practices, which are calculated for every practice on an annual basis, according to patient list size and a range of weighted factors determined by the Scottish Allocation Formula.

The Quality and Outcomes Framework (QOF) for Scotland, which was designed to assist practices in the diagnosis and treatment pathways for a small number of specific chronic diseases, contains an indicator for 2015-16 for the initial management of depression. Over the last two years the QOF has been substantially reduced, as the contracting arrangements with GPs move towards a greater emphasis on professional clinical judgement, and less on bureaucratic process. This remains the broad approach of this government as we work with the profession to redesign the contracting arrangements in Scotland for the future.

The Scottish Medicines Consortium does not have responsibility for approving psychological therapies.