Chamber and committees

The 2015 Interim Framework Report of the National Improvement Framework for Scottish Education presents a range of evidence which demonstrates that we are making progress in reducing the gap in educational attainment between pupils from our most and least deprived communities. For example, the interim report presents evidence on the attainment gap with regards to school qualifications at SCQF levels three to six, showing that across all levels the gap has decreased slightly between 2011-12 and 2013-14. This report will be updated in December 2016 with data for 2014-15.

The key issue in relation to colleges and universities is the participation of those from our most deprived areas rather than a gap in attainment. This is an area in which colleges continue to perform strongly: in 2014-15 29.1% of all college students were from Scotland’s 20% most deprived areas.

In relation to universities, in 2014/15 14% of Scottish domiciled, full-time first degree entrants were from our 20% most deprived areas, up from 11.2% in 2006-07 (an increase of over 1,000 entrants).

Despite this progress, we know there is a need to do more. That is why we expanded the Scottish Attainment Challenge to invest £750 million over the course of this Parliament to reduce the attainment gap in school, and why we have established the Commission on Widening Access to advise on the actions necessary to achieve step change and committed to the full implementation of its recommendations.

The Scottish Government does not currently hold robust data on length of stay in temporary accommodation. A new data collection was introduced in April 2016 which will allow for this type of analysis in the future, following an appropriate development period.

Scottish Ministers have already taken action to increase the provision of free school meals in Scotland. Latest statistics on free school meals were published on 22 June 2016 in the Scottish Government Statistics Publication - Summary statistics for attainment, leaver destinations and healthy living, No. 6: 2016 Edition. The figures show that over 134,500 (81.7%) of primary one to three pupils across Scotland are now benefitting from a nutritious free school lunch and over 102,000 more primary school pupils took a free school meal in 2016, compared to 2014.

Young children in receipt of their entitlement to funded early learning and childcare are eligible for a free school meal where they meet the criteria; and, once relevant provisions of the Education (Scotland) Act 2106 on free school meals are commenced, children in receipt of their early learning and childcare entitlement at partner providers will also be eligible for a free school meal where they meet the criteria.

In addition, the Scottish Government has committed to extending universal free school meals to all two, three and four year olds in funded early learning and childcare as part of the expansion to 1140 hours of early learning and childcare by the end of this parliament.

The criteria to qualify for free school meals is provided for in section 53 of the Education (Scotland) Act 1980. A summary of the criteria can be accessed on the Scottish Government website at http://www.gov.scot/Topics/Education/Schools/HLivi/schoolmeals/FreeSchoolMeals. Two of the qualifying criteria for free school meals are linked to the income of a parent of a pupil or of a pupil in Scotland and these particular criteria are prescribed in regulations under section 53(3)(a)(iv) of the 1980 Act (the Education (School Lunches) (Scotland) Regulations 2009).

The first qualifying criteria for free school meals linked to income is the receipt of child tax credit by a parent or pupil (and not working tax credit) where the award of child tax credit is based on an income not exceeding an amount specified by Regulations under section 7(1)(a) of the Tax Credits Act 2002 (the Tax Credits (Income Thresholds and Determination of Rates) Regulations 2002). These Regulations have been amended a number of times since 2007 by the regulations set out in the following table, to increase the first income threshold for the receipt of child tax credit. These changes in income threshold have resulted in changes to the income threshold qualifying criteria for a free school meal in Scotland.

The second qualifying criteria for free school meals linked to income is the receipt of child tax credit and working tax credit based on an income not exceeding an amount specified by Regulations under the Tax Credits Act 2002 (the Tax Credits (Income Thresholds and Determination of Rates) Regulations 2002). This qualifying criteria was introduced in Scotland in 2009. The Tax Credits Up-rating Regulations 2008 increased the income threshold specified in the Tax Credits (Income Thresholds and Determination of Rates) Regulations 2002 from £5,220 to £6,420 and that threshold remains unchanged.

Over the last Parliament, colleges maintained our 2011 commitment to deliver 116,000 Full-time Equivalent college places. We are continuing this commitment, focused on purposeful, job-focused learning.

Short courses leading to work or progression are still available, with the number of part-time college enrolments in Higher (HE) and Further Education (FE) remaining stable since 2012-13.

We recognise that part-time courses are often favoured by older learners and female returners: our analysis shows these groups are well represented in the college sector. In 2014-15, 27% of all learning hours were delivered to students aged 25 and over, representing an investment of over £100 million. Additionally, in the same year there were over twice the number of part-time female learners in Scotland’s colleges as there were full-time female learners.

Scotland’s homelessness rights mean households with children are in temporary accommodation while they wait for appropriate settled accommodation. We want this time to be as short as possible and we are increasing housing supply to help with this. We will deliver at least 50,000 affordable homes, backed by more than £3 billion investment by the end of this Parliament.

Time spent in temporary accommodation should be used positively to identify the best possible housing option for a household to ensure a sustainable outcome. We are also working with local authorities and their partners to prevent homelessness for families with children before it occurs through further strengthening of the housing options approach.

The Schools (Health Promotion and Nutrition) Act (Scotland) 2007 places a number of duties on local education authorities including ensuring that schools are health promoting. This includes promoting physical, social, mental and emotional wellbeing by supporting pupils to make positive lifestyle choices in relation to their health and wellbeing.

In addition, as part of Curriculum for Excellence, all practitioners are expected to embed aspects of health and wellbeing in their lessons, regardless of what subject specialism they are delivering. It is for the local authority and schools to decide how to develop their own approaches to implement Curriculum for Excellence and they will be using a range of approaches and resources to support children and young people with their mental and emotional wellbeing based on local needs and circumstances.

Education Scotland have developed a national resource to support the development and practice of nurturing approaches for secondary and primary schools. This aims to ensure that all schools are equipped to support all children and young people to have equal opportunities to learn and develop. Education Scotland is also supporting the delivery of ‘Scotland’s Mental Health First Aid: Young People’ training nationally in secondary school communities. This will complement the range of initiatives and approaches to support mental health and mental wellbeing that local authorities already have in place.

By working closely with schools, teachers and parents, as well as other professionals, educational psychologists have a key role in building capacity to meet the learning and mental health needs of pupils. In addition, every school has a named contact in specialist Child and Adolescent Mental Health Service (CAMHS) who can be contacted for advice if they have any concerns about a pupil and can provide ongoing support.

The criteria for someone being classified as homeless in Scotland were last updated by the Homelessness etc (Scotland) Act 2003 and commenced in January 2004.

Local authorities have the duty to ensure that advice and information about homelessness and any services that may assist a homeless person or assist in the prevention of homelessness, is available free of charge to any person within the authority’s area.

The Scottish Government provides funding to the five local authority led Housing Options Hubs which facilitate the sharing of prevention of homelessness practice across Scotland. The Scottish Government also publishes PREVENT1 data which records local authorities prevention of homelessness activity.