Chamber and committees

The provision of library services is the responsibility of local authorities. Local decision-making determines the services and support libraries offer. The Scottish Government provides funding to the Scottish Library and Information Council who encourage public library improvements, which includes how libraries engage with schools and pupils. In March 2011, I announced the continuation of a £500,000 annual fund for Scottish libraries, recognising their role in communities and in increasing digital participation.

No date has been set for introduction of this Bill. Appropriate stakeholders will be identified as part of the development process and will be consulted in due course.

Good progress has been made towards improving Scotland’s literacy and numeracy skills. With the implementation of Curriculum for Excellence, all teachers have responsibility for the development of literacy and numeracy skills, and when we launched the Literacy Action Plan in October 2010, we stated our commitment to a heightened, more targeted focus for improving literacy skills in Scotland.

From 2007 to 2009 Higher English pass rates rose by over 2.5%, from 66.42% to 68.93%. This progress will continue with the new curriculum, as developing learner’s literacy and numeracy skills are the responsibility of all. The Scottish Survey of Literacy and Numeracy took place for the first time this month and will monitor national performance of literacy and numeracy in P4, P7 and S2, and over time this annual survey will enable us to track improvement levels in these key skills. Schools will also develop P7 Profiles by 2011-12 and S3 Profiles by 2012-13, which will provide a snapshot of a learner’s progress and achievement and include information on progress and achievement in literacy and numeracy.

The Standing Literacy Commission has successfully been established and the first meeting took place on 18 May 2011.

The Scottish Government funds the Positive Behaviour Team (newly located within Education Scotland), a group of seconded education professionals who work with local authority strategic planning groups on behaviour and relationships. The Positive Behaviour Team has networks of local authority link officers and have recently formed a national group to share practice and new ideas in nurturing approaches. The team promotes, provides training and helps to embed a range of approaches to improving relationships and behaviour including nurture.

Our Literacy Action Plan recognises the importance of reading as a valued activity from an early age, and the social, educational, and familial benefits of reading in the home. We continue to work with our partners to support measures to develop Scotland as a literate, reading nation.

For example, The Play Talk Read Campaign, part of the Scottish Government's ongoing focus on the early years of children's lives, encourages the use of libraries through its website. Many schools highlight the services of the public library by promoting learning opportunities outwith the school day or during holiday periods.

In addition, the Bookbug Programme run by Scottish Book Trust with the support of the Scottish Government, provides incentives for parents and children to use public libraries.

Education Scotland, which brings together Learning and Teaching Scotland (LTS) and Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Education (HMIE), was launched on 1 July 2011 as an executive agency of the Scottish Government. The agency’s creation was not primarily about making savings, rather it was to ensure that we have the best possible national structure in place to support and challenge our education system. Nonetheless in the current financial climate Education Scotland, like all public bodies, is expected to operate as efficiently as possible, making savings wherever it can.

The Scottish Government has regular discussions with the Scottish Futures Trust (SFT) on a large range of issues relating to the school building programme. In order to receive funding from that programme, a local authority must demonstrate that its new school will be planned designed and managed to deliver a sustainable and environmentally efficient building to contribute to meeting the Scottish Government's climate change and zero waste targets.

The Scottish Government encourage flexibility in the local administration arrangements of the Education Maintenance Allowances (EMA) to vulnerable young people, including young carers, in terms of attendance and time keeping and perhaps the number of hours the young person is able to attend classes each week. Each young person in receipt of EMA has a learning agreement and any flexibility should be agreed to in this document. The learning agreement is a living document which should always be updated to reflect any change in circumstances including additional caring responsibilities.

We will work with local authorities, schools, parents and learners, to develop a new languages model that will increase the opportunities for young people to benefit from learning two additional languages and to develop the confidence and skills that they need to be successful in an increasingly globalised world. As has been intimated, this will be introduced over two parliamentary sessions.

We will use the lessons emerging from the Modern Languages Excellence Group Report and the recent SCILT conference to develop our languages plan. In particular in this parliamentary session, we will engage with the profession, stakeholders, parents and learners on the short to medium term steps required to deliver the new model.