Chamber and committees

I refer the member to my answer to S5W-18833 on 27 September 2018. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament’s website, the search facility for which can be found at http://www.parliament.scot/parliamentarybusiness/28877.aspx .

The Scottish Government invests significant funding in advice services each year across a wide range of policy areas. This funding supports advice provision for individuals on income maximisation (including welfare, debt and financial capability advice, and advice on reducing household costs such as energy bills); and/or statutory rights, including how to seek recourse if those rights are not upheld.

We want to ensure that publicly funded advice in Scotland is visible, accessible and high quality, providing invaluable support to the most vulnerable in our communities – particularly in relation to supporting income maximisation and tackling the poverty premium.

The Standards for Information and Advice Providers (SNSIAP) Framework is a quality assurance framework owned by the Scottish Government. The Framework, was developed in partnership with public, private and third sector organisations and recognises that people choose to access information and advice about welfare benefits, money, income and debt advice, and citizens’ advice from various sources. The overall purpose of the Standards Framework is to:

Improve the quality of advice and information and ensure consistency of information across service providers at both local and national level.

• Improve the outcomes for service users
• Improve the quality and development of staff
• Provide recognition to the Service provider (by use of a standards logo/kite mark) and staff working within the agency feel valued (internally and externally)

The SNSIAP includes a list of core competencies for staff working in the advice sector which are continuously reviewed and regularly updated to ensure that the staff working in these organisations have the right skillset to provide robust and accurate advice, including advice on income and income maximisation, to service users.

The Scottish Government made a commitment in 2016 to re-introduce a model of accreditation for the SNSIAP, with the Scottish Legal Aid Board managing the first 3 year cycle accreditation audits which now includes an element of peer review. The 3 year review cycle runs from November 2016 to November 2019.

The Scottish Government will provide £150,000 per annum during that 3 year period to support the SNSIAP and ensure that it is continues to be free to those organisations that are accredited. The decisions to award or not award accreditation to agencies is made by the Scottish Government based on evidence provided by the Scottish Legal Aid Board.

When the law was last changed in this area in 2003, the then Scottish Executive issued a leaflet called "children, physlcal punishment and the law". At the moment, there is some information on the physical punishment of children on the Scottish Government website: https://www.gov.scot/Topics/Justice/law/17867/fm-children-root/fm-children-punishment Section 2 of the Children (Equal Protection from Assault) (Scotland) Bill currently before Parliament would place a duty on the Scottish Ministers to promote public awareness and understanding about the proposed change in the law. If section 2 should be enacted by Parliament, the Scottish Government would consider what steps would need to be taken accordingly.

We have been working with the National Scottish Steering Group for Educational Psychologists (NSSGEP) on workforce planning to ensure a sustainable supply of educational psychologists to meet needs.

On 25 May 2018 an agreement was reached between COSLA and the Scottish Government on a new partnership funding package to help with fees and living costs for trainee educational psychologists. This will deliver up to 30 new educational psychologists each year. Earlier this month 29 new students started training at the University of Dundee under the new arrangements.

The legal rights of children and young people are covered within the broad general education of Curriculum for Excellence. Specifically, the social studies experiences and outcomes (SOC 1-17a and SOC 2-17a) help to ensure learners:

• understand the meaning of rights and responsibilities for children and others; and
• can describe the main features of a democracy and can discuss the rights and responsibilities of citizens in Scotland.

Education Scotland also provide a dedicated political literacy section on the National Improvement Hub. This is to help teachers in the delivery of political issues such as children's legal rights.

A key action within our Mental Health Strategy committed the Scottish Government to a national review of Personal and Social Education (PSE); the role of pastoral guidance in local authority schools; and services for counselling children and young people.

Included within the review has been a thematic inspection of PSE delivery in schools and early learning and childcare settings across Scotland. PSE is delivered through the Health and Wellbeing area of Curriculum for Excellence. This contains a social wellbeing experience and outcome that explores children’s rights so that children and young people may exercise their rights appropriately, responsibility and respectfully.

The national PSE review is still taking place and the final report, including recommendations, will be published before the end of 2018.

In line with duties under Part One of the Children and Young People (Scotland) Act 2014, the Scottish Government continues to take steps to promote public awareness and understanding of the rights of children, including amongst children and young people themselves.

To further strengthen children’s rights in Scotland we announced, in the Programme for Government 2018-2019, a commitment to incorporate the principles of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC) into domestic law. We are also committed to work with children, young people and stakeholders to co-design and co-deliver a three-year children’s rights awareness-raising programme.

In schools, the Health and Wellbeing area of Curriculum for Excellence contains a social wellbeing experience and outcome that explores children’s rights so children and young people may exercise their rights appropriately, responsibility and respectfully.

Information on the number of applicants to, and number of students starting, the MSc in Educational Psychology is shown in the following table. Students who started the course between 2012 and 2017 were self-funding. In 2011 and 2010, up to 22 places were funded by a Scottish Government funded bursary arrangement. In 2018, up to 30 places were funded through a partnership arrangement between the Scottish Government and local authorities.

The information requested on the social mix of students entering educational psychologist courses is not held centrally.

Course applications and take up of places, MSc in Educational Psychology

The information requested is not held centrally. This is a matter for individual education authorities as employers of educational psychologists.

There is no national waiting time for educational psychology. It is for individual local authorities to take decisions around how they fulfil their duty to provide an educational psychology service.