Chamber and committees

The Scottish Government continues to update its data collection tools to include new psychoactive substances (NPS). We have commissioned a review of evidence and data available on NPS and this will inform improvements in collection and research. An integrated drug and alcohol information system is also under development.

The number and type of new psychoactive substances available, including their individual strengths and toxicity, is constantly growing and changing. This makes it difficult to identify levels and risks of use. However, work is underway to develop a national set of standards to guide toxicology.

As a result of a recommendation within the Learning With Care, HM Inspectorate of Education and Social Work Services Inspectorate report in 2001, local authorities took steps to identify a designated senior manager for looked after children and young people in each of their educational establishments.

The Scottish Government developed We Can and Must Do Better: Core tasks for Designated Managers in educational and residential establishments in Scotland Guidance (Sept 2008) with partners to clarify the role and responsibilities and to support local authorities and professionals carry this out. The guidance sits alongside a suit of materials aimed at improving the education of looked after children available on We Can and Must Do Better website.

The Scottish Government funded the Centre for Excellence for looked after children in Scotland in 2012-13 to provide training for designated managers to learn about the Core Tasks, and responsibilities set out in the guidance. Local seminars took place in six local authorities, which we well attended and represented a mix of mainstream schools, specialist residential education provision, and residential establishments.

The Designated Manager role is non-statutory and it is for local authorities to decide how best to implement this at the local level. The school’s ability to cater for the needs of looked after children and young people are measured in the context of the inspection regime. The Scottish Government also publish annually data on Educational Outcomes for Looked After Children.

The designated manager role will be enhanced by the introduction of the Corporate Parenting duties in the Children and Young People (Scotland) Act 2014.

Young people do not directly participate in the permanence and care excellence programme (PACE), but will benefit from the improved systems and decision making that PACE is expected to deliver.

No additional funding has been provided for the PACE programme. Support to PACE is being delivered by the Centre for Excellence for Looked After Children in Scotland and the Scottish Government, using existing staff resources. The cost of delivering this support is approximately £145,000 a year.

PACE is expected to last at least three years, with implementation in additional local authorities each year.

Evaluation of PACE is built into the programme through collecting data about each small-scale test of change and using that evidence to inform scaling up of improvements or to develop further tests of change.

It is a statutory requirement that local authorities only employ teachers who are registered with the General Teaching Council for Scotland (GTCS).

Any Teach First graduate can apply for registration. They will then be individually assessed against the relevant GTCS criteria.

The Scottish Government supported the development of five inter-authority literacy hubs in North Lanarkshire, Fife, Edinburgh, Highland and West Dunbartonshire, and six inter-authority numeracy hubs in Dumfries & Galloway, Glasgow, Midlothian, East Lothian, Angus and Moray. The literacy hubs were allocated a total of £495,997 from September 2012 to the end of June 2014; the numeracy hubs have thus far been allocated a total of £301,915 from October 2013 to the end of March 2015. Both the literacy and numeracy hubs continue to share with their partners successful approaches developed at local level to improve literacy or numeracy outcomes for children and young people.

Parentzone Scotland is currently being redeveloped. Users will be encouraged to subscribe to regular newsletters when the new site goes live from 24 September 2014 but at present there is no facility to become a subscribed user.

The local authorities currently involved in the Raising Attainment for All programme are Aberdeen City, Angus, Borders, Dumfries and Galloway, Dundee, East Ayrshire, Fife, North Ayrshire, North Lanarkshire, Renfrewshire, South Lanarkshire and Stirling and Clackmannanshire.

There are around 100 schools involved at the moment, although final numbers will not be finalised until later in the year. The list of local authorities and their participating schools will be made available on the Raising Attainment pages on the Scottish Government website in due course:

www.scotland.gov.uk/Topics/Education/Schools/Raisingeducationalattainment

A new student support package was introduced for academic year 2013-14. The new package included an annual minimum income of £7,250, through a combination of bursaries and loans, for students with a family income of less than £17,000 and a revised minimum student loan amount for all eligible students. Expansion in the amount of money available to all students through loan resulted in an increase in overall lending during the first year of operation.

In 2014-15, the minimum loan amount has increased by a further £250. Factors such as increase or decrease in loan uptake and/or increase in student numbers make it difficult to provide exact figures on future total lending.

The Scottish Government has worked with Edinburgh University on the Edinburgh Study of Youth Transitions and Crime since 1998, including providing some funding to support analysis and reporting. More recently, we are engaging with the university to attempt to gain a better understanding of the educational attainment and outcomes of that cohort of young people and we will continue to work to develop this in the forthcoming year.