- Asked by: Liam Kerr, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
-
Date lodged: Friday, 01 September 2023
-
Current Status:
Answered by Jenny Gilruth on 2 October 2023
To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-19780 by
Jenny Gilruth on 31 July 2023, what proportion of the (a) £830 million spend on
additional support for learning in 2021-22 and (b) £15 million per year in
additional funding since 2019-20 was allocated to each local authority.
Answer
The total spend on additional support for learning in 2021-22 is set out in the following table.
Local Authority | Additional Support for Learning - £000s |
Aberdeen City | 29,575 |
Aberdeenshire | 39,957 |
Angus | 11,681 |
Argyll & Bute | 11,830 |
Clackmannanshire | 11,917 |
City of Edinburgh | 81,342 |
Dumfries & Galloway | 21,070 |
Dundee City | 15,835 |
East Ayrshire | 19,100 |
East Dunbartonshire | 17,771 |
East Lothian | 16,244 |
East Renfrewshire | 13,481 |
Falkirk | 25,603 |
Fife | 39,493 |
Glasgow City | 123,924 |
Highland | 40,636 |
Inverclyde | 12,628 |
Midlothian | 20,140 |
Moray | 16,032 |
Eilean Siar | 5,625 |
North Ayrshire | 13,163 |
North Lanarkshire | 50,248 |
Orkney Islands | 4,411 |
Perth & Kinross | 19,589 |
Renfrewshire | 24,570 |
Scottish Borders | 11,765 |
Shetland Islands | 8,423 |
South Ayrshire | 19,861 |
South Lanarkshire | 47,670 |
Stirling | 9,968 |
West Dunbartonshire | 19,046 |
West Lothian | 27,729 |
Scotland | 830,327 |
Source - Scottish Local Government Finance Statistics 2021-22 - gov.scot (www.gov.scot)
The majority of funding available to local authorities, including the £15 million additional support for learning, is provided by means of a block grant from the Scottish Government and it is for locally elected representatives to manage the allocation of their resources and the level of services that are delivered to their local communities.
- Asked by: Liam Kerr, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
-
Date lodged: Tuesday, 29 August 2023
-
Current Status:
Answered by Jenny Gilruth on 28 September 2023
To ask the Scottish Government what practical steps it is taking to address and reverse the reported findings of the national improvement framework interactive evidence report, published on 13 December 2022, that (a) literacy, (b) reading, (c) writing, (d) listening, (e) talking and (f) numeracy rates are falling in P1, P4 and P7.
Answer
Whilst performance in 2021-22 compared to 2018-19 was broadly lower indicating the continuing impact of the pandemic on learning, there was some encouraging evidence amongst for example, P7 pupils that performance was returning to pre-pandemic levels.
ACEL data is one of a range of measures captured in the National Improvement Framework. It is important to be able to measure the impact of the education system as a whole, rather than looking at individual measures. That is why the National Improvement Framework includes ACEL data for P1, P4, P7 and S3 as part of a broader basket of key measures of attainment. This avoids, as far as possible, a situation where looking at a single measure generates perverse behaviours by becoming the single focus of activity in schools.
Local education authorities have the statutory responsibility to provide school education. To support continuous improvement in literacy and numeracy in our schools nationally, the Scottish Government is:
- Focusing on literacy and numeracy within the Scottish Attainment Challenge (SAC) which has allocated over £550m in Pupil Equity Funding directly to primary schools up until 2022-23 and is investing a total of £1bn over this parliamentary term, including direct funding for all 32 local authorities.
- Has agreed clear stretch aims within each local authority as part of the SAC which, if achieved, would narrow the poverty related attainment gap by over 7 percentage points in both primary school literacy and numeracy by 2022-23 compared to 2020-21.
- Rejoining the “PIRLS” and “TIMSS” surveys, thereby further improving the evidence base on literacy and numeracy performance.
- Taking forward the National Response to Improving Literacy (NRIL) and the National Response to Improving Mathematics (NRIM) alongside Education Scotland and ADES, drawing on the available evidence to develop focused, “teacher-relevant” packages of professional learning, guidance and support.
- Ensuring that Education Scotland provides a tailored local and school-level support offer via attainment advisers and Regional Improvement Collaboratives.
- Funding and promoting Maths Week Scotland every year since 2017, transforming public attitudes to maths and promoting the value of maths as an essential skill for every career.
- Funding additional national programmes which support high quality learning and teaching, including “Read Write Count with the First Minister”, Reading Schools and the School Library Improvement Fund.
- Asked by: Liam Kerr, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
-
Date lodged: Wednesday, 27 September 2023
-
Current Status:
Taken in the Chamber on 4 October 2023
To ask the Scottish Government what role it will play in supporting the fishing industry over the next 10 years.
Answer
Taken in the Chamber on 4 October 2023
- Asked by: Liam Kerr, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
-
Date lodged: Monday, 11 September 2023
-
Current Status:
Answered by Jenny Gilruth on 26 September 2023
To ask the Scottish Government what percentage of children identified as having an additional support need require support for (a) a specific language or speech disorder, (b) communication, (c) learning disabilities and (d) autism spectrum disorder.
Answer
Out of all pupils recorded with an additional support need in the 2022 pupil census:
(a) 8% were reported as having language or speech disorder as reason for support
(b) 5% were reported as having communication needs as reason for support
(c) 5% were reported as having learning disabilities as a reason for support
(d) 11% were reported as having autism spectrum disorder as a reason for support
Note that each pupil may be recorded as having multiple reasons for support.
Statistics on additional support needs are published in the pupil census supplementary statistics, available on the Scottish Government website: https://www.gov.scot/publications/pupil-census-supplementary-statistics/
- Asked by: Liam Kerr, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
-
Date lodged: Monday, 25 September 2023
-
Current Status:
Taken in the Chamber on 26 September 2023
To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking to ensure that students at Scottish universities receive their degree classifications.
Answer
Taken in the Chamber on 26 September 2023
- Asked by: Liam Kerr, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
-
Date lodged: Monday, 28 August 2023
-
Current Status:
Answered by Jenny Gilruth on 25 September 2023
To ask the Scottish Government what practical steps it is taking to address and reverse the findings of the national improvement framework interactive evidence report, published on 13 December 2022, that fewer pupils in S3 are achieving the expected Curriculum for Excellence levels in literacy and numeracy than in 2018-19.
Answer
Curriculum for Excellence (CfE) “Achievement of a Level” (ACEL) data shows that attainment at CfE Third Level or better by S3 pupils has been over 85 per cent for both literacy and numeracy since 2016-17. In 2021-22, 86 per cent of S3 pupils achieved this level in literacy, with 89 per cent in numeracy which is slightly less than in 2018-19, demonstrating the ongoing recovery from the pandemic.
ACEL data is one of a range of measures captured in the National Improvement Framework. It is important to be able to measure the impact of the education system as a whole, rather than looking at individual measures. That is why the National Improvement Framework includes the ACEL data for P1, P4, P7 and S3 as part of a broader basket of key measures of attainment. This avoids, as far as possible, a situation where looking at a single measure generates perverse behaviours by becoming the single focus of activity in schools.
Local education authorities have the statutory responsibility to provide school education. To support continuous improvement in literacy and numeracy nationally in our schools, the Scottish Government is:
- Focusing on literacy and numeracy within the Scottish Attainment Challenge (SAC) which has allocated over £550m in Pupil Equity Funding directly to primary schools up until 2022-23 and is investing a total of £1bn over this parliamentary term, including direct funding for all 32 local authorities.
- Has agreed clear stretch aims within each local authority as part of the SAC which, if achieved, would narrow the poverty related attainment gap by over 7 percentage points in both primary school literacy and numeracy by 2022-23 compared to 2020-21.
- Rejoining the “PIRLS” and “TIMSS” surveys, thereby further improving the evidence base on literacy and numeracy performance.
- Taking forward the National Response to Improving Literacy (NRIL) and the National Response to Improving Mathematics (NRIM) alongside Education Scotland and ADES, drawing on the available evidence to develop focused, “teacher-relevant” packages of professional learning, guidance and support.
- Ensuring that Education Scotland provides a tailored local and school-level support offer via attainment advisers and Regional Improvement Collaboratives.
- Funding and promoting Maths Week Scotland every year since 2017, transforming public attitudes to maths and promoting the value of maths as an essential skill for every career.
- Funding additional national programmes which support high quality learning and teaching, including “Read Write Count with the First Minister”, Reading Schools and the School Library Improvement Fund.
- Asked by: Liam Kerr, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
-
Date lodged: Wednesday, 06 September 2023
-
Current Status:
Answered by Jenny Gilruth on 21 September 2023
To ask the Scottish Government, further to its statement on 31 August 2023 that it had already “received returns for the majority of the school estate” and that it expected “to have full returns from all local authorities this week”, whether it will publish all of the returns that it has received from local authorities regarding the (a) presence of reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete in school buildings and (b) projected cost to remedy any issues, and, if so, when.
Answer
As the Cabinet Secretary for Social Justice updated in her statement to Parliament, local authorities have a statutory responsibility to ensure that their schools are safe for pupils, staff and their users. In line with this responsibility, they continue to carry out assessments of their school buildings, and Ministers have been clear to authorities that those must be carried out as a matter of the highest priority. At present, I am meeting with COSLA on a weekly basis to review the position.
It is imperative that there is transparency around the schools where RAAC has been identified and the mitigations that are in place. This is why, on 8 September, a list of the 16 local authorities where reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete (RAAC) has been found in some schools was published in a Scottish Government news release ( Local authorities publish RAAC data - gov.scot (www.gov.scot) ). Local authorities have now published a list of any schools where RAAC has been identified, and it would be for those individual local authorities to decide if they publish the projected cost to remedy any issues within their school estate.
- Asked by: Liam Kerr, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
-
Date lodged: Wednesday, 20 September 2023
-
Current Status:
Taken in the Chamber on 27 September 2023
To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on the Fiscal Framework.
Answer
Taken in the Chamber on 27 September 2023
- Asked by: Liam Kerr, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
-
Date lodged: Tuesday, 22 August 2023
-
Current Status:
Answered by Jenny Gilruth on 20 September 2023
To ask the Scottish Government how often it has engaged with COSLA in the last 24 months, and how often it plans to engage with COSLA during the current school year.
Answer
I meet quarterly with the COSLA Spokesperson for Children and Young People, Chair and attend further meetings and events where COSLA is represented, and meet directly with Councillors across Scotland to discuss mutual areas of interest. In the period since my appointment I have met with COSLA eight times, in a range of settings. In addition, officials across the Education & Skills portfolio are in constant contact with COSLA officials, frequently engaging on a daily or weekly basis and it is not possible to collate the total number of such engagements.
- Asked by: Liam Kerr, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
-
Date lodged: Tuesday, 22 August 2023
-
Current Status:
Answered by Jenny Gilruth on 20 September 2023
To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-20065 by Jenny Gilruth on 15 August 2023, whether it will directly address the second part of the question and confirm whether or not there is a system in Scotland similar to the Early Help Scheme in England.
Answer
Getting it Right for Every Child is Scotland’s national approach to improving outcomes for children and young people. We are committed to investing £500m in Whole Family Wellbeing to improve holistic family support so that families get the right support, in the right way and at the right time. The GIRFEC approach is not directly comparable to the Early Help Scheme.
As set out in answer PQ S6W-20065 Local Authorities are expected to have robust processes and guidance for children who do not attend school from the first day they are absent until they are re-engaged with education. I have expressed concerns about the impact of COVID-19 on attendance and have asked Education Scotland to undertake work to better understand the current barriers and challenges experienced by schools, children and young people and their families and which influence school attendance, and to provide clear examples of effective strategies that are supporting improved attendance, and clarity on what further support or intervention is required in areas where attendance is not improving. I am welcome to learning from approaches to improving attendance from elsewhere.