Chamber and committees

The Local Government and Housing Act 1989, as amended identifies a number of politically restricted posts within a local authority. The restrictions take the form of terms and conditions that are deemed to be incorporated into those officers' terms of appointment and conditions of employment. They include: not announcing themselves as a candidate for a Parliamentary or Local Government election; not being an election agent; and not being an officer of, or canvassing on behalf of, a political party. Full details are in the Schedule to The Local Government Officers (Political Restrictions) Regulations 1990 (legislation.gov.uk) , as amended by The Local Government Officers (Political Restrictions) Amendment Regulations 1998 (legislation.gov.uk) to include the Scottish Parliament.

The 1989 Act further identifies certain categories of post deemed to be politically restricted on the basis of one or more defined characteristics and introduced the requirement for every local authority to prepare and maintain a list of such posts. There are two exemptions from political restriction provided by statute. One of which is the holders of teaching posts (head teachers, principals, teachers and lecturers) are not to be regarded as being in politically restricted posts. They, therefore, do not have to be included in the list of such posts maintained by the local authority.

The vast majority of school staff will not be politically restricted but there may be exceptions and if any member of staff is thinking of engaging in political activity they should check their position with their local management team. If they dispute a direction they may approach the Local Government Political Restrictions Adjudicator for Scotland who will adjudicate in such cases.

There is a Code of Professionalism and Conduct which sets out key principles and values for all teachers registered with the General Teaching Council for Scotland. Within this document there is a requirement that teachers must uphold standards of personal and professional conduct, honesty and integrity so that the public have confidence in them as a teacher and teaching as a profession.

Information on the number of teachers in posts was collected in the September 2020 school staff census and were published in December in the 2020 the Summary Statistics for Schools in Scotland, available here: https://www.gov.scot/publications/summary-statistics-schools-scotland-2020/

The Scottish Government collects data on an annual basis in the school staff census in September of each year so does not hold data on the number of teachers in post in May 2007. Information on the numbers of teacher in post in the September 2006 staff census, from the same academic year as May 2007, is available in table 6.1 of the 2019 Teacher Census Supplementary Statistics, available here: https://www.gov.scot/publications/teacher-census-supplementary-statistics/

The Scottish Government published an Equity Audit on 13 January 2021, which is available at Coronavirus (COVID-19): impact of school building closures - equity audit - gov.scot (www.gov.scot) . The report provides a range of evidence to further our understanding of the impact of school buildings closures and wider lockdown restrictions on children and young people, with a particular focus on those from disadvantaged backgrounds.

Our National Improvement Framework and Improvement Plan contains a wealth of other evidence and analysis that extends our understanding of what works to drive improvements for children and young people across all parts of the Scottish education system.

Information on primary school class sizes is collected annually in the September Pupil Census. Statistics on class sizes from the 2020 census were published in Summary Statistics for Schools in Scotland 2020 , available here: https://www.gov.scot/publications/summary-statistics-schools-scotland-2020/ .

Information on teacher vacancies in North Ayrshire from 2016 to 2019 can be found at:

Teacher vacancy survey 2016 to 2019 - gov.scot (www.gov.scot)

Information on Arran only is not available.

A survey was not undertaken in 2020 due to the expectation that all teaching resource will be required to support education recovery and as such vacancies are expected to be very few in number. Since the start of the pandemic over £300 million has been invested in support of education recovery. This has helped to recruit an additional 1,400 teachers and over 200 support staff.

Current teacher vacancy information is available from individual local authorities or at: www.myjobscotland.gov.uk .

Overall, we have committed over £375 million as part of a long-term programme of recovery.

This includes £160m, which can be broken down as follows:

• £80m for teachers and other support staff
• £50m to help offset the additional costs required to support safe, open and welcoming schools
• £25m devices & connectivity
• £3m youth work
• £2m The Promise as part of the Care Review

In addition to that, we have also committed funding, which includes:

• £51m for free school meal alternatives during remote learning and school holidays
• £45m support for schools and families
• £25m more for teachers and support staff
• £40m more to offset the additional costs required to implement protection measures in schools
• £60m education recovery funding to support and accelerate learning recovery and enable children to catch-up on missed education.

There are no quarterly economic growth statistics for (a) North Ayrshire and (b) Arran. The Office for National Statistics produces annual GDP statistics for local authorities. The latest release can be found at https://www.ons.gov.uk/economy/grossdomesticproductgdp/datasets/
regionalgrossdomesticproductlocalauthorities .

The estimated completion costs for the vessels is unchanged since last estimate at £110.3m - £114.3m. The delivery of 801 is planned for the range April 2022 to June 2022 and the delivery of 802 is planned for December 2022 to February 2023.

Tim Hair, Turnaround Director of Ferguson Marine is preparing an update, for the Rural Economy and Connectivity Committee, on the delivery timetable and budget for vessels 801 and 802. This will be submitted prior to parliamentary recess on the 25th March and will be the first of regular quarterly updates on progress as requested by the committee in their report on ferry procurement.

Total gross revenue expenditure on education per school pupil in the North Ayrshire Local Authority is presented in the following table, at primary and secondary school level.

Figures for Arran are included in the North Ayrshire Local Authority total and are not available separately.

Health Boards are aware of the need to work within the nationally agreed prioritisation schedule to manage the administration of their vaccine supplies. This prioritisation will also include a limited number of non-clinical staff who are working in COVID-19 red pathways and/or as part of vaccinations teams. This includes ancillary staff, such as cleaners, porters, secretaries and receptionists, who may have social contact with patients but are not directly involved in patient care.

Some staff may also be prioritised ahead of others for the vaccine due to their age and/or underlying medical conditions.