Chamber and committees

We have provided an additional £75 million for the recruitment of additional teachers for this school year to bring much needed resilience to the education system, and to support children and young people who have suffered loss of learning during lockdown.

All councils will receive their share of this funding and we would expect teachers to be recruited. The funding is enough for the recruitment of around 1,400 additional teachers.

The funding may be used by local authorities to recruit additional post probation teachers, recently qualified teachers and other qualified teachers.

Responsibility for arranging learning for children who have to self-isolate sits with the child’s school. Local authorities have a range of arrangements in place to support an online teaching option as part of this provision.

In recognition of the need to further strengthen the options available to schools, Scottish Government and Education Scotland are working with local government partners to support the development of these options and to ensure that schools can access an enhanced range of options for online learning during 2020/21.

One aspect of this work is the e-learning national partnership project involving Scottish Government, ADES and Education Scotland. For example, e-Sgoil - the online teaching provision based in Comhairle nan Eilean Siar (Western Isles Council) - is widening access to online lessons across a range of subjects, augmenting the work of classroom teachers across the country. In August, e-Sgoil announced a package of free, live, interactive online study webinars for senior phase pupils starting 7th September. Twenty courses are on offer at National 5 and Higher level, in a range of subjects including Art, Business Management, Chemistry, Computing Science, English, French, Gaelic, History, Mandarin, Maths, Music, Physics, Religious education and Spanish. Education Scotland are working with e-Sgoil to develop a further offer across primary P5-P7 and S1-S3 age groups. Further detail on this e-Sgoil Broad General Education offer will follow, with additional information on the new national partnership offer available at:

https://education.gov.scot/education-scotland/news-and-events/new-partnership-offer-to-improve-availability-of-online-learning-across-scotland/

In addition, schools can access additional support from within their local authority or from their Regional Improvement Collaborative (RICs were set up by Scottish Government to support improvement and collaboration across local authority areas). One example is the West Partnership region which is launching its Online School in September, providing a further offer of teacher led lessons. In the initial development phase, the West Partnership aims to collate short, quality assured video lessons covering the entire 3-18 curriculum. These will also be available nationally for those who wish to access the lessons from other local authority areas.

https://blogs.glowscotland.org.uk/glowblogs/STEMcentralinmotion/2020/09/01/west-partnership-online-school/

Live or recorded online lessons should be one part of a mix of learning activities; a mix which can include "offline" learning tasks as well as other forms of digital and online learning via the Glow national online learning platform. Since the end of March 2020, Education Scotland have increased the volume of online learning and teaching materials, and have enhanced the overall provision available to schools. As a further aspect to its national offer, Education Scotland's new Scotland Learns resource provides additional learning at home activities and ideas to complement any online learning and offline learning provided by the school. Further information on Scotland Learns is available at:

https://education.gov.scot/improvement/scotland-learns/

Schools can also access additional digital learning resources from a variety of third sector and community learning organisations.

It is important too that teachers have the skills and confidence required to support pupils with online learning. In order to address this need, Education Scotland provides a range of professional development opportunities for teachers’ digital learning and teaching. Further advice and support is available to schools via their local authority and their RIC.

Scottish Government is committed to tackling digital exclusion amongst disadvantaged children and young people through its £25m investment in devices and connectivity. Funding allocations for devices and connectivity have been made to all 32 local authorities who are now in the process of ordering equipment to address local needs. We expect that around 70,000 devices and 18,000 connectivity solutions will be provided to disadvantaged children and young people across the country in the coming weeks and months.

Finally, advice and support to parents on how to support their children’s learning at home is available via the Parent Club website at:

https://www.parentclub.scot/articles/helping-your-child-home-and-blended-learning

We are routinely testing healthcare workers where the evidence tells us it is appropriate to do so.

We test all asymptomatic healthcare workers involved in suspected nosocomial COVID-19 outbreaks. This decision was made based upon independent expert advice from the COVID-19 Nosocomial Review Group.

In addition, we test, on a weekly basis, staff working in specialist cancer units, in long term care of the elderly and in long stay mental health wards. These further categories were selected either by having regard to evidence of nosocomial spread in certain healthcare settings, and/or by having a likelihood of highly vulnerable patients in terms of COVID-19.

As of Monday 31 August, indoor leisure facilities can open with physical distancing and enhanced hygiene measures in place. Instructors will therefore be able to meet with clients providing they are adhering to the relevant guidance.

As set out in the Route Map, indoor sport and leisure facilities, including sport centres, can open from 31 August following the published guidance for the opening of indoor and outdoor sport and leisure facilities . Guidance is also available from 31 August for indoor activities and services for children and young people that are not regulated. It sets out how services can restart safely, in line with all relevant guidance on physical distancing measures.

Following the 27 August amendment to coronavirus restrictions, organised children’s parties in public venues are allowed to resume only where the party is organised by the person responsible for that venue and they follow all relevant guidance. Parties in private settings, such as homes, are restricted for all ages. A party is defined as a social gathering where 16 or more people, who are members of more than one household, are present together in a place.

The Scottish Government is committed to meeting or exceeding the standards set out in the European Union’s Single Use Plastic Directive. We have already taken action to reduce consumption of some single-use plastics by banning plastic stemmed cotton buds and microbeads. In the Programme for Government we have committed to outline how we will give effect to the requirements of the Directive and, more specifically, to consult on banning a number of problematic plastic items, including cutlery and certain food containers, identified in the Directive.

As set out in the Route Map, provisional guidance was published on 1 September, for indoor activities and services for children and young people under 18 that are not regulated. Subject to final HPS review, it will be updated within the next week. This includes baby and toddler classes that adults have to attend. It sets out how services can restart safely, in line with all relevant guidance on physical distancing measures. A copy of the guidance can be found here – https://www.gov.scot/publications/coronavirus-covid-19
-organised-activities-for-children/

The use of PPE is covered in the guidance published by the Scottish Government on 24 August – “Staying safe and Protecting Others”.

I recognise the breadth of different activities that take place within church halls and community centres, and understand they are significant assets to faith groups and local communities alike. In many instances, these halls have played a significant role in Scotland’s response to Covid-19, hosting essential volunteer services including the preparation and provision of emergency food and household supplies.

Church halls and community centres are able to reopen for any activity that is currently permitted to resume as part of Scotland’s route map out of lockdown. Organisers of those permitted activities should follow the relevant sector guidance for the particular activity taking place.

At this time, permitted activities include, but are not limited to, the delivery of essential non-NHS support services, provision of regulated childcare services and the delivery of some community learning and development services. Further activities will be permitted as we move through the route map out of lockdown.

I appreciate that the hiring out of these buildings is vital to sustain their upkeep and I know that they host indoor activities that are of huge value to children, young people and families across Scotland. On 20 August the First Minister announced that unregulated children’s activities will be allowed to resume from the 31 August. The scope of unregulated children’s activity is wide and will allow for the resumption of activities such as youth clubs and youth drama clubs. Appropriate guidance should be followed by any organiser opening for these activities.

In line with the route map, non-professional drama groups involving adult participants should not currently meet indoors unless the gathering is of three households or fewer. Guidance has been published for the performing arts and venues sector, and adult drama groups should refer to it before restarting any activity.

I would urge anyone responsible for managing a community centre or church hall to consult the upcoming safe opening and use of community centre guidance, which will be published on the Scottish Government website in the near future.

Milk is an integral part of the school food and drink regulations given its benefits as part of a balanced and nutritious diet.

Schools across the UK can no longer receive subsidised milk under the EU School Milk following the EU’s decision not to provide funding to the UK beyond October 2020. The EU Decision not to provide funding to the UK for the EU School Milk is a result of the UK Government’s decision to leave the European Union. The Scottish Government is continuing to engage with the UK Government on this issue.

Local authorities still retain the power to provide a subsidised milk scheme within their area based on local needs and circumstances.

Guidance on school reopening has been informed by the advice of the Advisory Sub-Group on Education and Children’s Issues, and developed in partnership with the Education Recovery Group. It sets out a range of important mitigations to allow schools to reopen safely and minimise risks for pupils and staff.

There are sound reasons for approaches to physical distancing and group gatherings to vary in different contexts, including the drawing of judgements about cumulative risk across the whole of society and the features of distinct environments.

In the school environment there is the potential for significantly larger numbers of children and young people to come together and mix on a daily basis than is normally the case in wider society. Our guidance on school reopening makes clear that, by keeping children and young people in consistent groups in the school environment wherever possible, the risks of direct transmission are reduced, and there can be quicker identification of those who need to self-isolate in the event of an outbreak, thus potentially reducing the overall number of children, young people and staff who cannot attend school in the event of a positive test for COVID-19.

Our school reopening guidance remains under constant review, as does advice on households meeting outside of school settings. If fresh scientific evidence emerges or the path of the virus alters, we will update guidance accordingly to ensure the safety of school communities and the general public.