Chamber and committees

The Scottish Government is committed to fostering an inclusive and equitable educational environment. Engaging with key partners such as Education Scotland to gather feedback on professional learning, training and the information provided about antisemitism takes place in various ways, including during meetings of the Education Learning and Professional Leadership workstream of the Scottish Government’s Anti-Racism in Education programme.

Education Scotland supports a range of organisations who create resources for or deliver teaching about antisemitism. It is crucial that any approach to antisemitism within educational materials also considers the broader context of how race and racism operate in society. This includes understanding the role of structural racism, institutional discrimination, and the persistence of stereotypes.

The mental health and emotional wellbeing of children and young people in Scotland is of paramount importance. That is why we continue to support our local authority partners with £16 million in funding to ensure that all school pupils aged 10 and above and all secondary schools in Scotland have access to school counselling services. Children impacted by parental alcohol or substance misuse can access these services and can also be referred to the school nurse service in order to receive appropriate support.

We are also providing local authorities with £15 million per annum to deliver community-based mental health and wellbeing support and services for children and young people, with many of these delivered through primary and secondary schools. It is for local authorities and schools to determine what support is put in place to best meet the needs of children and young people in their area.

The Building Racial Literacy (BRL) Programme is funded by the Scottish Government as part of the work of the Anti-Racism in Education Programme. An interim review Building Racial Literacy (education.gov.scot) was undertaken in 2022 and the programme underwent an external review in 2023 by The Collective, which can be viewed here. BRL External Evaluation (education.gov.scot).

While the programme does not focus on one single experience or type of racism, feedback from participants evidences the wide range of racialised experiences, including antisemitism, which are incorporated into the programme’s learning, as well as the ongoing commitment to spotlighting the social evolution of systemic racism.

Ofqual regulates qualifications, examinations and assessments in England. It’s findings relate to the SQA Level 1 Health and Safety in a Construction Environment qualification delivered in England which was withdrawn by SQA in April 2019.

SQA have regularly updated the Scottish Government on the Ofqual review from its inception.

Ofqual has published its findings: Undertaking given by Scottish Qualifications Authority to Ofqual in accordance with B8 of the Conditions of Recognition - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk).

There is a package of national and local support available to assist schools in planning how to use their Pupil Equity Funding (PEF). Local authorities issue specific complementary guidance and headteachers can use their professional judgement to identify children in their school who may benefit from targeted interventions. Headteachers must develop a clear rationale for their use of PEF and plans must be grounded in evidence of what is known to be effective at raising attainment.

The Scottish Government, in partnership with UK Government, agreed to deliver two Green Freeports in Scotland, and we are focussed on supporting the two selected Green Freeports to deliver maximum impact as soon as possible. There are no current plans to create additional Green Freeports in Scotland.

There is a range of investment and resources available to support teachers to promote equality and address racism and other forms of discrimination within their school communities.

For example, Education Scotland, our national education improvement body, in partnership with Interfaith Scotland, has developed an Inclusion, Wellbeing and Equalities Professional Learning framework: Inclusion, Wellbeing and Equalities Professional Learning Framework | Leading professional learning | Professional Learning | Education Scotland which includes resources on religious literacy, aimed at supporting teachers’ understanding of the diverse needs, issues and discrimination experienced by different religious communities in the UK, including Jewish communities. Education Scotland also provides guidance on preventing radicalisation and extremism in schools; Prevent radicalisation and extremism | Resources | Education Scotland.

In relation to antisemitism specifically, the Scottish Government provides funding for the Holocaust Educational Trust’s Holocaust Educational Trust - LFA Project (het.org.uk) and Vision Schools Scotland’s Holocaust education programme: Vision Schools Scotland (uws.ac.uk) which aims to promote excellence in Holocaust teaching. While both programmes focus on the Holocaust, they also promote awareness of Jewish people, culture and their contribution to society and address antisemitism in the world today, including through professional learning and resources for teachers.

The eCommerce Shared Service provides a joined up suite of procurement tools to drive excellence, consistency and best practice within public procurement. The tools include the Public Contracts Scotland advertising portal (PCS mandated for all public bodies in advertising procurements £50k and over), PCS-Tender, PECOS P2P, PECOS Content management (PCM), eInvoicing. All or elements of the Service are used by all Scottish public bodies to enable and support their end to end procurement processes.

The eCommerce Shared Service is promoted via established stakeholder groups and at various events to represent and endorse the Service to public bodies. Appendix 1 shows the number of public bodies that currently use the Service.

Spending decisions on IT Systems and Consultancies is a matter for public bodies, however the eCommerce Shared Service works with public bodies to promote and drive uptake of these systems.

Appendix 1

A report on public bodies data, including spend on different corporate functions in 2022-23, will be published on 15 November 2024 on the Scottish Government website, but this does not include information on bodies that have chosen to use their own procurement and finance IT systems or consultancies instead of the centrally funded eCommerce Shared Service. That information is not held centrally. We are engaged with public bodies via various forums where opportunities are identified to promote and drive uptake of the eCommerce tools. Detailed below is a list of how many public bodies currently use the eCommerce Shared Service.

A report on public bodies data, including spend on different corporate functions in 2022-23, will be published on 15 November 2024 on the Scottish Government website, but this does not include the total amount spent by public bodies on IT systems and consultancy services specifically relating to procurement and finance systems. This is a matter for individual public bodies and is not held centrally. Whilst we do not hold this data we do monitor use of the eCommerce systems across the Scottish public sector and identify opportunities to promote and implement the tools available as part of the eCommerce Shared Service.