Education and Skills
Good afternoon. The first item of business is portfolio question time, and the portfolio is education and skills. I remind members who wish to ask a supplementary question to press their request-to-speak buttons during the relevant question.
Teachers (Support)
To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on what support is available to teachers who experience physical violence or verbal abuse in schools. (S6O-04568)
The Scottish Government is clear that physical violence and verbal abuse directed at teachers is unacceptable. That is why, last year, we published our relationships and behaviour in schools national action plan, which contains a number of actions to reduce violence and disruptive behaviours in schools.
Local authorities, as the employers of teachers, are responsible for providing support that meets their employees’ needs when physical violence or verbal abuse occurs. Therefore, the support that is available to individual teachers will depend on local provision.
However, since October 2020, the Scottish Government has invested more than £2 million in national support for the educational workforce. That support includes the provision of free wellbeing coaching for education staff and funding for the Association of Directors of Education in Scotland to consider how best practice and resources can be shared across local authorities.
It is not just teachers—there are terrible reports of a pupil being stabbed in Aberdeen just today.
A recent survey shows that 83 per cent of NASUWT members have seen increased physical violence and verbal abuse from pupils—and the abuse of classroom assistants is not even recorded. The Educational Institute of Scotland reports that 72 per cent of its members feel stressed frequently or all the time. It is no wonder that that is the case given the reports of knives in schools. Stress-related absences are soaring, and many teachers are leaving the profession altogether.
Those who stay often face insecure teaching contracts. Some 94 per cent of teachers who were surveyed by Scottish Teachers for Permanence know a colleague who is struggling to find a permanent job and 84 per cent have witnessed high staff turnover.
Question?
Given that stark evidence, can the minister explain how the Scottish Government will address what is clearly a crisis in Scottish education?
I begin by saying how utterly concerned I am by the reports of the incident at Hazlehead academy in Aberdeen this morning in which a 12-year-old girl was assaulted. Children, like staff, should be able to be safe at all times when they go to school. My thoughts are very much with the child concerned, her family, the staff and the pupils at the school, particularly those who witnessed that unacceptable incident.
I want to be clear that violence in schools is totally unacceptable. We are absolutely clear on that, as I know members of Parliament are, too. The Cabinet Secretary for Education and Skills wrote to directors of education to emphasise the need for local action plans to ensure the delivery of the overall strategy that is in place. I absolutely recognise the concerns that have been shared by members and the trade unions, which Sandesh Gulhane has referred to.
I can stand here and say that violence in schools is not a Scotland-specific issue—and it is not. Nevertheless, I recognise that, when there is an incident such as the one that happened today, the issue is very much at the forefront of colleagues’ thoughts. I can only offer Sandesh Gulhane the reassurance that the cabinet secretary is very much on the case. She has given a commitment to return to Parliament—I think that, with the agreement of the Parliamentary Bureau, that will be in the first part of May—to update Parliament and to provide another opportunity for Parliament to explore the issue of behaviour and violence in schools.
Rural Early Learning and Childcare
To ask the Scottish Government how it is ensuring access to early learning and childcare for families in rural areas, in light of reports of recent nursery closures. (S6O-04569)
Access to high-quality, accessible and affordable early learning and childcare is vital for our rural communities. That is why the Scottish Government funds local authorities to deliver 1,140 hours of ELC to all eligible children with around £1 billion each year. Councils are responsible for ensuring that local provision meets families’ needs and for taking decisions relating to their ELC estate.
In addition, the Scottish Government is supporting projects to improve childcare provision in rural communities through the addressing depopulation action plan, our childcare early adopter communities programme and the programme for Scotland’s childminding future.
There are currently four nurseries being mothballed in Aberdeenshire, just as Tullynessle school was last year, even though it was expected to be full. Parents report that closures are being pursued despite the nurseries being at nearly 80 per cent capacity, which goes against national guidance. Families now face longer journeys, higher childcare costs and, for some, a need to reduce working hours.
Losing a nursery in a rural area is not just a childcare issue—it is a death knell for local communities. Can the minister confirm that the legislation and existing guidance cover nurseries? How is the Scottish Government supporting councils to maintain provision and ensure that rural communities and families are protected?
The Scottish Government recognises the vital role that rural schools and nurseries play in sustaining local communities. I remind the member that responsibility for decisions about local provision rests with local councils. Any closure, temporary or permanent, should be considered in consultation with local people.
We are currently reviewing guidance on mothballing to provide greater clarity on when it is an appropriate action to take. That will ensure that local decisions are based on effective engagement with the community, better reflect the needs of rural families and help to maintain access to early learning in those communities.
I expect the local authority to be engaging with families in the area to ensure that the ELC provision is fit to meet their needs.
The last two private nurseries in the east neuk of Fife have closed, removing the flexible childcare that parents desperately need in order to stay in work. That is partly because of Government policy: the Government has been fiddling around for years, saying that it is going to take action to resolve the gap in funding, but it has done very little. When, at last, are we going to see a solution to this problem?
I assume that Mr Rennie is referring to the gap in funding in relation to the issues between the local authority and private nurseries. I have been clear to Mr Rennie before, and to the rest of the chamber, that there is on-going work on the rates review and the updated rates guidance, including work with the Diffley Partnership, to try to bring more parity to the rate-setting process. There are also other areas in which we have taken action to support private providers, such as through rates relief. As I have said to Mr Rennie before, I am more than happy to pick up discussions with him on other actions that we are taking to help providers.
Vaping in Schools
To ask the Scottish Government what discussions the education secretary has had with ministerial colleagues regarding what action is being taken to reduce vaping in schools. (S6O-04570)
We remain very concerned about the proportion of young people who use vaping products. The behaviour in Scottish schools research identified vaping as an emerging concern. We are working with Education Scotland and public and third-sector partners to support work on substance use education, in line with our tobacco and vaping framework, to create a tobacco-free generation by 2034.
An awareness-raising campaign on the health impacts of vaping and risks of nicotine addiction was rolled out to schools in November 2023 and reissued in November 2024, to support learning around health and wellbeing.
I raised the issue of vaping in schools around 18 months ago. At that time, I noted that the majority of councils held no information on how many vapes were being confiscated from pupils.
It has been reported to me that certain schools now have toilets designated by the pupils for vaping. Can the minister provide an update on whether schools and local authorities are now consistently monitoring vaping among pupils?
The Scottish Government does not hold that information. I know that Mr Golden has raised the question before. As I said in my previous answer, research has identified vaping as one of the new and emerging patterns of disruptive behaviour; therefore, it is a concern.
The member will be aware that the relationships and behaviour in schools national action plan includes a specific commitment to develop specific guidance on vaping and substance use in schools. That will complement the work that we are doing in schools to educate our young people on the harms of various substances, and the wider work to prevent smoking and vaping. He will remember, of course, that it is a cross-portfolio issue.
Early Learning and Childcare (Three-year-olds)
To ask the Scottish Government what proportion of three-year-old children receive free early learning and childcare in the week after their third birthday. (S6O-04571)
The Scottish Government has made tough decisions to prioritise investment of almost £1 billion per year to deliver a universally funded early learning and childcare offer, which is available regardless of whether parents are working and which puts children’s interests first.
According to the latest ELC census, uptake of funded ELC for three and four-year-olds remains nearly universal in Scotland: an estimated 95 per cent of eligible children receive it. The Scottish Government does not collect data on children receiving funded ELC within one week of their third birthday. Statutory eligibility begins the term after a child’s birthday, but local authorities have the power to offer earlier start dates, depending on local priorities.
Renfrewshire Council used to offer access to free early learning and childcare hours as soon as a child turned three. Due to funding pressures and cutbacks, children must now wait until the start of the school term following their third birthday. That will result in many working parents having to pay for childcare—including Vahri Gemmell, who is my and the minister’s constituent, who must pay around £4,000 in childcare for the four months that her son Adam is otherwise set to miss out on.
Given that the Scottish Government has stated that it encourages local councils to offer free childcare hours as soon as a child turns three, will the minister join me in encouraging her colleagues in Renfrewshire Council to reverse their childcare cuts? Will she also encourage the Cabinet Secretary for Finance and Local Government to ensure that local councils are properly funded, so that the postcode lottery can be ended?
As I have said, we invest almost £1 billion per year in our ELC offering. In the interests of transparency, I declare that I have met the petitioner recently in my capacity as a constituency MSP, so I am aware of the matter. For completeness, as is recorded on my published list of interests, my husband is a councillor for Renfrewshire Council.
As I said in my previous answer, statutory eligibility for funded early learning and childcare begins the term after a child’s birthday, but local authorities have the power to offer earlier start dates, depending on local priorities. Arrangements to commence closer to the child’s birthday are encouraged in our statutory guidance.
Every two years, local authorities are required to consult families in their area about how they should make ELC available, to ensure that they are meeting local needs. I encourage families across Scotland to share their views and needs with their local authority in order to inform local decisions about funded ELC.
How has the Scottish National Party Government already supported ELC provision, particularly through its early adopter communities approach?
We have invested in our early adopter communities and increased their number to six in the most recent year. I recently had a meeting with officials on the progress and learning that we are gaining from our early adopter communities. I know that the families who are being supported in those communities are finding the support that they are receiving extremely beneficial in relation to their life choices and the situations that they are in. Further analysis of the benefits of the early adopter communities approach will come through in the coming months, and I am very positive about what I will be able to share with the chamber in relation to those outcomes.
I raised this issue with the minister in the chamber last May. In her response, she advised me that she would certainly take it away and consider it. However, as we have just heard, families across Scotland are faced with a postcode lottery when it comes to accessing 1,140 hours of funded childcare. When the Scottish Government looked into the issue, what information did it find? What has it done to rectify it in the past year?
I have been very clear that the issue is for local authorities, which are best placed to meet the needs of their local communities and to understand what is required. The legislation was originally designed in that way to enable smaller groups of children to start at phased points in the year and to help to keep the system more manageable and sustainable. However, some local authorities have chosen to have those earlier start dates, having found that that works for their local area and their families. I assure members that I have heard the concerns that have been raised in the chamber and that I will continue to consider the issue alongside other issues in relation to our ELC offering.
Question 5 was withdrawn.
Higher Education (Edinburgh)
To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on what steps it is taking to protect Edinburgh’s higher education sector, in light of reports of potential job losses. (S6O-04573)
The Scottish Government is aware of broader financial pressures impacting on the university sector, including the impact of United Kingdom Government migration policies on international student recruitment, and the increase to employer national insurance contributions, which is estimated to cost Scottish universities, including those in the city of Edinburgh, more than £48 million.
Although universities are autonomous institutions with responsibility for their own strategic and operational decision making, the Scottish Government and the Scottish Funding Council will continue to engage closely with the sector and to offer appropriate support to universities as they develop their own plans to address financial challenges.
In line with our fair work principles, I expect universities to engage meaningfully with staff on the potential impact of their plans. My clear expectation is that universities work with staff to make every effort to protect jobs and avoid compulsory redundancies, which should only be considered as a last resort, after all other cost-saving measures have been fully explored.
What specific initiatives is the Scottish Government developing to deliver a sustainable higher education model? Staff across the country are worried about their jobs, and there are major concerns about the future of our higher education system, which provides world-leading research, first-class education and vital jobs, particularly in Edinburgh and the Lothians. Staff do not just need meetings—they need action. They are worried because voluntary redundancies are already happening.
Indeed, but it is a bit rich of Sarah Boyack to stand there and talk about the challenges facing universities and the impacts on them. If she wants to talk about action, perhaps she can persuade her colleagues at Westminster to do something about the impact of ENICs. [Interruption.] Well, she is sitting there shaking her head, but £48 million has been stripped out from our universities on—[Interruption.]
Ms Boyack cannot escape the truth. That is the reality of what has happened on her Government’s watch. To her point about what the Scottish Government is doing, we are actively engaging with the university sector—Mr Rennie has raised that matter on a number of occasions—to look at developing a sustainable long-term model. That piece of work is in the early stages, but it is under way.
There are a number of supplementary questions, all of which I will try to get in. I ask members to please be reasonably brief.
As the minister has accepted, there is growing concern around the financial sustainability of the higher education sector as a whole. Given the Scottish Funding Council’s role in monitoring the financial health of the sector, will the minister advise why the publication of its annual report on the financial sustainability of the higher education sector has been delayed from January this year, and will he advise when the report will be published?
I have to admit that I am not aware of the reason behind the publication being delayed. I will write to Miles Briggs as soon as possible with an answer on that.
I find it astonishing that the minister responsible for higher education does not know that a key report about the financial sustainability of not just the University of Edinburgh but all universities in Scotland has been delayed, and nor does he know when it will be published. That is astonishing. A crisis is going on in our universities. He should know, and if he does not, he should come back next week and tell us exactly what the financial sustainability situation is across the sector. Otherwise, he is letting the sector down.
The SFC has been doing substantial work, not just in relation to that report but on a more urgent piece on the financial sustainability of the sector in the light of events at the University of Dundee. It has been very actively engaged in mapping out the situation across universities. That is alongside work—which I alluded to a moment ago as being in its early stages but under way—between the Government and the university sector around what a more sustainable long-term future model might look like. Further meetings on that will follow in the next few weeks. I accept that that might take time to develop, but we are absolutely alive to the challenges that are being faced by the university sector.
I have to reiterate that many of the challenges that are being faced by our universities are not within the control of the Scottish Government, be they ENICs or the migration policies that have so decimated international student numbers.
I know that the minister can be a very reasonable man, so I will ask him a very reasonable question. He has mentioned visas and NICs, but does he accept that chronic underfunding of Scotland-domiciled students is contributing to the financial crises at the University of Edinburgh and throughout Scotland’s higher education institutions?
I have previously accepted in the chamber, sometimes in response to Mr Kerr, that I would prefer that the teaching grant that is provided to our universities in relation to Scottish students was higher than it is currently, but I say to him again that, if we look at the overall finances, we see that the moneys that are provided through that source are a small proportion of the income of many of our universities, particularly our larger ones. The biggest factor that is creating challenges for our universities is the loss of international students, and both Mr Kerr and I know the cause of that.
Care-experienced Children and Young People Fund
To ask the Scottish Government what eligibility criteria and implementation guidance it has issued to local authorities regarding the use of the care-experienced children and young people fund in education settings. (S6O-04574)
We publish national operational guidance for the care-experienced children and young people fund, to help local authorities to determine how to invest the funding to improve educational outcomes for care-experienced children and young people from birth to the age of 26, supported by the strategic aims of the Promise and the Scottish attainment challenge.
Directors of education and chief social workers agree how plans are implemented locally. Funding can be used to support anyone who is currently in care or from a looked-after background or who has been at any stage in their life.
Will the minister expand on whether adopted children who were previously looked after are eligible to benefit from education support through the care-experienced children and young people fund and whether local authorities have any discretion to restrict their access? If not, what action is being taken to ensure that the fund is applied equitably and in line with the national definitions of care experience?
I confirm that adopted children who were previously looked after are eligible for support through the care-experienced children and young people fund. That is set out clearly in the operational guidance for the fund. We have taken action to ensure awareness of that, such as by strengthening the guidance that was developed with our local authority partners by making explicit reference to the eligibility of adopted children.
There is flexibility in how local authorities can use the funding, in recognition of the importance of local decision making, but we expect the guidance to be followed. If Rona Mackay is aware of any specific circumstances in which that is not the case, I can look into the matter if she would like to write to me with the details.
The guidance for 2023-24 requires local authorities to be accountable for the funding as set out in their grant letter. That is to be assessed using the education outcomes for Scotland’s looked-after children, the national improvement framework and the framework for recovery and accelerating progress. The commitment to children in care is that every child who is in care will have access to intensive support that ensures that their education and health needs are fully met. Will the minister confirm how many children in care had those needs met fully in 2023-24?
As Martin Whitfield would expect, I will have to get back to him with the specific details of that, which I am more than happy to do.
Teachers (Temporary Contracts)
To ask the Scottish Government what steps it can take to reduce the number of teachers on temporary contracts. (S6O-04575)
As Jeremy Balfour knows, teacher employment practices are a matter for local authorities as employers. However, I note that the Government very much values our teachers, and we are doing everything possible to maximise the number of teaching jobs available, including permanent posts. We are providing local authorities with increased funding of £186.5 million this year, as part of our agreement with local government to restore teacher numbers to 2023 levels and maximise the number of teaching posts available. It is encouraging that the number of teachers in permanent posts has remained stable at more than 80 per cent over the past 10 years.
I thank the minister for his answer, but does he not accept that, under this Scottish National Party Government, permanent teaching jobs have gone from being the norm to being a rarity and that those who are entering the profession now often have to work on difficult, short-term contracts, which means that they cannot get mortgages and have a stable life?
I hardly think that 80 per cent represents a rarity. I have outlined to Mr Balfour the Government’s commitment to the delivery of permanent posts, which can be seen in its action of providing funding to local authorities, which are responsible for that delivery. We are working closely with the Convention of Scottish Local Authorities to improve the situation.
That concludes portfolio question time. To allow a changeover of front-bench members, there will be a brief pause before we move to the next item of business.