 Welcome to the annual report for the Education and Skills Committee. The committee's 11 members are made up from parties across the Parliament. The responsibility of the committee is to hold the government to account on a wide range of issues. These issues range from early years in childcare to primary education, secondary education, further and higher education, child protection and of course skills. We place a big focus on people who have got real experiences of what we've been looking at and this makes a big difference to the way that we approach our work and the decisions that are made by the committee. We started this parliamentary year with an inquiry in May in June on teacher workforce planning for Scotland schools. 700 teachers and trainee teachers took our survey to inform our inquiry. As a result of our evidence, the government has commissioned work to improve teacher training in relation to online safety and additional support for learning. In June we also held an inquiry into ensuring the safety of Scotland school buildings and then from September to November we took evidence on the children and young people information sharing Scotland bill. In December we considered the Scottish Government's draft budget. We made a number of recommendations such as on funding for additional support needs. This continues our earlier work on additional support needs that led to the government commissioning research on the experiences of mainstream school children with ASN and also their parents. We also undertook a visit to Glasgow in January to learn about what work is being done to widen access to higher education in Scotland. We heard from students and staff who are working to widen access to their institutions. We also used our trip to Glasgow to look at the Scottish Government's proposal for education reform. Visited the Kepwch campus to meet with pupils and teachers. We also held a formal committee meeting and discussion groups with parents, pupils and teachers. We met with over 100 people on what was a great day. We continued our work in the Scottish Government's proposed education reforms by visiting Peterhead on the 29th of January. We met pupils at Peterhead Academy and we met informally with head teachers from across the North East. We also visited the Scottish Maritime Academy to learn more about how colleges and their EU 27 students will be affected by Brexit. In February and March we launched our Ask the Minister evidence sessions giving members of the public a chance to suggest questions for Scottish Government Ministers. We heard from Scottish Government Ministers on issues including widening access to universities, early learning and childcare and apprenticeships. We also heard from the Independent Care Review including care experienced young people who have shaped the reviews so far. In late March a group of us continued our work in the proposed education reforms by making a visit to Sweden and Finland. The Children and Young People's Commissioner Scotland produced a new strategic plan in March and the committee was pleased to be represented at the launch event with the young advisors who helped create the plan. In April and May we launched a new enquiry about children experiencing poverty and their attainment at school. Again we have met lots of people that both inside and outside of school help support young people who are experiencing poverty. We'd like to say a big thank you to everyone who has engaged with the committee over the past 12 months. Your input has been invaluable. If you wish to further engage with the committee or you wish to be an unmailing list then please just contact us. Thank you once again for your help.