 Cyfnodd cyfnwys pwysnesol yn cwestiynau uch嘱faith. Rydw i'r cwestiynau i gyd, rydw i ddod yn cymherd nutrientsiau. Rydw i ddod i esbyddio giliau egysiogio eich controls yng Nghymru, yn onw i gynnwys i gyd yn anoddiadau i ddiadw i'r strategiaeth cysnopnol. Mary Todd. The Scottish National Play Strategy was developed in collaboration with the play sector and this year alone, we have invested over 3 million in this area. roiír gweithio feddwl gwrthogau. Roiír gweithio wedi dŵr cymdeithasull, modicwch gwaith rhaid indu o feithio i perioed ac tri cymdeithaslog, oesio i gweithio, hwnnw, a i leidogau ar ei gwrthogau, a sydd yn gweithio cymdeithaslog, oesio i gweithio a hebau cîn y cyfrifffordd y peirwyr a'r cysylltu gyda ni i gwybodaeth â ymgeithio a fydd alcoholau. Ruth Maguire. Roiír gweithio yn gwneud ei gydig ar ôl, wrth gyda'r gweithio, Scotland has a central role to play in the continued implementation of the strategy. Will she agree to meet with myself and Play Scotland to discuss some current issues to play such as how is weather? Weather is used as an excuse not to go outside, withholding of play due to negative behaviour and some schools banning running in the playground? Mary Todd. Absolutely. I have been more than delighted to meet with you in Play Scotland to discuss those issues. I think that we all enjoyed last week watching the children of Scotland building igloos all around the country. I'm not sure that the weather should be an excuse for not going outside. There are undoubtedly issues around safety and a risk assessment and a good decision needs to be made on those issues, but in general it shouldn't prohibit playing outside or running. Brian Whittle I agree that early access to play is essential for both physical and mental wellbeing and development of our children. I read through the national play strategy, which has some great visions and objectives, and I wholeheartedly agree with it. However, I found it quite light on the delivery programme, so I cannot ask the Government how it will practically deliver to the ambitions of the strategy. Mary Todd. As you know, the significant expansion of funded ELC gives us an opportunity to define the type of experience that we offer. I spoke in the chamber last week about the fantastic visit that I had to the Forrest Kindergarten. We know the benefits of outdoor learning for children in terms of their health, their wellbeing and their physical and mental development. There's a real growing body of research and evidence, and we're determined that that will be a key part of our offering going forward. Peter Chapman To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking to encourage young people into STEM apprenticeships. Jamie Hepburn Central to our developing the young workforce strategy is a commitment to prioritising further expand STEM apprenticeship opportunities. Recent publication of Scotland's STEM strategy for education and training makes a commitment to the planned expansion of STEM-related foundation apprenticeships pupils in the senior phase of school and graduate apprenticeships for those who are working and studying for re-qualification are very clear pathways in STEM-related work-based learning qualifications. Peter Chapman I thank the minister for that response, but for the current 2016-18 cohort, foundation apprenticeships are being delivered in just 23 of the 32 local authorities, and with just 251 STEM starts over that entire timeframe. With that being national apprenticeship week, can the minister outline what he's doing to ensure that all school-edged students will have access to studying STEM foundation apprenticeships if they want to? Jamie Hepburn As the member will appreciate, foundation apprenticeships are a relatively new creation. We have been road testing and rolling them out further still, so we've gone from a position of in 2014, we had two pathfinder, if very much to being delivered in two local authorities to this year. In 2018, we will be providing opportunities to over 2,000 young people across Scotland to have the opportunity to take partner foundation apprenticeship delivered in all 32 local authority areas. He can be assured that we take the role of development and expansion foundation apprenticeships very seriously. We've made a commitment that there will be 5,000 such opportunities from 2019 onwards, so we are continuing to grow that offer. I can assure the member that STEM is a critically important part of that offering. Supplementary from Mary Fee Thank you. Cutting over 800 STEM teachers will not help to promote opportunities in STEM to young people, especially those from the most disadvantaged backgrounds. What specific action is the Scottish Government taking to support children and young people from our most deprived communities to enter STEM apprenticeships? Jamie Hepburn Of course, I've just made the point that we are rolling out foundation apprenticeships more widely, so their wider availability will ensure that more young people have that opportunity to take part. Specifically for ensuring that we have greater diversity of those taking part in STEM careers and STEM apprenticeships, that's something that we take very seriously. We're taking forward through a range of initiatives. We see that the Skills Development Scotland work with partners at a local level to ensure that there is greater uptake of foundation apprenticeships in STEM-related opportunities and, of course, ensuring that those from deprived backgrounds can get that opportunity of critical importance as we ensure that more people can get that opportunity. Question 4, Jackie Baillie. To ask the Scottish Government what the average school clothing grant payment was in 2017. John Swinney Presiding Officer, local authorities spent £9.2 million on school clothing grants in 2016-17, although the level of paid varies across local authorities. I'm determined to help families with the cost of the school day and I'm working closely and constructively with local authorities on the provision of a minimum school clothing grant. Jackie Baillie I welcome that response from the cabinet secretary. He did, of course, agree to work with COSLA to produce a minimum payment in 2016, but we haven't seen evidence of that brought forward yet. I am concerned because, just this week at Western Bartonshire Council, the SNP had considered reducing the school clothing grant to £50, thankfully they didn't. The Labour group proposed an increase to £130, and, of course, the cabinet secretary will be aware that the poverty truth commission says that the true cost of kitting out a child for school is, indeed, that £130. I wonder whether he would consider that as the appropriate minimum figure for all local authorities in Scotland. John Swinney Obviously, there have been discussions within local authorities about the level of the school clothing grant. Jackie Baillie cites the proposals that were considered in Western Bartonshire. I noticed that in the city of Glasgow, which is a very large local authority, controlled for the first time ever by the Scottish National Party, the school clothing grant increased from £52 to £70, which is very welcome. After all those years when the Labour Party could have done something about the issue, it is very welcome progress that has been made by the administration in Glasgow City Council. To give Jackie Baillie the assurance that she is seeking, I had a very constructive meeting a couple of weeks ago with Councillor Stephen McCabe of COSLA, and we are undertaking joint work to establish an agreed approach to a minimum school clothing grant for all local authorities within Scotland. That work is under way actively just now. I very much welcome the collaboration that we have with COSLA on that question. As soon as we have reached the conclusion of that work, I will, of course, report to Parliament. To ask the Scottish Government how it supports school staff who provide guidance and counselling to vulnerable young people. John Swinney The mental health of children and adolescent young people is a very important issue that we must all take seriously. We know that prevention and early intervention make a big difference in reducing the risk of developing mental health problems. If a child and young person should have access to emotional and wellbeing support in school, some schools will provide access to school-based counselling, while others will be supported by pastoral care staff and liais with the educational, psychological services and family and health services for specific support when required. A mental health link person is available to every school and that has been achieved in a variety of ways using models working to meet local needs. Gail Ross I thank the cabinet secretary for his answer. We are becoming more and more aware that preventing adverse childhood experiences or ACEs is fundamental to the wellbeing of children and young people, but where we cannot prevent them, how can we make sure that all teaching staff can identify and nurture vulnerable young people and help to build resilience and the ability to cope with trauma and adversity in those youngsters? John Swinney There are two points that I would make here in relation to the questions raised by Gail Ross. The first is in relation to the application of professional practice in relation to adverse childhood experiences and the wider application right across our public services. Over the course of the last few months, many of us have seen the resilience film that focuses on adverse childhood experiences and the rising out of a showing of that film in which I hosted at St Andrew's House. The Government will be hosting later on this month an extensive dialogue involving ministers, a range of ministers, our local authority partners and a huge cross-section of stakeholders to find the ways in which we can apply best practice around tackling adverse childhood experiences across the country. The second point that I would make is very practically about the education system, whereby Education Scotland has developed two national professional learning resources, nurturing approaches in the primary school and a whole school nurturing approach, encourage the focus on creating an environment that is anchored around the principle of nurture and that creates a supportive atmosphere and environment for children and young people to ensure that we can take all the steps that we can possibly take to intervene at the earliest possible opportunity to avoid any mental health difficulties arising for young people. Thank you, Presiding Officer. In England and in Wales, people have a legal right of access to a trained and qualified counsellor at school, if needed. Is that not a right that our children could benefit from too? John Swinney I think that the most important thing is to make sure that young people have access to the services that they require. I set out my original answer to Gail Ross, the range of support services that are available. Of course, there is a mental health link person available to every school deployed in different ways around the country. The vital issue that we have to focus on is making sure that young people have access to that support to have the ability to intervene as early as possible. Of course, early intervention can avoid the escalation of some of those issues and, as a consequence, deliver a much more sustainable solution for young people around the country. That is exactly what the Government will focus on doing to make sure that we meet the mental health needs of all young people in Scotland. Deputy Presiding Officer, to ask the Scottish Government what it sees as the key roles of student associations in representing the interests of students at colleges and universities. Shirley-Anne Somerville Student associations play a vital role in the learning and lives of college and university students, and it is important that students be given the opportunity to express their views on issues of concern to them. Recognising that the Higher Education Governance Scotland Act 2016 sets out that membership of the governing body within a higher education institution must include two student members nominated by a student association of that institution. Students also have representation on boards in the college sector with the Post-16 Education Scotland Act 2013, increasing the minimum number of student members on college boards to two. The Scottish Funding Council is currently funding US Scotland to support colleges and their student associations to deliver on the key aims and objectives that are set out in the framework for the development of strong and effective college student associations in Scotland. Liam McArthur I thank the minister for her response. Last week, I visited Inverness College, where I was hosted by the Hanson Island Student Association, who has enjoyed tremendous success in a relatively short period of time in giving students across the University of the Hanson Islands a strong and effective voice. During the discussions with High Sir Reps, including the team at Orkney College, concerns were raised about costs of attending events and meetings invariably taking place in the central belt. In light of the comments from the minister in relation to the funding that is provided, can she look at whether or not there are still barriers, cost barriers, to be overcome in allowing students right across the field to provide that representative role on behalf of their peer group? Can she also look at ways in which perhaps events could be encouraged to take place outwith the central belt, benefiting those in the Highlands and Islands, the north and indeed the south? Shirley-Anne Somerville I am unsure of the detail of what events are being highlighted by Liam McArthur, whether they are Scottish Government funding council or NUS events, but I am happy to take on board certainly from a Government and funding council direction that we need to look at that when we are collaborating with students from and across the country and indeed using digital technology where that is appropriate. I would certainly take that on board and encourage others to do so. It is very important that students from UHI can collaborate and share their experiences. I have had now quite a few dealings with the students at different UHI campuses and see how well they work together, but undoubtedly the challenges that they also face, given the unique nature of UHI. I hope that Mr McArthur can be assured that the Scottish funding council is receiving feedback from associations and received that last year about the positive impact that college students associations are making. We have an on-going commitment to ensure that we share best practices as that goes along. If that is not happening, the funding council will work with the college and the students to ensure that that is happening. However, if there are specifics that the member would like me to look into further, I would be happy to do that. 7. John McAlpine Thank you. To ask the Scottish Government what evaluation it has carried out of how Scottish study strand of the curriculum is operating. There has been no formal evaluation of the Scottish study strand of the curriculum as a whole. Education Scotland's evaluation report on literacy in the curriculum, published in 2015, found that teachers were increasingly using Scots and Scottish text to develop children's literacy skills. That is followed by Education Scotland's report into Scots in the curriculum, published in August 2017, that confirmed the educational benefit of learning Scots. The Scottish studies awards were introduced in 2013-14. There has been an increase in the uptake of them across all SCQF levels, rising from 165 awards in 2014 to 1,383 in 2017. John McAlpine I thank the cabinet secretary for that answer. In 2011, the Government set up an independent working group, including highly respected cultural leaders such as Phil Cunningham, Liz Lockhead and the late Gavin Wallace, to advise on how best to implement its manifesto commitment to roll out Scottish studies in a meaningful way across the curriculum. That review group made a number of specific recommendations, including on continuing professional development, signposting and, generally, supporting a positive environment for schools engaging in learning about Scotland. Can the Government tell us which of the working group's recommendations have yet to be implemented and whether implementation is consistent across schools and local authorities? John Swinney I will have to write to Mr McAlpine about the detail of implementation of the individual recommendations. At the outset, I would say that there will be a variety of different approaches taken to the application of the curriculum in different schools, as should be the case, because curriculum for excellence relies on the judgment of individual teachers to deploy the curriculum in the most effective way to meet the needs of young people. The recommendations from the Scottish studies working group have been embedded across the curriculum, and I can give that assurance. Schools will be able to develop their practice to reflect the steps that have been taken. Education Scotland and the Qualifications Authority provide materials and resources to support schools and teachers to include Scottish studies in the curriculum and to actively promote studying Scotland and the Scottish studies award to teachers and to schools to ensure that the increase in uptake that I talked about in my first answer is something that is capable of being delivered by the education system. Supplementary Liz Smith Thank you. Cabinet Secretary, on the same Scottish theme, could I ask you how many pupils across Scotland are taking up the Scottish Baccalaureate qualification? John Swinney I do not have that number to hand, but I am certainly happy to write to Liz Smith on that question. I can say that we have a broad range of qualification opportunities available for young people. Indeed, my attendance just a couple of weeks ago at the Scottish Credit and Qualifications Framework Conference, I was enormously heartened by the strength of that framework and the breadth of the curricular and qualification opportunities that are available for young people to recognise all aspects of their learning and to use that as a foundation for future success. Thank you, Deputy Presiding Officer. Do you ask the Scottish Government what impact its most recent teacher recruitment campaign has had? John Swinney The Scottish Government's teaching makes people campaign was launched in February 2017 and has led to almost 3,500 people attending teaching makes people events and over 42,000 visits to the website. Campaign tracking showed a 21 per cent increase in those considering applying for a postgraduate diploma in education and that 40 per cent of people who had seen the campaign took actions such as seeking advice on a career in teaching. A further phase of campaign activity was completed at the end of February and is currently being evaluated. Information received from universities for recruitment and initial teacher education showed a 7.5 per cent increase in student teacher numbers from 3,591 in 2016 to 3,861 in 2017. Of course, the number of teachers in Scotland rose by 543 in 2017, including a rise here in Edinburgh, the third year in a row that we have seen a rise in the number of teachers. Alex Cole-Hamilton I am grateful to the cabinet secretary for that answer. Last week, I was contacted by Gail Morrison, who is a constituent of mine with a son at Queen's Ferry High. She told me that the computing science teacher left last month and has not been replaced. She was the only such teacher at the school, so all computing classes are currently going without. The measures adopted by the school include pupils following a set of PowerPoint lesson plans themselves under the supervision of a history teacher. Will the cabinet secretary explain to Gail how he expects pupils to attain the vital qualifications if there is nobody there to explain coursework to them when they get stuck? John Swinney I am the first to acknowledge that, and I have acknowledged it on a number of occasions, the challenges that we face in the recruitment of individual teachers into particular subjects across the country. There are acute challenges in the STEM subjects. The Government has taken steps to increase the number of STEM recruits that are recruited into our education system. I announced on 8 October that a scheme for STEM bursaries would be created, which would enable individuals to access £20,000 of funding to essentially make a career switch from existing responsibilities into teaching. I am pleased to tell Parliament today that applications for the STEM bursary will be available to be completed on 3 April, and that will be available to individuals to fill some of the vacancies that Mr Cole Hamilton raised in his question. Finlay Carson Thank you. Since 2010, Dumfries and Galloway has seen a 16 per cent decline in STEM teachers in secondary schools. With the newly created fast-track teacher route focusing on other rural areas, can the cabinet secretary say what action is being taken to address the specific STEM recruitment issues that are facing Dumfries and Galloway? John Swinney There are a number of steps that have been taken. The STEM bursaries that I have just referred to are there to open up the opportunities for individuals to enter the teaching profession. We have expanded the available places for individuals to gain access to initial teacher education. There were more than 4,000 places available for this current academic year, and as a consequence of the new routes into teaching that the Government has established, more than 250 teachers or candidates have been recruited into initial teacher education that would not have been able to gain access had it not been for the steps that we had taken. Carson is correct that the Government is opening up opportunities for particular rural areas in the partnership between the University of the Highlands and Islands and the University of Dundee to try to take forward steps to attract more STEM teachers, and that will assist the general flow of teachers into the teaching profession as a consequence of the steps that the Government is taking. To ask the Scottish Government what support it is giving to registered childminders. Mary Todd Presiding Officer, we recognise the valuable contribution that childminders can and do make to delivering high quality early learning and childcare for many families. We want to see more childminders involved in delivering funded early learning and childcare. The introduction of our provider neutral funding follows the child approach that will support childminders across Scotland who wish to do so to offer the funded entitlement to families. We provide grant funding to the Scottish Child Minding Association to enable them to support and actively promote childminding services. That grant funding enables provision of induction training, access to legal advice, business support, advertising and an advice helpline for its members. We recently also funded the Care Inspectorate to develop your childminding journey, a learning and development resource. That resource has been warmly welcomed by childminders and provides support for new childminders as well as personal development material for existing childminders. Stuart McMillan I thank the minister for that reply. The Inverclyde has 54 registered childminders working with 411 children and supporting 310 families. Clearly, childminding plays a crucial role in my constituency. However, how does the Scottish Government consider childminding playing a role in delivering 11,043 hours policy when sometimes local training will regularly take place after nursery is closed for the day while childminders will regularly work until after 6 p.m. Therefore, they are prevented from attending? Marie Todd We expect childminders to play a full role in the expanded early learning childcare sector. We work closely with the Scottish Child Minding Association in developing our quality action plan for the ALC sector. One of the actions included in that plan was to make available to all ALC practitioners, including childminders, a national online programme of continuing professional learning that can be undertaken at a time that is convenient to them. In September 2017, the care inspectorate published my childminding journey, which is a learning resource specifically for childminders, which helps to guide them through their induction and professional learning once in practice. Again, that can be accessed at their convenience. The SEMA regularly runs courses on weekends, specifically to ensure attendance for those who work out with regular hours. The Scottish Government has said that it will go to greater efforts to involve childminders in the expansion to 1,140 hours. However, as recently as November, the Scottish Child Minding Association has said that only 100 out of the 6,000 childminders in Scotland are commissioned by local authorities to deliver funded childcare. What steps is the Scottish Government going to take or has taken towards increasing the figure of getting childminders on to the partner provider lists? Through our review of the local authority ALC expansion plans and in response to the latest figures produced by the Scottish Child Minding Association on the current use of childminders in providing funded ALC, we have committed to working with local authorities, SEMA and individual childminders to identify any barriers to commissioning childminding services. We will work together and remove those barriers, building on learning from the national programme of 1,140-hour trials of the 14 Scottish Government, 1,140-hour trials and 10 of them that involve childminders. To ask the Scottish Government what consideration it gives to the provision of teaching life skills as part of the school curriculum. Our curriculum has always been about providing young people with a well-rounded education that prepares them to thrive in today's world. The teaching of life skills is an entitlement for all learners under Scotland's curriculum. Curriculum for excellence is explicit in stating that all learners must have opportunities to develop skills for life, skills for learning and skills for work, with a continuous focus on literacy, numeracy and health and wellbeing. I thank the cabinet secretary for that answer. I wonder if he would agree with me that skills like learning to swim or learning to cook a healthy meal or even access to good physical education are all extremely important in ensuring that our children develop into healthy active adults, attaining all that they can, and that school is the obvious place to deliver on those crucial skills. John Swinney? Yes, I agree with Mr Whittle's observations. I think that all of these elements are essential parts of the experience of young people. There will be a breadth of opportunity that is available through different schools and different parts of the country. There is an increasing focus on the knowledge and appreciation of skills for work through the development of Scotland's young workforce agenda, which has been a tremendous innovation over the past few years in response to the report from Sir Ian Wood. Some of the fundamental long-standing elements of our school system around the teaching of the skills to cook or to swim or to be physically active are all key parts of our curriculum, which are deployed across our education system. Monica Lennon? To ask the Scottish Government how schools support children and young people who are affected by alcohol harm. John Swinney? I am proving outcomes for children affected by parental substance misuse as a priority for the Scottish Government. We recognise the need to all work together with a range of partners to ensure that children who live with substance misusing parents get the care and the support that they need. All staff in schools share a responsibility for identifying the care and wellbeing needs of children and young people. Schools should establish open, positive, supporting relationships across the whole school community. That could include the provision of school-based counselling or support from pastoral care staff in those efforts. Monica Lennon? I thank the cabinet secretary for his response. 51,000 children and young people in Scotland live with a problem drinker. We now have a better understanding than ever before of alcohol harm in the context of adverse childhood experiences and its impact on long-term health. Counseling is available, as we have heard, in some schools, but not in all. Does the cabinet secretary agree with me that, when one in 18 young people under the age of 16 are affected by alcohol harm, access to school-based counselling should be a right and an option that is open to all and that it is an effective way of using preventive spends to help those young people? In the year of the young person, what better time to deliver it? John Swinney? Fundamentally, I agree with Monica Lennon that there has to be a very clear focus within our policy making on the wellbeing of every child. That is central to curriculum. For excellence, it is one of the three key elements that the chief inspector of education highlighted in his guidance to the education system in August 2016, that alongside literacy and numeracy wellbeing was central to the health and wellbeing was central to the curriculum. That is available to every single young person as part of our curricular approach. As I said in my answers principally to Gail Ross earlier on this afternoon, in every school there will be support available for young people. It will take different forms in different schools and be different arrangements. Fundamentally, all schools are obliged to follow the agenda of getting it right for every child. If we follow a getting it right for every child approach, that means that we assess individually the requirements in the needs of every young person and support them to overcome any challenges that they may have. The wider discussion around the impact of adverse childhood experiences is now much more significant within the policy debate. I am very optimistic that the steps that we are taking with the discussion that I set out earlier on in my answer to Gail Ross will have a constructive effect on focusing public services across the board on making sure that young people are able to attract the support that they require. To ask the Scottish Government whether it will comment on trends in spending on schools since 2010-11. John Swinney The funding to local authorities who are responsible for the delivery of education has been fair and is increasing despite continued UK Government cuts to Scotland's budget. The total spending on education by local authorities has increased from £4.9 billion in 2010-11 to £5.1 billion in 2016-17. That is a 4.5 per cent increase in cash terms. This year's local government settlement provides £112 million next year specifically to fund councils to maintain teacher numbers, including funding for the recent teacher pay award. We are investing £179 million in 2018-19, up £9 million from last year, in raising attainment and closing the attainment gap, targeting the schools and local authorities who should benefit most. That funding contributes to our commitment to provide an extra £750 million for education through the Scottish attainment fund during the course of this Parliament. That investment in Scottish education has enabled a total of nearly 700 additional teachers to be recruited as that is September 2017. Iain Gray The improvement services latest local benchmarking report has very detailed figures on spending on education across Scotland and paints a rather different picture from the cabinet secretaries. That report reveals that, in both primary and secondary education, there has been a reduction in real terms in spending per pupil in our schools. In primary schools, a real-terms reduction of £513 per pupil and in secondary schools, a real-terms reduction of £205 per secondary pupil. Will the cabinet secretary not just admit that cuts of £1.5 billion to local Governments since 2011 have inevitably had a detrimental impact on our children's education? I will comment on the fact that, in very difficult and challenging economic times, where there has been significant constraint applied to the Scottish Government's budget, the investment in education has increased by 4.9 per cent. That is the practical impact of the Government wrestling with a difficult financial challenge. Of course, as a result of the local government settlement this year, which Mr Gray voted against and the budget that Mr Gray voted against, he voted against the extra money going in to support the Scottish attainment challenge, to close the poverty-related attainment gap and the Labour Party voted against every single measure of this type. Do not come here complaining to me about education spending when the Labour Party has voted against it. To ask the Scottish Government what discussions it has had with the trade unions regarding the merger of UHI colleges. UHI had a constructive meeting with the relevant unions on 6 March, and will continue to work with them. Initial discussions have taken place between the Scottish Funding Council and the unions as well. A further tripartite meeting between the UHI unions and the Scottish Funding Council is currently being arranged. The minister is aware that college lecturers won a universal pay settlement this summer. Will that be honoured if the FE lecturers are to be employed by a university? Is she aware of the locally rooted as well as world-renowned reputations of many of the partner colleges, and how will those reputations be protected under the new settlement? I begin my answer by highlighting that this proposal for integration is at a very early stage, and further details will be available in the summer of 2018. The reason that the UHI partnership is looking to evolve in this way is to create a fully integrated curriculum and a more effective delivery of academic provision. I recognise that there are concerns, for example, around trade union recognition and national bargaining. That is exactly why I am pleased that the discussions yesterday were constructive, that it was the first of, I am sure, many discussions involving the trade unions, the UHI and the funding council. I am also due to meet the UHI to discuss those issues, and we will go through, in great detail, the concerns that are being raised by the trade unions, the views of students and the views of the local communities. I take very seriously the point that the colleges that are involved in that, and the other colleges in the UHI are much valued within their local communities and provide a world-class service in their own right. I notice that the minister mentioned the other colleges, and I hope that she is aware that there has not been a lot of discussion, if indeed any at all, with the other colleges. I think that there is a meeting today about that very subject. When she has those meetings with the UHI, would she take that matter up very directly indeed? Is she also aware, of course, that Perth College have already said that they may not wish to be part of this merger, not integration but merger, and would she finally recognise, as I am sure she does, that the student experience, the learner student experience is the most important thing here? Many of us are not convinced that yet another merger is the way to achieve better student experiences. Shalyn Somerville? Well, the proposals are, as I said, at a very early stage, and Perth College will attend the integration board meetings as an observer. This does not involve all the colleges within UHI, because this is a process that has came not from the Government, not from the funding council, but from within UHI, looking specifically at the point that Tavish Scott quite likely raises about what is right for the students, and I would also add what would be right for the staff and the local communities that they serve. We will take very seriously the views of the students, the staff, as well as those within the UHI implementation board, and I would include, obviously, in that not just the colleges that are involved in this process, but UHI as a whole and every other college that is taking part as a partner organisation. Question 15, Colin Smyth. Presiding Officer, to ask the Scottish Government what changes it forecast in the number of support for learning staff in schools in the next year. John Swinney? Presiding Officer, the Additional Support for Learning Act places duties on education authorities to identify, provide support and review that support for the pupils. It is for education authorities to ensure that they have the appropriate resources, including support staff in place to meet the needs of their pupils. Local Government finance statistics for 2016-17 showed that local authorities spent £5.1 billion on education in Scotland, a 0.3 per cent increase in real terms, 2.5 per cent in cash terms. Of that, £610 million was an additional support for learning. That has increased from £584 million in 2015-16, a 2.3 per cent increase in real terms and 4.5 per cent in cash terms. Colin Smyth. The number of learning support teachers fell by 12 per cent between 2012 and 2016. Overall, additional support needs staff numbers fell by 3 per cent at a time. The number of students with additional support needs has risen by 55 per cent. Does the cabinet secretary not take any responsibility for the fall in learning support staff? Does he accept that unless we see a reversal in the cuts in funding per student with additional needs that we have seen over the same period, we will fail to meet the needs of some of our most vulnerable children in the classroom? The first point that I would make, and Mr Smyth is very well aware of this point, is that the classifications that are used here and the recording of students has changed very dramatically over the period, so that has to be reflected on in this answer. Secondly, Mr Smyth talks about the total number of staff supporting pupils with additional support needs. On the information that I have in front of me, that has increased from 15,723 in 2011 to 15,880 in 2016, which by any stretch of the imagination is an increase. I also remind and repeat to Mr Smyth the point that I made in my original answer, that there has been a real-terms increase in expenditure on additional support for learning in the last year for which information is available by 2.3 per cent in real terms. That is a welcome investment, and I am glad to see that being invested in supporting some of the most vulnerable young people in our society. That concludes portfolio questions, and we shall move on to the next item of business.