 The first item of business this afternoon is portfolio questions, education and schools, and I'll call question number one from Richard Lochhead. Can I ask the Scottish Government what action it's taking to encourage people to take up teaching posts in Murray? Cabinet Secretary, John Swinney. Presiding Officer, we're taking a number of actions to encourage people to take up teaching posts in the Murray area. We're supporting the University of Aberdeen with their distance learning primary initial teacher education course to enable partner local authorities, including Murray Council, to develop existing staff as teachers while continuing in work. We also support the University of the Highlands and Islands, who are offering initial teacher education in secondary subjects at Murray College. We welcome the General Teaching Council for Scotland's recent initiative of working with Murray Council to recruit teachers from its military and wider community. The scheme allows qualified teachers to be provisionally registered while the under-go top-up training to enable full registration as teachers. The Scottish Government launched a successful recruitment campaign last September to encourage more people to become teachers. We will be extending and developing this campaign this year. Mr Lochhead. Can I thank the cabinet secretary for the attention that he's given to this issue and also for his detailed answer? I certainly agree that the more homegrown teachers we can have in the Murray area, the more it will help the situation greatly. At the moment, Murray has 39 secondary vacancies and 18 primary vacancies to fill by next term. There seem to be specific issues facing some of our more rural areas in the country. There are two specific issues that I'd like to raise with the cabinet secretary first. I think that that's a case for reviewing the way in which newly qualified teachers are allocated. There's a situation in the Murray just now where quite often when the council calls the NQTs to let them know what school they're going to be going to, they're then told by the applicant that they've actually failed their course and, therefore, they should not have been called in the first place, perhaps as a way in which we could address that. Secondly, when it comes to the recruitment of permanent teaching posts, quite often when the teacher who's applied for the permanent post is phoned with any of the school they're going to, they're told by that teacher that they've actually accepted a post in the central belt of Scotland and they will not be taking up their position in Murray. I wonder if there's any way in which we can tie down the applicant to the original commitment that should be greatly helpful. Finally, can I invite the cabinet secretary to visit Murray and meet some teachers and, indeed, the education authority and myself? I'm grateful to Mr Lockhead for his inaugural brief question to me as education secretary and I look forward to many other brief ones in the future, Presiding Officer. On his last point, I'd be delighted to come to Murray. I'm taking particular time on a weekly basis to meet with teachers and I'll be very happy to do that in Murray. Mr Lockhead will appreciate that the requirements of my presence in Parliament these weeks are kind of restricting that but I will endeavour to do that as soon as I possibly can do that. In relation to his other two questions, in relation to the allocation of newly qualified teachers, I will explore the specific suggestions that he has made to me. I would say in relation to the second question that, obviously, members of the teaching profession are free to take up posts where they choose to do so. What we have to do is to make sure that the employment prospects and opportunities are as attractive as possible in all parts of the country and the measures that I set out in my original answer were designed to give particular encouragement to the development of homegrown teaching professionals in the Murray area and I'll continue to explore other alternatives to taking that forward. To ask the Scottish Government how much it has invested in building or refurbishing schools in South Lanarkshire. Joe Smith. Presiding Officer, through the Scotland School for the Future programme, the Government is undertaking significant investment in Scotland's school of state. In South Lanarkshire, the Scottish Government has awarded funding of up to £11.6 million for the replacement of Spittle primary, Burnside primary, Halfmerc primary and West Main's additional support needs school. Thank you Cabinet Secretary for your answer. The cabinet secretary will be aware of the calls for a new secondary school in the halfway area of my constituency. Does he agree with me that with 107 schools built or refurbished in the area since 2007, more than any other local authority, the issue in South Lanarkshire is not due to a lack of government investment in schools and will he raise this issue with the council when they next meet? The decisions about the investment that is made in the school of state are fundamentally for local authorities under the Education Scotland Act 1980, which contains the statutory responsibility for individual authorities to plan and manage their school of state in order to deliver education services. We will of course take forward investment programmes and the schools for the future programme as an example of that, where the Government makes available resources to encourage the refurbishment of schools. I will certainly consider the points that have been made by Clare Hockey in relation to the opportunities to deploy such investment in the South Lanarkshire area, particularly in the halfway area of the member's constituency. We attach a significant premium to ensuring that we invest effectively in the school of state to ensure that young people are able to be educated in a quality learning environment, and that will remain the commitment of the Government during this time in office. Daniel Johnson Thank you, Presiding Officer. I think that we would all right across this chamber welcome all investment in schools. I would like to ask the cabinet secretary what discussions or engagement that he and other ministers have had with City of Edinburgh council regarding finding capital investment for the way for schools that the City of Edinburgh council has identified, including the Liberton high school in my constituency, which is the only high school in Edinburgh southern, which has, within the last 10 to 20 years, not received any refurbishment or indeed a new building. Can I just say for guidance there that normally the question would be specifically about the South Lanarkshire? In this case, the cabinet secretary is still free to answer it. Thank you, Presiding Officer. Obviously, there is a rigorous process of assessment that is undertaken about the quality of the fabric in individual schools, and that assessment drives the judgments that are made about investment priorities that are taken forward by local authorities, often with support from the Government. Obviously, I will consider the points that Mr Johnson has raised in relation to Liberton high school, and as the Government formulates its further investment programmes, we have set out already a range of investments that are made under the schools for the future programme, a programme that involves £1.8 billion pounds worth of investment, and that will see the programme either constructing or refurbishing 112 schools within Scotland. We have a major programme of school investment on the way, but I am very happy to consider the specific points that Mr Johnson has raised about the City of Edinburgh and Liberton high school in particular. Question 3, Willie Coffey. To ask the Scottish Government how it will ensure fair access to universities for young people from every community. Minister Shirley-Anne Somerville. Thank you, Presiding Officer. Fair access to higher education for those in our most deprived communities is a key priority for this Government. We have legislated on access, invested significant additional resources in additional places, and have consistently challenged universities in the wider system to do more. That has delivered progress, and in 2014-15, 14 per cent of Scottish domiciled full-time first-degree entrants were from 20 per cent of the most deprived communities. That is up from 11.2 per cent in 0607. However, we do recognise that we need to do more, and the commission on wellbeing, on widening access has set out an ambitious plan to achieve further and faster progress. We are determined to advance that agenda and will announce further details soon. Closing the attainment gap is not the end of the journey by any means, and ensuring equality of access for youngsters from every community in Scotland to some of our high tariff university courses such as medicine, law and dentistry is still a fight to be won. In the absence of any national data showing which communities successful student applicants actually come from, will the minister consider requesting that kind of data to be provided to us so that we can plan how best to deliver that equality of access to university courses that we are seeking to achieve? I will certainly take that under advisement and have a look into that issue for the member. I think that it is very important to realise that Scottish universities increase and operate a very contextualised admission policies, and it is not just straight down to grades, so we have to look at a number of issues when we are looking at widening access and the applicants and successful people who go to university and who do achieve a place. I am happy to look into the point that the member has raised. Can I ask the minister in relation to the 2030 target for widening access that the Scottish Government has set? Is it the Scottish Government's intention to provide more university places in order to make that achievable? I do not think that that is as easy as looking at expanding the system. It is not a straight forward answer where we increase the number of places that widening access will necessarily follow from that, if only in many ways it was that straight forward. We have to look at the money that we have already invested in the additional places that the Scottish Government has done over the past years, but the commission itself has raised that there is a structural unfairness about what is happening in the current system, and we need to address that. Simply adding more places on to what is going on just now will not deal with widening access and will not solve the problem. To ask the Scottish Government whether the full £750 million pledged for the Scottish attainment challenge will be given to headteachers to spend on their individual schools' priorities. We will allocate £750 million through the attainment Scotland fund during the course of this Parliament to close the gap in educational attainment. As well as investing £50 million each year in our established area-based approach to raising attainment, we will allocate the additional £100 million that will be raised each year from our local tax reforms to schools. The allocation will be based on the number of children in each school who meet the eligibility criteria for free school meals, and headteachers will be able to invest the extra resources and ways that will have the biggest impact on raising attainment in their schools. The Scottish attainment challenge focuses on the key issues of literacy, numeracy, health and wellbeing. We will continue to target support to more than 300 primary schools in our most deprived communities, and last week I confirmed that we will expand the reach of the challenge to involve more local authorities with significant levels of deprivation and extend the scope to include secondary schools. Donald Cameron, I thank the cabinet secretary for this answer. Given the recognition of headteachers' leadership, does the cabinet secretary agree with school leader Scotland, who said last week that much more of school's budgets should be controlled by headteachers to allow that to be directed towards local priorities? I generally agree with that point of view. As a matter of fact, I am seeing school leader Scotland immediately after question time today for a discussion, and I was delighted that Jim Thullis from school leader Scotland participated in the education summit that took place this morning at Craig Royston high school. The Government is committed to ensuring that schools are able to exercise, and headteachers are able to exercise, much greater discretion about the way in which they make choices about the priorities in their schools to ensure that the potential of every young person in Scotland can be fulfilled as a consequence. The cabinet secretary was very clear that the bulk of the funding is from the council tax changes that the Government intends to make, but he must know that the fiscal scrutiny unit of this Parliament has said that those resources will accrue to local authorities and that no mechanism exists either to pool those resources or to redistribute them according to eligible pupil numbers, as he described. Can he explain how he intends to make good the promise that he has just repeated? I will set out the detailed thinking of the Government in this respect when I set out the delivery plan to Parliament before the summer recess. Just because arrangements do not currently exist, it does not mean to say that those arrangements cannot be put in place to make it happen. I want to assure Mr Gray in Parliament today that the Government's commitment will be to allocate that £100 million each year in the fashion that I have described in my answer to Mr Cameron, and to make sure that we take forward an agenda that enables us to direct resources to the areas where they are required the most to support and to drive the process of improving pupil attainment. I would be grateful if the cabinet secretary could tell me what measures will be put in place to ensure that the funding will be invested for the purpose of increasing attainment and not to be redirected, but to be assumed into other budgets. My answer to Mr McMillan is much the same as my answer to Mr Gray. The Government is determined to make sure that the resource meets its required purpose within local authority areas in Scotland, that it is there to support the improvements in numeracy and literacy and health and wellbeing for young people and to assist us in closing the attainment gap. If the Government is giving a commitment and is elected on a mandate to fulfil that commitment and undertake that approach, I think that members have the right to expect of the Government to take forward as we formulate our plans in this respect. I will share more details on this with Parliament as we explain the details of the delivery plan, but our commitment is clear to concentrate those resources in the fashion that I have set out to Parliament today. Tavish Scott If the criteria for the attainment fund is, as the cabinet secretary has described, namely free school meals, does that mean that attainment funds will go to every school where the children are so eligible? That would be a fair conclusion to draw from what I have said. Maurice Golden To ask the Scottish Government what plans it has to enhance education and skills for a circular economy. A recent circular economy strategy making things last sets out our priorities to explore the scope for a skills academy for the circular economy, to review skills and investment plans, to identify circular economy skills needs in specific sectors, and to support a cohort of circular economy teaching champions in schools. Thank you, cabinet secretary. I welcome that on skills. Will the Scottish Government explore the inclusion of the circular economy across key subject areas in secondary and tertiary sectors? I want to give a helpful answer to Mr Golden, because I personally and the Government value the importance of the circular economy. Indeed, my colleague Richard Lochhead, when he was in government, made particular strides to develop the strategy and to apply it. I am very supportive in principle of the encouragement of the circular economy, but I want to put in a note of caution, which Parliament is going to hear from me quite a bit over my term in office. I cannot be expected to put everything into the curriculum, because, if voices in Parliament are saying to me that we need to provide clarity and simplicity, Parliament cannot also ask me to put everything into the curriculum. I have made it very clear publicly that I intend to declutter aspects of the curriculum and the bureaucracy of our education system to enable teachers to focus on attainment, but, in so doing, I ask for a bit of patience and understanding from Parliament that I will not be able to exceed to every request to add every new thing into the curriculum, because the history of Scottish education is that we are very good at adding things into the curriculum, but we are hopelessly bad at taking things out of the curriculum. To ask the Scottish Government what recent discussions it has had with the EIS regarding its ballot for industrial action. I met the Educational Institute of Scotland on Saturday at their annual general meeting in Dundee. I reaffirmed my commitment to empowering teachers and reducing unnecessary workload, a commitment that I have also given to Parliament. As part of that, I have taken early action to reduce teacher workload, and I will continue to do so. I am grateful to the Deputy First Minister for his answer, although the EIS acknowledged that, if they end up in industrial action, that dispute will be with local authorities. The remedies that they are seeking are with the SQA, a body of the Scottish Government. Does the cabinet secretary acknowledge the central role that the Scottish Government has and that he has in preventing or potentially resolving any future dispute? I suppose that my answer to Mr Harvie is a bit of yes and a bit of no. I acknowledge that there will be aspects of the increase in teacher workload that have come about as a consequence of the measures taken by the Government, Education Scotland and the Scottish Qualifications Authority, but there have also been additions to teacher workload from local authorities and within schools. If there is to be a sustained effort to reduce the bureaucracy with which teachers are wrestling and to simplify the environment with which teachers are operating and to operate with greater clarity, that will not be achieved just by the actions of the Scottish Qualifications Authority. That will be achieved by the actions of a range of players, including local authorities, schools, school leadership and the actions of the Government. I am absolutely determined to tackle the issue of teacher workload because I see it and the concerns about it as a significant impediment to my efforts to focus the teaching profession on the attainment challenge. I will do everything that I can within the Government to tackle the issue, but I also need local government and I need the school leadership to be participants in the process into the bargain. That is why all the different interested parties were participating in the summit on education this morning. Jenny Gilruth Can the cabinet secretary outline how standardised assessments will impact on teacher workload? Presiding Officer, the standardised assessments are designed to be a replacement for existing assessment within the school estate. There will be a range of different types of assessment undertaken within schools. Standardised assessments are an approach that is designed to give us the quality of information, the reliability of information to drive teacher judgment about the performance of young people and then to inform us and support us about how we can encourage and support the development of educational performance by young people in Scotland. The standardised assessments will not add to teacher workload, they will replace existing provisions and, as I said in my earlier answer to Patrick Harvie, I will be making strenuous efforts to reduce unnecessary teacher workload to enable teachers to focus on their core purpose of improving attainment. To ask the Scottish Government what the results of information gathered by local authorities on school children show about their career path aspirations other than attending college or university. The information is not held centrally by the Scottish Government. Schools take a variety of approaches to help teachers and careers advisers to plan for a pupil's future needs and support in terms of career aspirations. We are committed to maintaining an all-age career service in Scotland to maintain and improve the quality of that service. We are implementing the recommendations of the commission for developing Scotland's young workforce in our youth employment strategy. That includes the introduction of careers advice earlier in school and the publication of the career education standard 318. The standard sets out the entitlements that a young person can expect to receive to help them to consider their future careers and emphasises the importance of helping them to build their career management skills. The Scottish Government will be well aware not just of the growing attainment gap but of the emerging skills gap in Scotland and the growing view that the Scottish Government is not providing the training for the skills required for the workforce of the future with not-enough apprentices or training for bricklayers, plumbers, electricians, etc. As the shortage of skilled workmen and women is already contributing to the economic slowdown in Scotland, what is the Scottish Government going to do immediately to address that problem? There is a very significant issue in the question that Mr Scott has raised. The Government is really important that we invest in our education system in a fashion that enables us to generate the skills that are necessary for our current employment and economic needs. The Government through Skills Development Scotland has put in place a comprehensive set of skills investment plans that are designed to engage with each industrial and business sector to identify future needs within individual sectors. If I were to cite one particular example of a particular challenge in recent years, we would be digital skills, where any of us might not have to be a sophisticated digital participant to understand the enormous change in digital activity that has taken place in the course of the last two, three, five years. It is essential that we have skills investment plans that adequately foresee changes in the economy and equip our institutions to satisfy that demand. The skills investment plans that have been developed, which are very strong propositions, are designed to engage with the industry to identify skills requirements and, crucially, to get higher and further education institutions to align their provision to support those skills investment plans. The final point that I would say to Mr Scott is that, of course, the Government has significantly increased the number of modern apprenticeships. There were 15,000 per annum when we came to office. There are now 25,000, and I think that the statistics have been published for this year. I am just confirming that the statistics have been published. I was fearful that I had committed a statistical obscenity by releasing them formally to the Parliament, but the new modern apprenticeship statistics for last year are out and the Government exceeded its target of 25,000. Of course, we are committed to increasing that target to 30,000 during the term of this administration. Question 8, David Torrance. To ask the Scottish Government what action it will take to increase early years' learning and childcare. Mr Mark Dynald. The Scottish Government has already extended the hours of free early learning and childcare by nearly 50 per cent from 412.5 hours a year in 2007 to 600 hours from 2014. We have started to make this more flexible and accessible, and we have extended this entitlement to over a quarter of two-year-olds. We will go further in this Parliament and almost double the number of funded hours for all those children currently eligible from 600 to 1140 hours per year from 2020. Quality will be at the heart of this expansion, and we will ensure that it is delivered flexibly to meet the needs of working parents as well as young children. This programme is not just about increasing hours, it is about helping to close the attainment gap both through supporting parents to work, train or study, and through providing young children with a strong foundation for their learning journey. I thank the minister for that answer. A gap exists in early language skills between children from the most unleashed advantage backgrounds. Every child in Scotland deserves the best possible start in life. Can the minister confirm whether any future investment will be used directly to tackle this issue? The answer is yes. Although it is worth noting that results from a recent growing up in Scotland study showed that vocabulary in three-year-olds is getting better, we recognise that there are challenges to be faced. We also recognise that parents have a key role in supporting their children's speech and language development from the start. We have recently launched the new Read, Write, Count campaign, which builds upon Play Talk, Read and the Bookbank campaigns. We are also examining how we can include, for example, book bug materials within the baby box, which will obviously be given to every newborn child in Scotland. That is about ensuring that we take the opportunity wherever possible to encourage parents and families to read with and to their children because we recognise that that has a significant impact on increasing literacy and vocabulary in children before they get to school. Monica Lennon Thank you, Presiding Officer. Can I ask the minister to explain how a significant increase in fully trained early-year nursery teachers will be achieved? We estimate that up to 20,000 additional staff will be required to deliver our transformational expansion, and we are working with key partners, including Skills Development Scotland, the Scottish Funding Council and local authorities, to plan for this. We are committed to ensuring that all nurseries in the most disadvantaged areas will benefit from additional graduate with early and earning expertise from 2018. Obviously, as part of the plans taken forward as well as the infrastructure requirements, there are also the workforce planning requirements, and that will form a key part of the delivery plan that we bring forward to the Government. Tavish Scott Thank you, Presiding Officer. I wonder if the minister would accept that, in rural and island areas, there is a particular challenge around delivering the entitlement when many communities simply do not have existing childcare provision, and what is he doing and what is his Government going to do to make sure that provision is met, given the entitlement that is being laid out? I recognise the point that Tavish Scott makes. Obviously, we have to ensure that provision is available within communities, and that is going to involve working with a range of stakeholders. That is why I emphasised flexibility in terms of not just availability but also in terms of provision. That is something that is forming part of our thinking as we bring forward the delivery plan and develop that. I am always happy to hear from members as to what suggestions they might have. Obviously, I am not representing a rural area myself. I perhaps do not have the same knowledge and understanding that Tavish Scott might have. If he has any constructive suggestions that he wishes to write to me with, I would be more than happy to receive them. Question 9, Kenneth Gibson. To ask the Scottish Government to what extent it considers the adverse intergenerational social economic factors impact of an educational attainment and what steps it will take to mitigate those over the next five years. The Scottish Government recognises that, where poverty has persisted across generations, it can have a significant impact on a child's educational attainment. That is why the Scottish attainment challenge is supporting communities in schools with the highest concentrations of pupils living in deprivation. By 2017-18, we will also provide funding to schools based on the numbers of eligible children in each school who meet the criteria for free school meals. We must ensure that every child, no matter the background, has the same chance in life regarding the background. I thank the cabinet secretary for that answer. He will know that parental support is vital to ensuring that young people reach their full educational potential, and that the support of parents encourages their children, assists with homework and an increasing number of higher tutors after school. How can the attainment gap be closed rather than simply be reduced in such circumstances, given that so many children who are not realising their full potential at this time do not enjoy such support? The measures that I have set out in my original answer to Mr Gibson are designed to try to address the very real point that he raises, where there is a need for intensity of support to enable young people to achieve their potential. I saw a very good example of that this morning at Craig Royce in high school, where I met a young man who came from a family where there had been persistent intergenerational unemployment. However, the efforts of the school to focus on that young man's needs, to open up opportunities through a partnership with the business community, enabled that young man, who had a very difficult educational background, to gain access to full-time employment. It was a thrill to hear that success of intense school leadership being deployed to support the opportunities for that individual. I do not, for a moment, present this as an easy challenge to be overcome, because the circumstances that Mr Gibson raises are very demanding circumstances to overcome. However, I think that with the focus of the attainment fund and the attainment challenge, we can provide the necessary approach in particular schools to ensure that young people are able to fulfil their potential. Question 11, Jenny Gilruth. To ask the Scottish Government what percentage of head teachers in five secondary schools is female, and how that compares with the overall figure for the rest of Scotland. Cabinet Secretary. I said that 16 per cent of head teachers in publicly funded secondary schools in Fife were reported as female in September 2015 in the annual teacher census, compared with 40 per cent across Scotland. Jenny Gilruth. Can I thank the cabinet secretary for that response? Madras College in St Andrews is the state school in which I went to. It has never had a female head teacher in its history. Nationally, women make up 63 per cent of the secondary teaching population and, as the cabinet secretary has just said, 40 per cent of the head teachers. Would the cabinet secretary agree with me that, given the predominance of women in the secondary teaching population, local authorities such as Fife Council have a duty to ensure that the number of women in senior leadership positions in education is more reflective of that and, indeed, of wider society? Obviously, the appointments that are made to individual schools are a matter for local authorities as employers, but I accept the point that Jenny Gilruth makes that the percentage of female head teachers in five secondary schools is lower than could be expected. Fife Council will be able to explain the basis of their experience and the data in that respect. It is worth noting, however, that, although females are still underrepresented in promoted posts, the position has improved significantly since 2003. Principal teachers up from 48 per cent to 61 per cent, deputy head teachers up from 36 per cent to 54 per cent and head teachers up from 18 per cent to 40 per cent across the country. I recognise the specific issues that are raised by Jenny Gilruth in his question. It is important that, as part of our leadership development work in schools, we are encouraging all those of talent to be able to exercise that role in school leadership. I will reflect on the points that Jenny Gilruth has raised in how we might reflect those in the approach that we take to the development of school leadership. Question 12, Joan McAlpine. I ask the Scottish Government when it will next meet the management of Scotland's rural college. Minister Shirley-Anne Somerville. I am planning a schedule of visits to Scottish higher and further education institutions over the coming months, and I am keen that that will include Scotland's rural college. I thank the minister for that answer. There have been concerns locally about the SRUC's uncosted ambition to relocate the Barony campus to the Creighton farm in Dumfries, potentially losing valuable hands-on training opportunities in land-based industries. Those concerns have been raised by the previous RACI committee and by myself in Parliament and with the previous cabinet secretary. Will the Government work with me to ensure that land-based education in Dumfries and Galloway is not compromised by SRUC decisions? I understand the member's concern, given the importance of agricultural skills to the economy in Dumfries and Galloway. I am pleased to note the commitment that was made by SRUC in January to continuing delivery of land-based education and training in the region. I also recognise the work that has been going on between Joan McAlpine and the previous cabinet secretary on the issue, and I would be more than happy to discuss that further with the member and representatives of SRUC. To ask the Scottish Government what role breakfast clubs play in closing the attainment gap and what support it provides to them. Some research studies suggest that breakfast club provision can contribute to raising attainment. We also have substantial anecdotal evidence to suggest that breakfast club attendance helps children to engage positively with learning. Scottish Government provides local government in Scotland with an agreed package of funding, and it is the responsibility of each local authority to allocate the total financial resources on the basis of local needs and priorities. Local authorities have flexibility to use some of the funding to provide services, such as breakfast clubs, if they choose to. I thank the minister for that response. Does the minister agree that there are a range of ways in which schools can use programmes beyond the classroom, such as breakfast clubs, after-school clubs and other support, that will not only provide real help to children and make it easier for parents to work, but crucially help to raise attainment in the classroom as well? I absolutely recognise the point that the member makes. Schools across Scotland are using a range of programmes, both before school, at lunchtime and after school, to engage children and young people in learning and ensure opportunities for extracurricular learning. They are available to everyone, regardless of their background, to help to raise attainment and close the attainment gap. There are a number of initiatives that are being directly supported by the Government through the attainment challenge, and we will ensure that good practice that emerges in the challenge is promoted and shared widely across the country. The first ministerial engagement that I undertook was with the Deputy First Minister when we went to visit a breakfast club in Edinburgh, so I am very cognisant of the role that they and other out-of-school activities play in supporting children and closing the attainment gap. This is the case, and there is evidence that breakfast clubs and access to breakfast clubs can help to close the attainment gap. We do not simply be more straightforward for the Scottish Government to ensure that local authorities have resources and the obligation to provide a breakfast club in every school. I think that the important issue here is to ensure that what we do is identify and prioritise need where it exists. There are already a number of schools out there who are running breakfast clubs where they have identified locally that the need exists, whether that is through parents who require that support in order to enable them to access the workforce, or whether it is an issue around children who are coming to school without a breakfast and the impact that going through the school day without a breakfast in them can have on their learning. The funding is available to local authorities, and that is clearly demonstrated by the fact that there are breakfast clubs that exist out there. Where it is identified that that is a priority, that is obviously for schools and local authorities to take forward in the first instance, but if Ian Gray has evidence that that is not being taken forward in areas where it is required, I am more than happy to receive that from him. Richard Lochhead The minister may be aware that there are some food businesses in Scotland that support local breakfast clubs, and I wonder if it is worthwhile, minister, to speak to the private sector and our food sector about giving more support to breakfast clubs out of Scotland to make sure that more children can have those advantages. Minister I think that Mr Lochhead bringing his experience from working closely with the food sector brings an interesting point to the chamber, and it is one that I will be more than happy to reflect on and see what more we can do, particularly to encourage that not just children receive a nutritional and healthy breakfast where that is being provided, but also one that promotes the produce that is often available not too far away from the schools in which they attend. Question 14, Rhoda Grant. To ask the Scottish Government what it is doing to support families' access in children's services. Our national parenting strategy ensures that parents are valued, equipped and supported. We are expanding early learning and childcare for young children and providing opportunities for additional support for families and parents. If a child is at risk of becoming looked after from August onwards, local authorities will make family group decision making and parenting support services available to eligible children, pregnant women and their families who want those services. Once a child is looked after, we have ensured that local authorities have statutory duties to meet the needs of a child, including the provision of parental support where that is judged appropriate. Rhoda Grant The minister will be aware that cuts to council budgets have a direct impact on children's services. He may also be aware that this is threatened service provision by action for children at Hillcrest in the Western Isles. This uncertainty impacts on children and their families using those very valued services. Will he ensure that councils receive adequate funding to protect children's services? As I highlighted in my previous answer, this Government allocates funding to local authorities, and local authorities are able to determine their priorities within the funding envelope. I am not familiar with the individual case that Rhoda Grant has highlighted, but if she wants to write to me with more detail, I will be more than happy to look into it and provide her with a more detailed response in relation to that specific case. To ask the Scottish Government what targets it has set to measure the impact of the Scottish attainment fund in West Scotland. The information that we will collect as part of the national improvement framework will give the most detailed picture ever of progress across the country, including in the west of Scotland, helping us to tackle the attainment gap between children from the most and least disadvantaged backgrounds. We want to see significant progress in doing so within the term of this Parliament and to have substantially closed the gap within the next 10 years. I thank the cabinet secretary for that answer, and I welcome the announcement made by the cabinet secretary for education last week that Renfrewshire Council will now have access to greater funding to tackle educational inequality and raise attainment after the local authority was categorised as a challenge authority. However, the statistics do not paint a good picture. In 2008, the Scottish Survey of Mathematics and Core Skills saw 60 per cent of pupils in S2 performing well or very well. By 2014, the same survey saw the number of S2 pupils performing well or very well drop to 40 per cent. In light of those figures, and with Renfrewshire Council now being a challenge authority, can the cabinet secretary confirm whether Renfrewshire Council will receive its portion of the £11.7 million first-tronge funding, which was announced in July 2015 that challenge authorities would receive? I think that that is inviting me to undertake retrospective public expenditure, which I do not really think is something that Parliament believes is within my gift. I have just announced the expansion of the challenge authority programme to include Renfrewshire. I am glad that Mary Fee welcomed that, because we have acknowledged the challenges that exist in Renfrewshire. I look forward to working with the schools in that authority area to try to tackle the issues that exist and to ensure that we do all that we can to close the attainment gap as it affects the young people concerned. The challenge authorities increase and, in particular, to see Renfrewshire being included. Could the cabinet secretary further outline the reasoning behind this decision, along with what support is available to secondary schools and attainment challenge areas? The rationale behind the decision is that the levels of deprivation that have been wrestled with in Renfrewshire did not, in the original tranche of the decision-making, qualify the authority to be included. I have since taken a decision to expand the range and the scope of the challenge authority programme to enable Renfrewshire to be included and to provide the resources that will be able to be used to tackle the attainment gap. That will be the focus of the efforts that we put in place to apply to both primary and secondary schools and to ensure that there are comprehensive reports taken to enhance the opportunities that prevail for young people within Renfrewshire. Thank you, cabinet secretary. That brings us to an end of education questions.