 The first out of businesses afternoon is portfolio questions. It is education and skills. As ever, if anyone wants to ask a supplementary, they should press their Aquest to Speak buttons during the relevant questions. There is quite a bit of interest, as you might expect. I would make the usual plea for brief questions and answers to match. Question number one from Stuart McMillan has been withdrawn. To ask the Scottish Government what it considers to be the educational impact of open-clan classrooms on primary school children. Local authorities are responsible for ensuring that the schools in their area, whatever the designer capable of providing an appropriate environment for effective learning and teaching. Therefore, consideration of the educational merits of open-clan classrooms is a matter for local authorities. However, as part of our school building programme, we gather feedback from schools and have heard how pupils and teachers can benefit from the increased connectivity that open-clan environments can offer. However, it is also important to consider the impact of activities that could be seen or heard between spaces and the positive or disruptive impact that they may have on others. I thank the minister for that response. Open-clan environments are perceived to benefit child social development. However, they are much noisier and such an environment impacts adversely on learning. Studies found that children in the noisiest open-clan classrooms is significantly lower speech perception ability and slow response times in those being taught in traditional classrooms. Open-clan classrooms are therefore not appropriate for young or sensitive children, while for teachers it can mean raised blood pressure, increased stress levels, headaches and fatigue. What steps are Scottish ministers and cos are taken to review the use of open-clan classrooms or at least improve the acoustics in classrooms to minimise noise and ensure that adequate learning can take place? Although the design and operation of school buildings are managed by local authorities to best suit their individual needs and circumstances, particularly of their specific pupil cohorts, as part of our school buildings programme, as I have mentioned, we continue to receive feedback from schools and, importantly, from those who use the open-clan classrooms. Our learning estate strategy, which was produced jointly between the Scottish Government and COSLA, makes clear that learning environments should support and facilitate excellent, joined-up learning and teaching to meet the needs of all learners. It is important to stress that those facilities need to work for all. The strategy also emphasises that teaching and learning environments should support the wellbeing of learners and meet the varying needs to support inclusion. We will continue to have discussions, of course, both with young people themselves and with parents and teachers, as we continue to ensure that our learning estate strategy moves forward. To follow on with what Kenneth Gibson has said, the last time we had an estate programme was in 2009, but the Scottish Government is responsible for the building standards technical handbook that was published in 2020 for non-domestic buildings. That caused auditory investigations to take place from new buildings. Is the cabinet secretary confident that those acoustic assessments are being made of buildings that are then exposing children in open classrooms to excessive noise? I thank the member for that question. It is a very important aspect that we look into how we are developing our learning estate programme. The work that goes on between COSLA and the Scottish Government as we develop the design process for that. I would be more than happy to get back to the member specifically as we look at the learning estate programme to also look at how that works with the wider issues that he has mentioned on building standards. If the member will forgive me, I will get back to him on the detail of that. To ask the Scottish Government what its position is on whether parents should have the right to appeal on school placement decisions. Under the Education Scotland Act 1980, decisions on school placements are the responsibility of the local authority. The views of parents should be taken into account. Parents should also be informed of the options available to them to appeal those decisions. If an agreement cannot be reached, parents and carers have the right to make a placing request to a school of their choice. If a placing request is refused, parents have a right to appeal. I thank the cabinet secretary for that answer. I am currently trying to help a constituent who has been told that her son, who has been in a mainstream primary school and has flourished, must go to an ASN school next year instead of a mainstream secondary school with his friends and peer group. Can the cabinet secretary set out what right to appeal parents, carers and pupils have in a situation like this? Under the Standards in Scotland Schools Act 1980, local authorities have a duty to provide education in a mainstream school unless specific exemptions apply. Authorities are supported in those decisions by our guidance on the presumption of mainstream education. I have set out the routes to appeal in my initial answer and I urge your constituent to engage with the school and local authority to resolve their concerns. They may also wish to contact the inquire service to discuss the details of their situation. If the details that I gave in my original answer are perhaps not detailed enough for Ms Mackay and to help her constituent, I would of course be happy to receive further information in writing to see whether there is further information that I can give her on those rights to appeal in this very specific circumstance that she has mentioned of the constituent's case. In 2022, there were over 350 fewer primary school teachers than in 2021, and there were fewer teachers from the teacher induction scheme teaching in their post-properation year than at any time since the scheme began. Key to restoring our world-class education system is reducing class sizes. Why then is this Government cutting teacher numbers at a time when school pupils have faced so much disruption over the last three years? I'm not saying that it's irrelevant to the original question, but I'm more than happy to answer that. I would agree, cabinet secretary. I want to keep your response brief on that basis. Recruitment and retention is a matter for local authorities of staff. The Government has a commitment to ensure that we have 3,500 additional teachers by the end of this parliamentary term. Part of that process has been further funding that has been baselined to local government of £145.5 million to support the teaching workforce. Thank you, Deputy Presiding Officer. To ask the Scottish Government what cross-government review is undertaken of policies supporting children with autism, including any assessment of the links between autism and other conditions such as ADHD. In March 2021, following a review, the Scottish Government published our Learning Intellectual Disabilities and Autism Towards Transformation Plan. The plan looks at the actions needed to shape support services and attitudes to ensure that the human rights of autistic people and people with learning intellectual disabilities are respected and protected. The plan includes a range of actions across the lifespan, including actions related to education, restraint and seclusion, health, post-diagnostic support, social care and employment. In September 2021, we published the national neurodevelopmental specification for children and young people, which sets out seven standards for service providers to ensure that children and young people who have neurodevelopmental profiles receive the support that they need. That includes both autism and ADHD. ADHD affects 5 to 7 per cent of the population and co-occurrence across neurodevelopmental conditions is the norm. We know from research that 50 to 70 per cent of autistic people present ADHD and 20 to 50 per cent of children with ADHD also meet the criteria for autism. I thank the minister for that useful answer. One of my constituents, a mother of two boys who were diagnosed with autism by NHS Lothian some years back, has told me about how she watched her boys struggle to function at school and in society for up to six years. My constituent took her family, the boys, to a private ADHD assessment, and they were both diagnosed. Given the necessary support and medication that has helped to transform their lives, will the Scottish Government agree to review pathways and guidance to ensure that all health boards across Scotland are taking a holistic approach to the assessment of children and that health boards will review existing cases over the last five years to offer those who have been diagnosed with autism the chance for an additional ADHD assessment? I think that we are straying into the territory that is under the portfolio responsibility of my colleagues in health, but what I am able to say here, and I will ask the minister for mental wellbeing and social care to respond directly to the points that you raised in terms of health board pathways, but Scottish Government policies take a wide neurodevelopmental approach that is inclusive of people with a range of conditions including autism, learning disabilities, ADHD and fetal alcohol syndrome. We fund the national autism implementation team as a key partner and they support us with policy development across health and social care, but also in education. It is understood that the impact of changes that occur in adolescence are more difficult for some neurodiverse young people to manage than for their neurotypical peers. Can the minister outline what engagement it has had with new or diverse adolescents and their parents to ensure that Scottish Government policies intended to support young neurodiverse people reflect the particular difficulties associated with this transition? In line with all development of policy in the area of those with lived experience, Scottish Government will engage regularly with service providers, with children and young people and their families and carers and also with key stakeholders in the development of pathways and of service provision. Multiple constituents have approached me concerned about the way that school treats their child with autism and the impact of that had on their child's mental health. Can the minister outline what action the Scottish Government is taking to ensure that children with autism are offered sufficient mental health support in school and that they are safeguarded against poor practice? Again, I think that that streaks into the territory of the health portfolio, but the additional support for learning review in 2020 set out a clear direction on how we continue to build on the progress and made recommendations on how to improve the implementation of additional support for learning, which is absolutely vital for those young people. We published our joint action plan with COSLA and ADES in October 2020, setting out the measures that we will take to implement those recommendations. Last November, we published our second progress report on updated action plan, highlighting that 24 of the 76 recommendations were completed with the rest under way. I hope that that gives the member some reassurance about the work that is being done in the education portfolio, but if there are other areas that he wishes to pick up that are covered by my colleagues in health, I am more than happy to get them to write back to him. To ask the Scottish Government what impact its draft budget for 23.24 will have on schools. We have protected councils in the most challenging budget settlements since devolution by providing over £13.2 billion through the local government settlement. That represents a real terms increase compared to 2022-23 and supports the continued delivery of high-quality education for our children. In addition to that, our schools funding will impact the most important areas in relation to education delivery, attainment and tackling child poverty. For example, we are investing a further £200 million for the Scottish attainment challenge to tackle the poverty-related attainment gap. We are also providing funding to local government to significantly reduce the cost of the school day. I thank the cabinet secretary for her response, but despite the largest block grant from Westminster in the history of devolution, the Scottish Government's budget delivers real terms cuts in funding for local councils, as the accounts commission made very clear in their report this morning. In my own region, Perthyn Cynrhods Council is facing a £20 million budget gap for the current year, which could see teacher numbers cut, child psychology cut, primary swimming lessons scrapped, all-school crossing patrollers scrapped and breakfast clubs for underprivileged children scrapped. How can the cabinet secretary possibly defend a budget settlement that is leading an SNP-run council to take decisions like this? Of course, the council budgets are not set yet, and there are a variety and range of suggestions that may come forward for officials, and it is for councillors to take decisions in due course. The numbers that I spoke about in my original answer are indeed correct. When we compare, as we do in every budget year, the proposed budget to the allocations approved by Parliament in previous year shows the best life for the comparison of available funding at this stage in the budget cycle. I would quite frankly say to Murdo Fraser on this, and in all aspects to do with the budget. He hears this every year. When he wishes to see more funding being spent, whether it is in local government or directly in the education budget, he will have to ensure that he says where that money will be coming from elsewhere in the Scottish Government budget, because the Government will be fully allocated. If he wishes to see changes rather than continue to talk through my answer, he may start writing down fully-costed allocations and propose them to the Deputy First Minister. There are a number of supplementaries here and on subsequent questions. It would be helpful if members could limit themselves to asking the questions and then listening to the responses. Please supplementary from Natalie Dawn first. I thank the cabinet secretary for her previous assessment. Schools are only one part of the multi-faceted infrastructure of Scotland's education system. Further to her original response, can I ask the cabinet secretary how the 23-24 budget will protect and enhance our whole education system from early years through to lifelong learning? Through the budget, I am continuing to invest in changing the lives of children and young people and learners across all ages. For example, we have the £1 billion of funding each year continuing to live 1140 hours of high-quality early learning and childcare. We have agreed £50 million to be allocated to the whole family well-being, including preventative holistic family support. We are investing £38 million for activities to keep the promise to our care-experienced children. Those are some of the examples that I could give on how we are improving the circumstances from early years to lifelong learning. The budget that we have in front of us has been warned by COSLA that there will be significant reductions in teacher numbers across the country. The cabinet secretary has committed to 3,500 more teachers, despite the fact that 100 were cut in the last year. How many more of those teachers will be delivered this year? In the current financial year, the Scottish Government provided £145.5 million base-lined into local government to ensure that councils could make changes from temporary to permanent contracts. I am exceptionally disappointed to see that, despite that funding, what we saw was a reduction in teacher numbers. I will continue to have discussions with COSLA on the area, but I will repeat very briefly the same point that I made to Mr Fraser. If Mr Marra would like to see changes made and additional funding going in to this or for other areas, he can of course suggest where that money should come from. To ask the Scottish Government what steps it is taking to ensure that schools are inspected regularly. Each year, the chief inspector of education determines the scale and priorities of the inspection programme in agreement with the cabinet secretary for education and skills. Prior to the pandemic, Education Scotland strengthened its scrutiny function and committed to carrying out 250 school inspections each year. This academic year, Education Scotland, will meet that commitment. In estimated 500 school inspections would have been carried out had it not been for the disruption caused by Covid. I set out in the programme for government an education reform bill will be introduced to establish an independent inspectorate. A high-level operating model for that new independent inspectorate is being developed and will be shared with stakeholders and users early this year, and that will set out how the inspectorate will operate effectively to provide the independent assurance of quality that our education system needs. I thank the cabinet secretary for that answer, but the reality is that those steps have been inadequate because an FOI response published in September showed that 1,118 state primary and secondary schools in Scotland had not been inspected in a decade. Indeed, in a my local area, the picture is even worse. There are 10 schools that have not been inspected in the last 10 years, and four schools that have been inspected in more than 10 years. Indeed, the longest situation being 2006. There are three schools that will not have been inspected in the entirety of the lifespan of Education Scotland. As we look to its successor organisation, can we at least guarantee to parents and pupils that their schools will be inspected at least once in the time that they attend? I laid out in my original answer the impact that Covid has had on the school inspection to be carried out. As a point to reassure, I hope, Dan Johnston, I would point out that the inspection is not the only method of scrutiny. Schools and local authorities also have responsibility for evaluating performance. Indeed, in Scotland, the provision of education with it being with local authorities has a duty to provide adequate and efficient school education. Under the Standards and Schools Act, the local authority is responsible for improving the quality of education of schools that manages with a view to raging standards. Yes, school inspections are exceptionally important. That is exactly why we have the high-level target operating model that is being developed. I would welcome any contributions that Daniel Johnston has to that when we publish that, but it is not the only way that the Government, its agencies or local authorities can ensure continuous improvement within schools. I am brief supplementary Stephen Kerr. That was just more complacency from the cabinet secretary. The reality is that 1118 schools, more than nearly 50 per cent of Scotland's schools have not been inspected for 10 years. Are you not embarrassed, cabinet secretary? Tell us one thing that you are going to do now in order to rectify the situation. As I have stated in my original answer to Daniel Johnston, there was, of course, an impact that we have seen on Covid of 500 school inspections that we would have expected to see happen that did not happen. Pre-Covid, Education Scotland had taken a great deal of work to ensure that it strengthened its scrutiny functions, to ensure that it was carrying out more school inspections each year than it had done in frequent years before that. However, it is very important that we take very seriously the role of school inspections. That is exactly why we have a reform process that is leading to an independent inspectorate. I would welcome the constructive views of Mr Kerr and others about how we can ensure that that independent inspectorate is as effective and efficient as it can be. Question 7, Graham Simpson. To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on its progress in closing the attainment gap. In December, we published the latest achievement of curriculum for excellence level statistics, the 2023 national improvement framework and plan, and the stretch aims each local authority has put in place for closing the attainment gap. Together, they set out the latest evidence for progress and our plans shared with local Government for substantially eliminating the poverty-related attainment gap by 2026. There are promising signs that the attainment gap is, once again, beginning to narrow. However, there is more to do, and that is why we will invest a further £200 million next year in the Scottish attainment challenge, part of our £1 billion commitment this parliamentary term. Thank you. In fact, there has been no progress in the last five years. In the aftermath of the Scottish budget, Jim Thullis, general secretary of school leader Scotland, said that education cuts will see class sizes increased and subjects removed. How does cutting subjects and increasing class sizes help to eliminate or substantially eliminate, which is the Government's phrase, the attainment gap by 2026? For the sake of brevity, I will point to my previous answers that I gave to Murdo Fraser about the importance of the member who would allow me to answer the question—that is exactly what I will do. The issue around budgets has been discussed with Murdo Fraser and others. It is important that we look at the investment that is going in, not just within education but also within local government. We are taking steps to ensure that we continue to invest in our children and young people. However, it is gravely unfair for the member to suggest that there has been no improvement. For example, for the sake of spirit, I will give one example of the gap between the proportion of primary pupils from the most and least deprived areas who achieved their expected level in literacy, narrowed from the previous year. That is very important. We have similarly saw that in numeracy as well. For both literacy and numeracy, those figures represent the largest single narrowing of the gap since data collection began in 2016-17. Of course, as with other educational areas across the UK and further afield, there has been an impact of Covid. It would be wrong to suggest that that is not the case, but what we are seeing within the ASL statistics is an improving picture. I would have thought that that is something that the member would welcome. That, in fairness, is not a brief response. It is meant that I am not able to take supplementaries from either of the members that we are looking to get in on this question. We need to now move on to question 8 from James Dorn, who joins us remotely. To ask the Scottish Government what its priorities for education will be in 2023. Tackling the poverty-related attainment gap remains the priority for the Scottish Government and it is at the heart of our ambitious reform programme, which aims to provide learners with the best opportunities to succeed. The priorities for Scottish education are set out in the 2023 national improvement framework, which was published in December 2022. It placed the human rights and needs of every child and young person at the centre of education, alongside improving children and young people's health and wellbeing, closing the attainment gap, improving attainment and skills and sustained positive school leaver destinations for all our young people. James Dorn. I welcome that tackling attainment remains a key priority for the Scottish Government. I also welcome the news that Professor John McKendrick has been appointed as a new commissioner for fair access to higher education in Scotland. Can I ask the cabinet secretary how his appointment will help to drive forward progress to further close the poverty-related attainment gap? I am also delighted to welcome the appointment of Professor John McKendrick. He brings to a role great experience to an eye. I look forward to working with him alongside my colleague Mr Hepburn. That is, of course, a very important role as we continue to see further success within the Scottish Government's ambitions on widening access. Brief supplementary first from Sue Wettman. Teachers are on strike, cabinet secretary, the first strike for 40 years. We have heard from countless teachers and the unions who say that they are feeling ignored by the Government that they are not fully engaged in the negotiations. We also know that violence in the classroom is up with over 20,000 instances of violence against teachers and school staff in the last academic year. Ignored by the Government and unsafe in the classroom, does the minister accept that ending teacher strikes and making teachers safe in the classrooms must be a priority for every student? It is indeed a priority, and that is why there are further constructive talks happening today. Brief supplementary first from Beatrice Wishart. In terms of priorities for education, the Scottish Government made a commitment to replace Erasmus and to create a Scottish education exchange programme. Although it has been repeatedly asked for in this chamber by colleagues, a date is still elusive. Wales made this happen, so what discussions has the Scottish Government had with Welsh counterparts on this and will the minister commit to a timetable so that students know when they will be able to benefit from a learning exchange? It is briefly as possible, cabinet secretary. This was, of course, a Government commitment that we hold very dear to and it is something that we are progressing our work on and will deliver within this parliamentary term. Thank you, cabinet secretary. That concludes portfolio questions. There will be a brief pause before we move to the next item of business. On a point of order, you tried to fit in as many supplementary questions as possible, but in your remarks you said that it was largely became impossible because of the length of the ministerial answers. This is not unique to this session of topical questions, but can I ask your guidance on what is being done in order to encourage ministers—including the First Minister, by the way—to shorten the answers that they give to the questions, which are becoming more concise? As a former business manager, he would be well aware of the on-going discussions that have been with business managers from all parties about the length both of the answers but also of the questions. In portfolio questions, we have seen evidence of both not being brief. That is something that I would impress upon all Members in order to provide opportunities for as many questions as possible and all parties suffer as a result. The questions and the answers need to be as brief as possible, but I think that attributing blame in one direction in this instance, Mr Kerr, is unfair and inaccurate. We now move on to the next item of business.