 Gweithdoi ymr clearlydd, Mike has not worked—Ah, there we go. Good afternoon, the first item of business this afternoon is portfolio questions. The portfolio on this occasion is education and skills. I'd ask members wishing to ask a supplementary to press the request to speak buttons during the relevant question. There is a lot of interest in supplementaries, therefore the questions will need to be short as will the responsibilities as far as possible. And I call question number one, Jeremy Balfour. Fy oeddodd chael agwtraethau'r Fynghoredd iawn, nid o gyllid iawn edrych i gffeedwch gyrfacioedd o gail gyllid iawn, ychwyn gwyllgor sy'n gyllid iawn i gafodd cyrdefnyddiaethau'r Fynghoredd. Fy oeddodd sy'n gwyllgor gy smoothly o'r gyflogerau'r Fynghoredd a'r unілig Cymru, Fynghoredd honno ac收ol o doul-gweithio'r ffond haไrdd iawn mwy ffondol o gael cyfrydd a gwylwgrwydiau'r ffondol 1 million to 115 organisations to deliver support that tackles inequalities, child and family poverty, improves learning and builds skills. A transition fund delivers often life-changing support to help young disabled people with a transition after leaving school. Individual institutions support the specific needs of young people to acquire life skills in different ways across school and post-school interventions. Jeremy Balfour, Deputy Presiding Officer, following a report from Disability Charity Scope, that disabled people are often faced with regular expenditures totaling a whopping £975 extra per month. Does the minister agree with me that further action must be taken to ensure that disabled young people have access to the highest quality support services in schools to help to equip them with essential life skills in their post-education life? I am sure that the member will appreciate that the post-16 landscape is more my area of expertise assuming that I have such than schools. On the subject of life schools, that is not a specific curriculum area, as he knows. It will cover a range of subjects. It will often fall to the individual school to determine the offering that it provides. I recognise that we must be doing more for disabled young people than simply furnishing them with life skills. We need to help them to maximise their full potential. That is why that was one of the topics that was up for discussion when I met a number of disabled young people's organisations just last month to look at what more we could be doing to support young people into meaningful career opportunities. In Scotland, we have made investments in and offered programmes to support our disabled young people, which could not be a further leap away from the Tory-led UK Government approach of austerity, which has, in the words of the UNCRPD, resulted in the gross and systematic violations of disabled people's rights. Does the minister agree with me that the best approach to supporting the educational development of disabled young people is one of inclusion and support as opposed to one of exclusion and austerity? I agree with the member that it is entirely right that inclusion is at the heart of our education policy and our legislation, enabling children and young people to receive the support that they need to reach their full potentials that I touched on earlier. The Government is committed to improving the experiences and outcomes for young people with additional support needs and spending on additional support for learning reached a record high of £830 million in the most recently published figures. It is not only in education that our approach is different, of course. The Scottish Government is unique in its approach to committing to having the disability employment gap, because we focus on reducing the gap in employment rates between disabled and non-disabled people. To ask the Scottish Government to wear within the education budget reallocated any unused funds for teaching bursaries in 2023-24. To manage emerging in-year budgetary pressures, transfers are made between various budget lines through budget revisions. Although those transfers are managed collectively across all budget lines, it is not possible to attribute an individual reduction in one budget line to an increase in another. However, those are, in general, used to manage wider pressures across portfolios, including things such as pay. All budget revisions are reported collectively to Parliament through the autumn and spring budget revisions. I thank the cabinet secretary for that answer. The current pressure, quicker environment in our classrooms, particularly the rise in violence and aggression, I think that we can agree, is driving teachers out of the profession and making those who would have considered it think again. With that in mind, I can ask the cabinet secretary what action the Government has taken to challenge those environments in classrooms, whether the Government would commit to including redistributing any of those unused bursaries from this year's to promote teaching as an attractive profession, particularly for those with skills in computing, modern languages and STEM subjects where recruitment targets have been missed. I thank the member for his question. Of course, we introduced teaching bursaries back in 2017-18, and that provides a £20,000 bursary payment to individual career changers to do initial teacher education. Originally, of course, in those STEM subjects, but we broadened that out to include Gaelic in the past year. The budget was reduced in the last year due to reduced demand, I should say to the member, but I think that the point he makes in general is how we can make teaching an attractive profession. One of the positives in Scotland is that we have highly paid teachers, the highest paid teachers in the UK. There are other positives in the Scottish education system. He has spoken to some of the challenges in our classrooms at the current time. I am well cited on those specific challenges, but we need to make teaching an attractive career, which is why we invest in the teaching bursary scheme. It is also why we provide funding around the preferential waiver payment, which allows people to tick the box and go anywhere throughout Scotland to be awarded an additional £8,000. We are also protecting teacher numbers this year by an additional £145 million in this year's budget to protect teacher numbers at local level and support staff. I can take a supplementary from Kenneth Gibson as long as it is brief and the responses are likewise. I thank you, Presiding Officer. A decade and a half of Labour coalition and Tory UK Government austerity has impacted across the Scottish budget. Can the cabinet secretary advise what impact this has had specifically on education and how is the Government working to support the teaching profession in such a challenging financial climate? I think that the member is right. Undoubtedly, we have less money in the Scottish Government this financial year because of decisions taken elsewhere. Despite that, we have been able to protect the education and skills budget. It will grow to over £4.8 billion, including funding to protect teacher numbers, as I intimated Amyrus wants to the previous member. That is a testament to the value that this Government places on education. To ask the Scottish Government when it last met with representatives of the college sector. I met college chairs and principals at a College of Scotland event in Stirling on 30 January. More generally, the Scottish Government meets representatives of the college sector frequently. That is done through in-person meetings, visits, online meetings and written communication with individual college. The sector is a whole and representative body. On a personal level, I will be meeting college reps on both Monday and Tuesday of next week. A recent phrase of Allander Institute report on the economic contribution of colleges highlights the crucial role in our green transition by equipping individuals with essential skills for the energy sector. Within the energy space, North East Scotland College is working with partners across business, education and technology to deliver learning that will meet our future skilled workforce needs. Recently, the First Minister visited Aberdeen and confirmed the Scottish Government's commitment to the North East as a powerhouse for Scotland's economic development. What action is the Scottish Government taking to ensure that colleges such as Nesco will be supported to deliver on the skills element of national and regional green economic policies, given the challenging funding landscape? Our education and skills systems point a crucial role in the transition to net zero, and colleges and universities are key anchors for that transition. What has been the most challenging budget in the history of the evolution that we have provided in nearly £2 billion for colleges and universities? Indicative funding allocations for individuals colleges are expected to be set out by the SFC this spring, as is the usual practice. I will be visiting Nesco on 11 March. I look forward to hearing more about the good work of the college and any challenges that it is facing. There are a number of supplementaries. I want to get them all in, but they will need to be brief first, Liam Kerr. The last time I met representatives of the college sector was an apprenticeship and qualifications round table last week. What impact assessments have been done on skills and apprenticeships of the £59 million cut to the net college resource budget on apprenticeships? All such measures are the subject of analysis, but I say to Liam Kerr, as I have said to his colleagues, that if the Scottish Government budget goes down, our ability to support things like the college and apprenticeship budget is impacted. That is just a matter of fact, regrettable though it is. If Mr Kerr, as is his right, believes that we should have allocated more money to that, he had an opportunity through the budget process to bring amendments to the budget, and I am struggling to recall anything of that happening. Unison and EIS are both taking part in strike action today because their members are now 18 months overdue a pair eyes. Can the minister tell me what discussions he has had with College Employer Scotland about Unison's proposals to develop an avoidance of redundancy fund and provide advanced payment to staff to alleviate financial hardship and whether he would be willing to facilitate those proposals? I raised that with College Employer Scotland informally a couple of weeks ago on the back of a constructive meeting that I had with Unison. I would like to see them back around the table discussing that on the basis that has been suggested, because this Government is not in a position to put further funds into that process. However, if the employers in the union—I think that it is a very valid ask from a trade union—if they can find agreement around that, they will be all to the good. On Monday, I spoke to furious staff and students from Elmwood campus in Cooper, who are trying to save the animal care unit. Can the minister have discussion with the SRUC management about how he can assist to keep this important unit for staff and students? I am entirely aware of Mr Rennie's constituency interest in that, not least of all because I saw his DIY video on the subject to LL this week. Seriously, I understand and tell him where he is coming from. It is not for me to engage directly with SRC on this, but I can give him the assurance that I have asked my officials to seek an update on this from SRUC. To ask the Scottish Government what recent discussions it has had with colleges and trade unions regarding pay in the further education sector. Minister Grimdy. I meet campus unions on a biannual basis and I meet the representatives of the sector on a number of forums regularly. Across all my engagement with the sector, I continue to make it clear that, although the fiscal context remains exceptionally challenging for both the Scottish Government and the college sector, my expectation is that management and unions will continue to work together to make every effort to reach a settlement that is both fair and affordable. We have, at least, appeared to have been seen progress towards that on a number of occasions over the last 18 months, only for that progress regrettably to stall. Can I thank the minister for his answer? As he will be aware, industrial action has taken place today across colleges in Scotland due to the on-going pay dispute and this impacts on many of my constituents, staff and students. Does the minister agree with me that both sides need to work constructively for a solution in order that the sector can focus on delivering the high-quality education that its students expect? Can he advise what the Scottish Government can do to support that? Will he restate the Government's commitment to parity of esteem in the different sections of further and higher education? He can take our intent on parity of esteem, as I have given. Whilst I absolutely respect the right of trade unions to take industrial action, I remain concerned by the impact that this period of industrial action will have on our students. That is why I am encouraging both sides to come to a resolution. It is, of course, for the college unions and the employers, not the Scottish Government, to negotiate pay and terms and conditions. It should be recognised, I have to say, that agreement has been reached with UNITE and the GMB and the employers. I am going to continue to engage with both management and unions as and where appropriate in the hope that they can reach a settlement that is fair and affordable. To discover as I did yesterday that there are currently no plans for the two sides to get back round the table in the wake of the present action is deeply disappointing to say the least. To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on nursery age childcare funding provision. In 24-25, the Scottish Government will continue to invest around £1 billion to fund local authorities to provide 1140 hours a year of high-quality, funded early learning in childcare to all eligible children. We are also investing an additional £16 million in years to deliver our commitment to enable childcare workers, delivering funded ELC in private and third sector services to be paid at least £12 per hour from April 24. Alongside that, we will expand our child minder recruitment and retention pilots, progress work with the six early adopter communities in Clackmannanshire, Dundee, Fife, Glasgow, Inverclyde and Shetland to develop local systems of funded childcare for those families who need it most. I thank the minister for that answer. During the SNP leadership race, the First Minister promised to tackle the lower 1140 hours funding for private, voluntary and independent nurseries compared with those run by councils. Experienced staff are leaving to work for better pay elsewhere, threatening the flexible provision that they offer. Budgets are being set and feed rates decided right now. What has the Scottish Government done to close the gap in funding? I thank Beatrice Wishart for that question. I would like to start off by saying how much I value the work and the efforts of our PVI sector in delivering funded childcare. The average rate paid by local authorities to providers for delivering that ELC has increased by 64.1 per cent since 2017. However, there remains variation across Scotland, and I have been very clear that where improvements can be made to that rate setting process that I absolutely want to see them. I am committed to working with the sector on this and will continue to look for opportunities to do so and to strengthen the current system. In December, the Scottish Government and COSLA published our joint review of the process for setting sustainable rates, which recommends actions to drive improvement. I am wholly positive that we will see exactly that out of that. On top of that, we are working with the sector to provide further support for that £12 per hour commitment. I will continue to work with stakeholders to consider whether there are wider actions that could be taken to further strengthen and improve that rate setting process. The minister will be aware of a proposal in Edinburgh to phase out funded childcare in private and independent nurseries to parents who live outside of the city. That will have a massively detrimental impact on my constituents and Fife who commute into Edinburgh for work. Furthermore, removing such a choice goes against the Government's commitment to get it right for every child. What discussions, if any, did the Scottish Government have with the Edinburgh City Council about that proposal, and does the minister still believe that parental choice is key for deriving nursery-age childcare for every child, and that should be fully funded? Thank you for that question. It would not be appropriate for me to intervene directly in the internal decision-making processes of an individual local authority in relation to ELC delivery. However, I expect any changes to service delivery in any local authority to be made in line with statutory duties and to take account of the shared aims of the Scottish Government and local government to our ELC expansion. Those shared aims are reflected in both the statutory guidance and our latest funding follows the child operating guidance, delivered jointly with COSLA. I encourage neighbouring councils to work together to ensure that publicly funded services meet the needs of families and prioritise children's wellbeing, including those who need cross-boundary placements. I will continue to monitor the situation. From the south of Scotland region, parents have reached out to me because they are struggling with the lack of flexibility around pick-up and drop-off times at nursery. What specific Scottish Government support has been given to local authorities to facilitate genuinely flexible early-year provision? We understand that the needs of parents, families and children across the country in different areas are very distinct. I think that in terms of the work that we are doing, in terms of our six early adopted areas, we are really diving into what families need, working with families, children and providers to understand what is required in those local areas and to help us to build our future system of childcare. Flexibility is an absolute key part of that. To ask the Scottish Government how it will encourage the uptake of foreign languages at primary and secondary schools. The Scottish Government is committed to language learning in our schools, which is why, since 2013, we have provided local authorities and third sector partners with funding of over £50 million to support and implement our 1 plus 2 languages approach in Scotland. A 2021 survey of local authorities confirmed that pupils across Scotland are now learning languages from primary 1 and continuing the broad general education throughout an important change since the policy was introduced 10 years ago. We continue to support modern languages through the support provided to schools by Education Scotland and funding to Strathclyde University, who hosts Scotland's national centre for languages, providing professional learning guidance and advice to schools. Rona Mackay We know that the experiences abroad can be of huge benefit to learning a foreign language, but due to Brexit, many students are losing out on this opportunity through the loss of the Erasmus programme. To ask the Cabinet Secretary how students will be supported to study abroad in lieu of Erasmus. I think that the member is correct to raise Brexit in this context. Of course, the Government remains absolutely committed to addressing one of the most damaging consequences of Brexit for both schools and for our universities and colleges, the fact that UK students can no longer take part in the Erasmus Plus programme. The Erasmus Plus programme had a really major impact for higher and further education in Scotland, with proportionately more students from Scotland taking part in Erasmus than any other country in the UK and proportionately more EU students coming to Scotland on Erasmus than anywhere else in the UK. At school level, Erasmus Plus was also used primarily to support staff mobility and virtual exchanges between schools, as well as some school trips. In 2324, the Government is funding a test and learn programme to re-establish some of the opportunities that Erasmus Plus provided, which the UK Government's Turing scheme, of course, does not. Thank you, Deputy Presiding Officer. Last week was International Model Language Day, which raised awareness, yes, of the opportunity to learn foreign languages at school, but also of the importance of presenting languages. Can the cabinet secretary please provide an update on work to revitalise Gaelic language education in primary and secondary schools? So the Government is taking a number of actions in relation to the Gaelic language, Presiding Officer, and at least, of course, taking forward a piece of legislation later this year to strengthen Gaelic provision across the country, including in relation to the teaching of Gaelic. I'll be more than happy to write to the member on the details of that legislation. To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to the open letter sent to MSPs from 120 colleges, businesses and trade unions on 5 February, urgently asking for the reinstatement of the flexible workforce development fund for Scotland's colleges, which has been removed from the draft budget for 2024-25. As a result of decisions made by the UK Government, this is the most challenging budget to be delivered under devolution. Extremely hard decisions have had to be made to ensure Scotland's public finances remain on a sustainable trajectory. In the face of those unprecedented financial challenges, it was not possible to preserve the flexible workforce development fund offering. I am fully aware that colleges and the many businesses that have benefited from it are very disappointed by the withdrawal of the fund, and I share that disappointment. I wish that it had been possible to avoid that happening. Our response to the open letter was issued on Monday 26 February. I thank the Minister for that answer, but his answer was complete nonsense. The fund was cut by this SNP Government, leading to students being let down, businesses being let down and the skills gap widening. Does the Minister accept that his Government's decision to cut the flexible workforce development fund whilst receiving a 2.2 per cent real terms cut in increase in funding from the UK Government was a poor decision and it was an increase, and that was the slip of the tongue. What I'm struck by is Rachel Hamilton raising this after passing up an opportunity to seek to restore the fund if she wanted to the budget by seeking amendment to it. As recently as this week, instead of doing that, she joined her concern with colleagues in simply attacking the draft budget, offering no-cost alternatives to the content and then trying to vote it down. Of course, had she succeeded in voting it down, colleges and their trade unions would have a lot more to be concerned about today than the loss of the flexible workforce development fund. That's why her raising this today brings so hollow.