 Ddiogelwch i'r gwybod gyda'r cyhoeddfa ar hyn dw i'r ei drafodi ar gyfer gyda'r netwg. Wrth bod wirionfyrdd honno gilyddur a'r gwybod gyda'r bethau erbyn i'r adroddau ymingafol, ddiogelwch gan gwybod gyda'r cysylltu, oherwydd yny a wnaeth yr ardalfodig yng Nghymru, o ddymnu i'r dydd Cymru i'r munihau cyhoeddfa eraill. Griffin, yn cyd-dfoldig fel cael ei gwaith yn ymweld. Gryffin. Ysgrifennidol Cymru, dechreu i ymdighiwr mwy o'r cyflu gyda y swyddfyniad o'i cyfryd a'i cyfruddio i gyfruddio mor synthetic o'r pryd yng nghymoedd o'r pryd. Ysgrifennidol Cymru, ürchid, yn chweithio i ddweudol i gyfriddio i gyrtu'n cynnig and employment or training this year were issued to centres by the SQA on 5 September. Outcomes for the remaining 2020 appeals process were issued on 31 October, with some having been expedited to 15 October for learners who were accessing the UCAS early applicant process for 2023 for courses such as medicine or dentistry. The SQA published a high-level summary of the 2022 appeals outcomes on 3 November, and a more detailed report will be published by the SQA in December. I thank the cabinet secretary for that answer. With a third of appeals in 2022 being successful, I think that it helped to ensure fairness and mitigate the ongoing effects of the global pandemic, but with the pandemic still affecting young people's education, can the cabinet secretary say whether she agrees that the SQA should commit to an appeals process for 2023, based on valid and reliable alternative evidence of demonstrated attainment? The SQA still has a number of decisions to be made, particularly around the appeals process. They are currently undertaking consultation and research and evidence work to say about the implications of the appeals process last year, but also to look at how appeals have worked in previous years. Clearly, that work is on going through the SQA and, of course, during that work, they will also keep in close contact with the national qualifications 23 group, which includes a number of stakeholders, including learners, to see what their views are before the SQA comes to any decisions for 2023. To ask the Scottish Government what support it provides to learners of English as an additional language. The responsibility for the provision of support to children and young people who have English as an additional language rests with education authorities. Under the additional support for learning act, education authorities are legally required to identify, provide for and to review the additional support needs of their pupils. That includes those pupils who have English as an additional language. The Scottish Government has provided statutory guidance to education authorities in school to support them in fulfilling their duties. English as an additional language has been specifically identified as a potential additional support need within the code of practice. The last decade here in Edinburgh, the number of children in schools new to English has increased from 585 to over 760. Also, in terms of early acquisition of English as a language has increased from 800 to over 1,800. However, we have not seen the increase in additional language teachers in our schools. What assurance can the cabinet secretary provide that councils such as Edinburgh will be given the funding that is needed for English as additional language teachers to make the most of our multilingual classrooms? I completely appreciate where Miles Briggs is coming from with this question to ensure that we are providing support for those who have English as an additional language. Many of the responsibilities, as I said in my original answer, do of course lie with the local authority to ensure that there is identification of need and the correct support available. Clearly, the Scottish Government and the Education Scotland work very closely with our local authorities to ensure that anything that can be on a national level to assist with that can be done. Clearly, there are also a number of ways where funding is given to local authorities, either through general expenditure or particularly for some education aspects of policy. Many of those go through COSLA and the requirement of an agreement with COSLA about how that money is distributed, but I will certainly ensure that we bear in mind in future years the importance of this as we have done in the past. Thank you, Presiding Officers. It is a particularly important question today on International Students' Day, when we reflect on the contribution that our international community makes in Scotland more broadly as our students go across the world. Frankly, the cabinet secretary's answer is not good enough. There has been an 82 per cent decrease in the number of teachers with English as an additional language since 2008 in Scotland. It is clear that the system that she outlines is not working and that the Government needs to take an active role in addressing the problem. What more can she commit to do to put in place a Government programme to sort the situation out? Clearly, what the Government continues to do is ensure that we are investing in teachers and within the teaching estate. Teacher numbers are now at their highest since 2008. The most recently available figures show that there are more than 16,000 pupil support assistants in Scotland that are also providing invaluable support to pupils, including those with English as an additional language. To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on how further and higher education institutions that receive public funding via the Scottish Funding Council are expected to implement fair work first principles. The Scottish Government strongly believes that all employers should practice fair work. Scottish Funding Council asks institutions in receipt of public funding to comply with fair work first criteria through a number of mechanisms. The criteria were included in institutional funding letters issued in May 2022 and also in the conditions of grant for non-core programme funds. In addition, the SFC outcome agreement guidance for academic year 2022-23 asks institutions to demonstrate how they are meeting fair work first criteria. SFC account directions also require colleges and universities to report on fair work practices that have been developed in agreement with institutions workforce and the progress that colleges and universities have made in their implementation. The SFC is due to receive 2021-22 accounts from institutions at the end of this calendar year. I thank the minister for that response. He will be aware that effective voice is one of the five dimensions of fair work as defined by the fair work convention. Indeed, they say that the gold standard of effective voice is employers having clear recognition of and respect for strong trade unions. Yesterday marked the end of 12 weeks of strike action and today is day 613, since the pensions dispute with United Union and Dundee University began. Workers go back to work without any resolution. University management has comprehensively failed on its obligations. The minister believes that this is fair work practice, effectively de-recognising the campus unions. What can he do either through the FFC, the outcome agreement discussions with Dundee University to ensure that workers' voices are heard and that they are treated in work and in retirement? Let me say that, as a former fair work minister, I take these issues very seriously. I agree that trade union recognition and the organisation of workers through trade unions is an important mechanism for effective voice. In relation to this particular dispute, I have urged both sides throughout the dispute to continue constructive and meaningful dialogue. I have engaged regularly with both management and trade unions involved on an ongoing basis. Most recently, I spoke with Ian Gillespie, the principal of the University of the Third of November, to encourage further dialogue between the university and trade unions, and that follows previous engagement with him and the trade unions more widely. Colleges need £25 million for life cycle maintenance for 2023-2024, with further £250 million needed to bring all of Scotland's college buildings to a wind and water-tight condition. A warm, dry environment that is suitable for learning is the bare minimum that staff and students should expect. Does the minister agree with me and will he make room in the budget to ensure that bare minimum working conditions for colleges and staff and students? I am aware of some of the challenges that we face in our college estate. What we have asked SFC to undertake is to take forward a programme to set out what the priorities for investment should be. I await that, and then we will respond. I recognise the challenges and will continue to invest. There is a significant uplift in the capital grant this year that demonstrates our commitment to investing in the college estate, but I recognise that more is required to be done, and we will continue to engage with the sector on that basis. To ask the Scottish Government what proportion of the 2021 graduate probationary primary teachers have secured full-time employment in Scottish state schools after completing their probation. For primary teachers in the 2021 cohort to the teacher induction scheme probationers, 70 per cent had secured full-time employment in a publicly funded school in Scotland by the time of the September 2021 census. Statistics on the employment for the 21-22 cohort of teacher induction scheme probationers will be published on 13 December. Primary teachers have carried out their probation in Dumfries and Galloway with one of the lowest rates of permanent employment only. Three teachers have secured a permanent teaching position. One of the many teachers stuck on supply lists wrote to me and asked, myself like many others have worked hard to get to where we are. Teachers are unvalued, so many are looking to leave the profession. I feel like my life is on hold. I can't plan for the future. Do you think that this is fair? Cabinet Secretary, there is a problem across Scotland, but especially in rural areas. What additional steps will the Government take to support local authorities, particularly in rural areas, to fill teaching vacancies and enable those newly qualified teachers to pursue the career that they want? My constituent is right that it is not fair. Recruitment and retention of teachers is a matter for the local authority as the employer. We have clearly, however, got a role at a national level to support our local authorities, but that is exactly why I took the step to ensure that we provided additional permanent funding of £145.5 million per year to support the recruitment of extra teachers. Local authorities had told me in the past that one of the reasons why they couldn't allow permanent contracts was because some of our funding was temporary. I have changed that. The funding is permanent, and therefore local authorities should be replying on a permanent basis for contracts. I have three members seeking a supplementary. I'll take all three. I hope that there won't be endless sub clauses before we get to a question. Willie Rennie. To give the Cabinet Secretary for Credit, she did baseline that funding, which has helped to mitigate some of the problems, but there continues to be a mismatch between the teachers available and the posts available. What changes is she making to workforce planning, what discussions has she had with her universities and what further steps is she going to take to make sure that those people find jobs? I continue to be in close contact with unions and with teachers directly who I have heard from once again quite recently about some of the challenges that they face on permanent contracts. Clearly, we are looking at the numbers that are required for initial teacher education numbers at this point. Those deliberations are still on-going, but clearly that feeds into our wider workforce plans, looks at the number of teachers that are in the system at the moment and then for the requirement for additional teachers in different places. That work obviously includes those that are in our university sector, providing that initial teacher education and, of course, those figures will be published in due course once it is completed. Cabinet Secretary, that response is really not good enough. None of your responses to this question would be good enough because we know that there are thousands of newly qualified teachers that have left the profession or are on temporary contracts. The figures reported by the times should be a reflection of shame for the Cabinet Secretary. We have a situation where there are teachers that have reached the end of their tether, have quit their profession or have been left in limbo for far too long and temporary contracts. These issues have been raised for years in this chamber, and it simply is not good enough for the Cabinet Secretary to sit on her— Could we then get a question from Mr Kerr? I promise I will. Sit on her hands, Deputy Presiding Officer. What will she do now to fix it? Well, clearly, as I have already stated in my previous answers, we have done a lot, particularly this year. £145.5 million is the change that we have made for that. I would stress to all members that they are perfectly entitled to challenge the Scottish Government on this. None of the questions today have recognised the role of councils in this, to also look at the permanency of this issue and the fact that they have responsibility for recruitment and retention. Yes, I absolutely take my responsibilities very seriously. That is exactly why I took the decision that I did not long after getting into post, but councils also have responsibility around recruitment and retention. I fear that the members do not recognise that, certainly Mr Kerr did not. I welcome the support that the Scottish Government is providing for the continued employment of teachers. Can I ask the cabinet secretary for the latest pupil-to-teacher ratio and how that compares with the rest of the UK? Well, the ratio of pupil-to-teachers is lowest since 2009, with more teachers than at any time since 2008, and we have the most teachers per pupil of any UK nation the least comparable statistics are for 2021 and show pupil-teacher ratio of 13.3 for Scotland, 18 for England, 19.2 for Wales and 18 for Northern Ireland. Thank you, Deputy Presiding Officer, to ask the Scottish Government what it is doing to improve positive destinations for young disabled people leaving school. Since November 2020, we have invested funding of up to 175 million through the young person's guarantee to create additional opportunities with a focus on those furthest from a positive destination. That includes up to £90 million to local authorities through local employment partnerships. Those are focused on early intervention and prevention by providing supported employment opportunities training and employer recruitment initiatives. The Scottish Government is also committed to introducing Scotland's first national transitions to adulthood strategy in this parliamentary term to ensure that there is a joined-up approach to supporting our disabled young people as they make the transition to adult life. I thank the cabinet secretary for that answer. When it comes to positive destinations for young disabled people, the picture is not good. Six months after leaving school, disabled people are twice as likely not to be in education, employment or training than their non-disabled peers. At the age of 16, the aspirations of disabled and non-disabled young people are the same. By 26, disabled people are three times more likely to feel hopeless no matter what they do. We are failing them at a time when we should be helping them to fulfil their dreams. Does the cabinet secretary agree with me that to improve positive destinations for disabled people leaving school, a national transition strategy with a plan for all young disabled people should be put on a statutory footing, giving everyone a fighting chance at a future? I recognise the work that has been undertaken by the member on the bill on this issue. I very much recognise that that is an on-going process at the moment. We do absolutely support the intention behind the member's bill in seeking to improve the transition for disabled children and young people. We are at the point where we need to collectively consider where that is at, given the consultation that is on-going and the work that is on-going on that. However, I genuinely look forward to working collaboratively with Pam Duncan-Glancy on that, as does my colleague Claire Hockey and Christine McElvie, who are working on the bill and the wider issues around transitions. I welcome an update from the Scottish Government on what it is doing to improve positive destinations for disabled people leaving school. I ask the cabinet secretary how many people are accessing modern apprenticeships and how that compares to pre-pandemic numbers. Skills Development Scotland has operational responsibilities for our modern apprenticeship programme and official modern apprenticeship statistics are published quarterly by them, including the number of stats, the full-year report available at the end of each financial year. The most recent statistics were published on 8 November. There were 12,593 modern apprenticeship starts by the end of quarter 2. That has been considerable progress back to pre-pandemic levels. 1,822 modern apprenticeship starts in the second quarter have a known disability or have self-identified with an impairment, a health condition or learning difficulty. That is an increase of 36.6 per cent up from 1,334 at the same point last year. Question 6, Russell Finlay. To ask the Scottish Government what it is doing to keep teachers and pupils safe while at school. The safety of our children, young people and staff in schools of paramount importance the Scottish Government and partners across education advocate for schools and local authorities to work with pupils in identifying the underlying reasons for inappropriate behaviour. We all want pupils to behave in a respectful manner towards their peers and their staff and have produced guidance for local authorities and schools to prevent exclusions and manage behaviour. However, it is for schools to decide what action should be taken depending on the individual circumstances of each case. Russell Finlay. Now in Renfrewshire, with over a single year, 36 teachers were assaulted by pupils with 28 of those attacks being in primary schools. Violence has reached such extreme levels in one Glasgow secondary school that teachers have voted for strike action because they do not feel safe. Yet there remains a real risk that proposed SNP budget cuts to justice will lead to the loss of police officers in schools. Can the cabinet secretary explain how cutting campus cops will help teachers to stay safe? For the avoidance and doubt, and particularly for the benefit of Mr Rennie, we do not have campus cops within our schools. I see he is less, but he has had an interest in this area in the past. We do not have campus cops within our schools. We have our police officers who work with primary or secondary schools on issues that are of interest and use. It is important to ensure that police officers support our schools wherever necessary. If there is a requirement for a police officer to carry out that type of role within their school, they do just that very well and with great support at the moment. However, we will continue to ensure that we support our teachers to ensure that we know that no one should be suffering verbal or physical abuse within our schools. There is an absolute responsibility on schools and local authorities to decide what action should be taken. That may involve involving the police if that is appropriate, but that is a decision for the school, and that would be very different from some of the funds that have been used from pupil equity funding to support joint work with a police officer. In terms of a risk register of green amber red, where does violence within schools sit with the Scottish Government? I already said in my answer that there is absolutely no excuse for violence within our schools. All forms of violence is absolutely unacceptable. There is a clear policy both at a local government level and that that type of behaviour is absolutely unacceptable. That is why we have the guidance in place that we have, and that is why we continue to have very close dialogue with the unions and with local authorities to see if there is anything else that can be done on that issue. Can I ask the cabinet secretary on the back of Russell Findlay's question and her answer for an update on when we should expect the next iteration of the behaviour in Scottish schools research to start and how the findings of that research impact on Scottish Government policy? I am pleased to confirm that, after a delay caused by the pandemic, we have recently awarded the contract for the next phase of behaviour in Scottish schools research to Scotland's social research. Officials are working with analysts in the contractor to make arrangements for the fieldwork that will start next year, and we expect the research report by the end of 2023. Question 7, Clare Baker. To ask the Scottish Government how it is ensuring adequate support provision is available for staff and pupils in schools. All children and young people should receive the support that they need to receive their full potential, and I recognise the critical role of all school staff in achieving the same and remain committed to supporting them in their work. Local authorities are responsible for identifying and meeting the additional support needs of their pupils, and we are working closely with local government partners through the additional support for learning project board to ensure that we continue to see progress with the delivery of the recommendations from Angela Morgan's review. An updated action plan and progress support will be published shortly. I thank the cabinet secretary for that response. The latest Scottish Government figures show that over 12,000 children and young people accessed school counselling services over the last six months of the last year. What assurances can the cabinet secretary offer regarding the continued provision of pupil support services? Can she guarantee that the Government funding that came from the national mental health strategy that goes towards the school counselling service, which is due to be reviewed in March, will be continued because the need is obviously there, and many of the councils are on six-term contracts, and we need to make sure that they have some certainty so that the service can be maintained and provided. I thank Clare Baker for that question and also very strongly recognise the work that has gone on within our schools, particularly the school counselling service, which, as she says, the Scottish Government had committed funding for. The funding for that is within the health budget rather than the education budget. Clearly, as we move into the new budget process for the next year, the ministers right across government will be analysing how our budget should be spent. On those issues, of course, the minister for mental health and myself will be in close contact with what will happen in future years. I recognise that that has been an important and significant scheme. It is not the only scheme that is out there to assist children and young people, but that will be something that we will look at in the budget process. To ask the Scottish Government how many children in Argyllun Bute are currently receiving funded early learning and childcare. It is recently published figures showing numbers of children receiving funded early learning and childcare at the local authority level are included in the summary statistics for schools in Scotland report for 2021. That was published in December 2021 and showed that, in September 2021, there were 1,303 registrations for funded ELC in Argyllun Bute, a rise of 4.6 per cent from the previous year. In December, the Scottish Government will publish summary statistics for schools in Scotland report for 2022. That will report figures to show the number of child registrations for funded early learning and childcare in September 2020 at national and local authority level, including Argyllun Bute. I thank the minister for that answer. I have had the privilege of visiting the wonderful outdoor ELC facilities at Lochgyllpedd in my constituency and have seen the benefits to children's education that they provide. Could the minister advise what the Scottish Government can do to promote outdoor education for nursery-age children? Outdoor play and learning is already an integral every day part of ELC in Scotland. We know the benefits of high-quality outdoor play on children's positive physical and mental development. It is our vision that children in Scotland's ELC sector will spend as much time outdoors as they do indoors, and time outdoors will happen every day in every setting. As outlined in the best start strategic early learning and school age childcare plan for Scotland, it is published on 6 October. We will continue to work with our partners to build on the range of outdoor learning support for providers that we have put in place during the pandemic. That will include publishing a new chapter of our popular out-to-play ELC practitioner guidance series in the new year entitled Caring for our Outdoor Places. The guidance will set out sustainable ways to explore, look after and care for our outdoor spaces. Argyll and Bute is leading the way when it comes to funding following the child with some of their cross-border early learning childcare placement arrangements, offering real flexibility to suit the child and equally important, the working parents and carer. However, this is not the case nationally. I have a constituent that lives in south-west Edinburgh but works as a teacher in East Lothian. The care available to her from the City of Edinburgh Council does not suit her work or her commuter challenges. She might be best suited with a placement in a neighbouring authority, for example East Lothian. Does the minister agree that, given the pressures of juggling work and childcare, local government should be looking to remove obstacles and make it easier for families to access the 1140 hours that they need by actively encouraging local authorities to facilitate cross-boundary placements? Minister. Provider neutrality is absolutely central to our approach to delivering ELC, which means that parents and carers can choose to access their child's ELC entitlement in any provider that meets our key quality criteria, whether that was a childminder, a private or third sector setting or a local authority nursery. I would certainly be happy if whoever wanted to write to me with those specific details to come back to her on anything that we can do to assist. Minister, that concludes portfolio questions on education and skills. There will be a very short pause before we move on to the next item of business to allow front-bench teams to change positions should they wish.