 Gweltym ni'n bwysigol ym mwyaf o fodfodes. Mae fodfodes dim twyl o ddyrch gwrsau a'iàn gweithio i'ch gwell â ffordd. Felly, rydyn ni'n byw y gwlad ar gyfer, wnaeth eich tanthferwain ar gyfer. Rydyn ni'n bwysigol i'ch g wedi cael cael cerdd. Gweltym ni'n bwysigol i'ch gwell o bwysigol, a'r ei chic мыf o bwysigol, a'u ddif Weinidog a'r gyrsbydd ym mwyn ar gwell. Gwethingr 1, a l Neden i Alex Rowley, wrth gyrsbydd yn dweud. 2. Maggie Chapman To ask the Scottish Government what communication it has had with Scottish universities and UCU Scotland about the four fights and USS pensions disputes in light of the recent re-balloting for industrial action by staff. Minister Jamie Hepburn I have met a regular basis with university leaders and trade unions including UCU Scotland to discuss the on-going disputes regarding pay, working conditions and pensions. Although universities are autonomous bodies and such have responsibility for their own decisions regarding pay, working conditions and pensions, I will continue to urge both sides to continue to engage in constructive and meaningful dialogue to resolve this dispute and underline issues that they need for further industrial action. Maggie Chapman I thank the minister for that response. He will be aware of the deep dissatisfaction of staff and students across higher education at the moment. In addition to the UCU re-balloting, UNISON workers are out on strike as we speak. Does he agree that university principals need to account for the nearly £80 million of Scottish public money that they are planning to use to meet a deficit in the USS, even though the scheme itself has stated that this deficit no longer exists as it was a result of Covid? Could Scottish ministers offer to work with Scottish principals to make the case that a revaluation of the USS and reduction in the £80 million contribution is necessary? Michael Matheson Having mentioned the run-D situation, let me also make clear on that specific issue of engaged with the university and unions to discuss that particular situation. In respect of the wider issues around the university superannuation scheme, we should remind ourselves that it is not a Scottish-specific scheme, it is a UK-wide scheme and it is not a Government-funded pension scheme. It does not fall within the scope of the devolved responsibility of Scottish ministers, so I certainly would not be able to determine that that would be a revaluation. However, as I have indicated before, I will continue to engage with university leaders and unions to discuss those matters and to continue to press them to resolve those matters without need for recost of further industrial dispute. I remind members of my register of interest. A survey by the UCU trade union of university staff highlighted that up to two thirds are seriously thinking about leaving the sector over the next five years. Their pay has fallen by 25 per cent in real terms over the past decade and changes to USS pensions are set to leave staff up to £240,000 worse off. The minister must recognise the harm being done to university staff by year on year real terms pay cuts and cuts to pensions. Can he share with us what action is the Scottish Government taking to encourage university principles to seriously address staff concerns? As I have laid out a number of times now, this is a matter in which I continue to engage in dialogue with both unions and university management around those issues that I actively discuss with them. That will of course be one of them. When PUSC comes to Shavdo, I cannot resolve the dispute for university management. It is for unions to come together to discuss those matters, and I would urge them to do so along the lines of the framework that we operate to ensure that there is proper meaningful dialogue at workers voices that are listened to, and I hope that they can resolve the matter together. The minister talks the language of dialogue in discourse, but does he not recognise that 13 years of flat cash—no increase in the unit of resource going to universities—is leading to those challenges and creating the conflict between the management and workers and the tough decisions that are being made. If it is going to be resolved, the Government has to make sure that the resources sit properly. We are resourcing higher education properly. We will once again provide over £1 billion of public expenditure to our universities this year to support their continued financial sustainability. I would have thought that that would be recognised as a fairly substantial investment, and indeed, in recognition of some of the challenges that we have seen over the pandemic period, we have invested more for £190 million in direct additional funding to support universities in the difficult circumstances. We are stepping up to mark. We are investing in higher education. We will continue to do so. Miles Briggs To ask the Scottish Government what support it is providing to help young people at risk from exclusion from mainstream education. Our publication, Included, Engaged and Involved, part 2, preventing and managing school exclusions, provides national guidance on school exclusion. It makes clear that exclusion from school should only be the last resort used in the context of prevention, early intervention and support for positive relationships, learning and behaviour. It should be a proportionate response to the fact that there is no appropriate alternative and must be, for a short period as possible, with the aim of improving outcomes for the child or young person. The guidance also sets out schools and education authorities' responsibilities in line with their powers to make decisions to exclude them. Miles Briggs I thank the cabinet secretary for that answer. Often, those situations are complicated and complex, and we need to make sure that appropriate support is in place for vulnerable and disadvantaged children. Scottish Conservatives support the establishment of family hubs to help to bring together health, education and social care services. I ask the cabinet secretary if she would agree to a pilot project in Scotland to see how that can be developed and rolled out across the country. We have substantial amounts of policy in education and health working together to help some of the most vulnerable in society. One of the aspects is the whole family wellbeing fund, which is being funded for the financial year and for the rest of the parliamentary term as we seek to establish full support for all families for a range of issues, not just surrounding exclusion. Miles Briggs asked me that question. I would be very happy to hear more about the scheme that he has in question. I have pointed out some of the plans that we have already in place, but I am more than happy to always hear about other parties' alternatives, should you wish to provide me with further details. The percentage of excluded pupils with additional support needs is sadly increasing, but the percentage of children who are identified with ASN needs in schools is rising astronomically. Given that we now have 600 fewer specialist teachers for children and young people with ASN qualifications since 2012, what is the Scottish Government doing to encourage not only more teachers into the profession, teachers to stay in the profession, but specifically those who want to specialise in ASN, which will keep those children in our mainstream education? All teachers provide teaching and support to those with additional support needs. I am sure that the member will be well aware of the bute house agreement that we have with the Scottish Greens, where we have agreed to work together to ensure that we are looking at the professional work that we can do to ensure that there are further teachers that are there to support additional support needs and their career progression. I will be happy for the member, of course, to provide any positive enforcement to those policies that we have with the Scottish Greens and to hear any more suggestions about how we can further improve on this issue. Thank you. To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on what plans it has to offer home fee status to Ukrainian refugees in Scotland or those displaced following the Russian invasion of Ukraine. On 3 April 14, I announced that it displaced Ukrainian nationals, setting in Scotland to have submitted an application, the homes for Ukraine, Ukraine family, the Ukraine extension schemes will be eligible for home fee status and living cost support from the 2022-23 academic year. Thank you. That news is most welcome. I ask the cabinet secretary to confirm whether that will include the considerable number of other nationals who have been displaced by the conflict in Ukraine. It will cover all the nationals that I have laid out. I have to say that I was not quite following the precise nature of the question there. I think that they are encompassed within my initial answer. If there is a cohort that the member wants to specifically write to me about, I will be happy to pick that up and come back to writing. To ask the minister what support the Scottish Government is providing to international students studying in Scotland who find themselves in financial hardship. Directly related to the conflict in Ukraine. On 14 April, we also announced a newly created £1 million international students emergency fund that will support Ukrainian nationals who are already studying here among the other international students who face financial hardship as a result of significant change in their circumstances. Will those students be able to apply for an immediate financial assistance through their college or university? To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking in response to the findings of the HM Inspector of Education review of foundation apprenticeship provision. Since their launch in 2016, over 11,000 pupils have taken up the opportunity of a foundation apprenticeship. Given the significant growth of foundation apprenticeships and to ensure the continued best outcomes for young people in 2020, the Scottish Government commissioned the Majesty's Dispects of Education to undertake a review of the delivery of FA programmes. We ignore the review findings and use them as the basis to drive improvement. We have established a stakeholder group that will support this engagement and set it further steps following this process. I am on record as an enthusiast for foundation apprenticeships, but the HMIE review must give us all calls for the concern. The review noticed real weaknesses in being able to access foundation apprenticeships across Scotland schools, about the promotion of them to young learners and about the confusion among schools and providers on how the frameworks operate. The review acknowledged that in many schools, withdrawal rates are very high, ranging from 50 per cent and 100 per cent of young people leaving their programme early. I recognise the issues caused by the pandemic, but the HM must acknowledge that there are serious alarm bells being run over this policy, many of which predate Covid. Foundation apprenticeships have the potential to make a real difference. What will the HM do to ensure that those opportunities are not scorned by the lack of support from Government? On that last point, there is no lack of support from the Government for foundation apprenticeships. I would make the point again that we have now had more than 11,000 young people undertake a foundation apprenticeship. Indeed, from cohort 1, when there were 346, starting on a foundation apprenticeship, we had 4,040 by cohort 5 as a result of the Scottish Government's support. I recognise that there are issues that are identified inherent in that report, such as the report that we commissioned, so that we could hear what the issues might be. We are committed to listening to those issues, learning from them and implementing a programme of improvement in line with our continued commitment to not only the concept of a foundation apprenticeship but the delivery of a foundation apprenticeship as a life-changing opportunity for our young people. We cannot just say that foundation apprenticeships are a good thing, we have to be clear on why they are a good thing. Minister, foundation apprenticeships can provide young people with a head start on a career by providing qualifications and experience something that employers are looking for. Can the minister commit to ensuring that foundation apprenticeships remain a vital and a central part of minister to our skills and training system? I can absolutely guarantee that. Again, to emphasise our support, we are committed to responding to the report to drive further improvement, but we are also committed to continuing foundation apprenticeship delivery for this coming year, for 2020-23, so we will continue to deliver, we will continue to learn and we will make sure that young people get that meaningful experience that can do precisely what Bob Doris is referring to, to get them readyer for the world of work. To ask the Scottish Government what its position is on whether the school curriculum should be free from party political bias. It is important that our pupils understand the democratic process in Scotland, the UK and further afield. Learning and teaching should be conducted in a non-partisan and non-party political basis. Individual schools develop their own curriculum at individual school level. Scottish ministers have no direct control or influence on individual schools' curricula. Scottish Government Agency Education Scotland tells school children that the Loch Ness monster can help them to form a view on the independence referendum. One education campaigner describes this as nationalist propaganda and an attempt to brainwash pupils into thinking of Scotland as a victim of a wicked conspiracy. Does the cabinet secretary agree that the SNP's exploitation of our beloved Nessie is wrong and commit to the removal of such embarrassing and ridiculous propaganda from the curriculum? The actual resource in question was developed by two primary school teachers in conjunction with Professor David Martin-Jones at the University of Glasgow. Professor Martin-Jones is a very well respected in his academic area and this material was based on his research. I would make very clear that this resource, which was not developed in-house by Education Scotland and certainly not by the Scottish Government, is part of a resource that is there for teachers. There is no fixed national curriculum in Scotland. We have no direct control or influence over the curriculum. I trust that our teacher to deliver that curriculum is a shame that Scottish Conservatives do not. Thank you, Presiding Officer. Teachers across Scotland do a fantastic job at educating our children about political literacy in an impartial and responsible manner. Will the cabinet secretary recommit to empowering our teachers through the curriculum for excellence, which the Tories want to tear up, to allow them to equip our young people with the knowledge, skills and understanding that they need to succeed in life? As I alluded to in my original answer, we absolutely remain fully committed to the empowerment of our school leaders, staff, parents and pupils, including on decision effect and learning and teaching. It is absolutely correct that we should empower our school leaders and our teachers that they know their children best. It is quite right that the Scottish Government and our agencies provide them with the support and resources to allow them to do that. Would the Scottish Government agree with me that the school curriculum should contain education on racism and colonialism, and that such reforms are not party political but sensible, reflective measures on our common history? The member raises an exceptionally important point. I hope that that is something that we absolutely agree on. There is a great deal of work on going on race equality education and a lot of work being done by the race equality and anti-racism and education programme, which I am sure the member is aware of. The Government is committed to looking at it very seriously, which we are committed to empowering our stakeholders to take very seriously and to take action on that. I look forward to the work that those stakeholders are taking forward as part of the reread programme, because, as I said at the start, it is a very important point that we need to tackle across this chamber. To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to the joint letter reportedly signed by 111 University of Edinburgh academics, expressing deep concern about the future of higher education in Scotland. I have received a copy of the letter that the member refers to. I have responded, as I have laid out in answer to other questions, to meet on a regular basis with university leaders and trade union leaders across recent months to discuss many of the matters raised in the letter. Although universities are autonomous bodies, central to our fair work approach is the expectation that employers, workers and trade unions should work together to reach the right decisions and ensure that workers are treated fairly. Richard Leonard. Can I thank the Minister for his reply? This letter, signed by over 100 academics, is damning. Let me quote it, staff morale is lower than ever, eroded by job insecurity, gendered and racial disparities in pay, unsustainable workloads. Meanwhile, university leaders fixate on driving through massive unjustified pension cuts. I raised the UCU Pay and Pension dispute with the Minister last month, who told Parliament then and let me quote him, meaningful dialogue should take place on the basis and according to the principles of our fair work approach. Does he have any shred of evidence that this is what's happened? What is he doing to resolve this long-running dispute in higher education, which, just this week, has been joined by a new dispute in further education? He is the Minister for Higher Education and Further Education. When is he going to act? I can assure the member that I am day-in-day out to try to make sure that those who work in our university and college environments have the best possible experience of the world of work. Indeed, our students have the best possible experience of higher education and further education. I am afraid to say, though, that there is no escaping, that there is no direct role for the Scottish Government in resolving these matters. Now, what I will do, what I am committed to doing, what I have laid out in previous answers to Mr Leonard and various answers today, is to continue to engage with all parties to ensure that they speak with one another in a culture of mutual respect to try and resolve those matters amicably. That is what I want to see, and I am sure that that is what Mr Leonard wants to see as well. Anybody who works in the college or university sector across Scotland will be dismayed at the standard of answer that is coming from the minister today to various questions about the situation that has faced by our colleges and universities across Scotland. The real tough conditions and worsening conditions that our staff are working under what does he have to say about the fact that research capture funding has declined but from a 10 per cent lead across the rest of the UK to parity now in the last eight years and that the funding that he has put forward, and he talked about the great funding package that he believes he has put forward for our university, that is an active role and a decision made by him and his Government colleagues. They have frozen the unit of resource for 13 years in a row. What can he do about that? I will go back to the point that I made earlier against the backdrop and what I did not mention earlier is that, for this financial year, the Scottish Fiscal Commission was very clear that we are operating against the backdrop of a 5.2 per cent cut in real terms to the Scottish Government's budget across the entirety of Scottish Government expenditure. We are maintaining over £1 billion worth of expenditure in our higher education sector. Again, I would have thought that that would be something that Michael Marra would welcome. Again, I make the point that there is no direct role for the Scottish Government in resolving this dispute in higher education. Universities are, I think, everyone agrees, should be autonomous from the Scottish Government. It is my responsibility to engage with all parties, to encourage them to resolve this matter. Presiding Officer, further on higher education would always welcome more resources, if I could put that on the record. Can I ask the Minister whether the Labour Party has, at any point, identified how much more resource it would give up where the money would come from, or is it just hollow, empty rhetoric in this chamber? I will leave others to conclude as to what the Labour Party's rhetoric is, but they have not come forward to me with any proactive or positive suggestions. Question 8. As previously billed, Jackson Carlaw will surprise nobody to hear his joining us remotely. After a moment of some consternation. To ask the Scottish Government to provide an update on its progress in increasing the number of permanent teaching roles available. The recruitment and deployment of teachers, including permanent teaching posts, are a matter for local authorities. We have provided £240 million of additional investment over two financial years and a further £145 million of permanent funding from April this year to support the employment of additional teachers and support staff. There are over 2,000 more teachers in Scotland schools than before the start of the pandemic in 2019. I thank the cabinet secretary for that answer, but according to the Scottish Government's most recent annual statistical publication for schools, there was an increase in the proportion of temporary teachers at the last count. There are thousands of temporary and supply teachers in Scotland and many would like nothing more than to guarantee that their job is permanent and secure. However, they are continuously let down by what appears to me to be a fairly ancient and utterly inflexible recruitment system. Several of my constituents are affected by this, they regularly contact me and the uncertainty and worry that causes them is really quite considerable. The annual battle just to keep their job is completely demoralising and sadly, and even more worryingly, I know that this is contributing to a number of teachers leaving the profession for good. Can the Scottish Government offer a plan that would fundamentally address this process, update it and, in so doing, secure the continued availability and commitment of many of those teachers and their futures? I thank Jackson Carlaw for that question. I have much sympathy for where he is coming from, but I would point out, as I did in my original answer, that the process that he is talking about is one for each local authority to determine. The role for the Scottish Government is around resourcing, which, as I mentioned, we have provided in baseline £145.5 million to ensure that local authorities have the resources there to turn the temporary staff posts into permanent. We were told that one of the issues that was stopping permanent contracts was the fact that some of the funding that it came through during Covid was in itself temporary and could not be relied on. We have listened and we have actioned to ensure that that has been baselined. I see no reason for there therefore to be the number of temporary contracts that we have. However, I would point out to Mr Carlaw, unless he is saying that the Scottish Government should take over the process, which is for local government at this point, then we have done what we can within the Scottish Government. I am, of course, happy to work with COSLA on this issue, but it is a matter for every individual local authority to look at the process involved. To ask the cabinet secretary for an update on the ratio of pupils to teachers in classrooms and how that will benefit pupil wellbeing and attainment. The current pupil teacher ratio is 13.2, the lowest since 2009. We now have more teachers than at any time since 2008. Having more teachers per pupil will undoubtedly help to support pupil wellbeing and attainment. That is one of the reasons why the Scottish Government has, of course, been very, very adamant that one of our top priorities for this parliamentary term is the recruitment of further teachers and further support staff. Thank you very much, cabinet secretary. That concludes portfolio questions. There will be a brief pause before we move to the next item of business, to allow front benches to change.