 Rwy'n ailfodd i'r cyfrifagurau cyffordd a'r llwydd gynnig o'r dyfodd o bobl yn yr finestr a'i fyllfa ei ddweudio ar gweithio'r hwn contain yr ond, yn cychydag argyn魚fau ar y bryd agorod hoddiol. The next item of business is portfolio questions. This afternoon's portfolio is education and skills. As ever, if a member wishes to ask a supplementary question, they should place their request to speak buttons or place an arm in the chat function during the relevant questions. Again, as ever, I appreciate synced questions and succinct answers to allow us to get through all of the questions. I call question number one, Bill Kidd. To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking to support expanded recruitment of teaching assistants. Since the start of the pandemic, we have provided £240 million of additional investment specifically for the recruitment of more education staff, including classroom assistants. In addition to this funding, we are providing local authorities with permanent funding of £145.5 million per year to support the recruitment of extra teachers and support staff on permanent contracts. We have also invested an additional £45 million since 2019-20 for pupil support assistants for additional support for learning. We will continue to provide extra support to local authorities by investing an additional £60 million over the next four years to support this. Over the course of the pandemic, many pupils from lower income backgrounds, especially in areas of high multiple deprivation, were disproportionately impacted by the requirement to learn at home, and reasons for the greater impact range from cramped environments for studying to having less studying resources available to them at home. What resources are the Scottish Government providing to local councils to allow them to provide more teachers and teaching assistants, and how that will benefit pupils living in areas of multiple deprivation? I mentioned in my original answer the £240 million provided since the start of the pandemic, and that has obviously allowed local authorities to recruit additional teachers and school support staff and maintain them in the system. There are now, for example, more than 2,000 more teachers in Scotland's schools than before the start of the pandemic in 2019. As I am sure that Mr Kidd is well aware of that, of course, the Government is elected in the manifesto committed to supporting the recruitment of 3,500 additional teachers and 500 support staff over this parliamentary term. That will encounter a significant injection of resources that will bring much-needed resilience into the system. Can the cabinet secretary explain why her Government has cut the total marketing spend on teacher recruitment? In an FOI, it is revealed from her own Government that, between 2017-18 and 2020-21, there was a cut of £163,000 in funding. Shouldn't the Government use every tool possible to recruit those teachers? We absolutely should have every tool available and being used most effectively every year. We analysed not just the marketing material that has gone out, but our ability to use different channels for that. Obviously, the importance of social and digital communication is exceptionally important. That, of course, remains a main part of the campaign, as we continue to provide for marketing, for recruitment of new teachers. To ask the Scottish Government when it last met with the teaching unions. The Scottish Government meets frequently with the teaching unions to the offices of the Scottish National Negotiating Committee for Teachers and also has regular meetings with the teaching unions to discuss a range of issues relating to education, including through the Covid-19 education recovery group CERC and the Scottish Education Council. I also meet by annually with the teaching unions to discuss a range of topics. I am very grateful to the cabinet secretary for that reply. Last October, the EIS estimated that, as many as one in 10 teachers in Scotland were on short-term contracts, the teaching profession is absolutely vital to this country and our recovery in terms of Covid, and this is no way to be treating it. Cabinet secretary has been asked several times exactly how many teachers are on those short-term contracts or what her Government intends to do about it. She has been unable to tell us. Is she any wiser the day? Of course there are figures that are published on the number of teachers on permanent and on temporary contracts. I have mentioned in my answers to Bill Keddon for the sake of time. I will not go into the details again of our commitments to ensure that we are providing resources to local authorities to ensure that teachers are being recruited on permanent contracts. That is exactly why we have baselined that £145.5 million to ensure that we see more permanent teachers, more support staff in our schools. The Government has taken action and will continue to take action to ensure that teachers are recruited and encouraged on permanent contracts, but it would also make the point that recruitment and retention is a matter for local authorities. To ask the Scottish Government how university students are being supported in their learning and degree progress in light of on-going strike action. We absolutely take this issue exceptionally seriously. I understand the Minister for Higher Education, Further Education, Youth and Employment and Training set out in the letter to the member that universities are, of course, autonomous institutions are for staff paying conditions and matters for universities to determine themselves. Although ministers, of course, have no locus to intervene in such issues, I would expect universities to make every effort to ministerise disruption for students, particularly in yet again another difficult year for our university and college students. The EIS has joined parents to oppose the creation of one super head teacher to cover nine schools in Largo and the East Newke of Fife. In response to parent outrage, the council has delayed the decision, but it has not ruled it out. From her position of leading education across the country, what advice does the education secretary give to Fife council about this proposal for a super head teacher? Well, of course, as Willie Rennie and his party are very keen to encourage government to ensure that we do not step on the toes of local authorities, I would say that local authorities have the recruitment and retention issues to do with all teachers, including head teachers, but I recognise that there has been major concern in the area about this issue. I recognise the sense of feeling from parents on this. Of course, with all issues, whether it is local government or national government, we would expect all elected members to respond very carefully when there are concerns out there. Of course, the decision is that for Fife council, but I am sure that they have heard very clearly, as have I, the concern from parents in that area. If they are to meet the changes in the area, they must absolutely ensure that they justify that and take parents with them on that journey. I would like to ask the Scottish Government how curriculum for excellence meets the needs of colleges and industries in providing appropriate learning to young people to allow them to progress to the next stage of their training. Minister Jamie Hepburn, curriculum for excellence helps our children and young people gain the knowledge, skills and attributes needed for life in the 21st century. It enables strong school, college and school employer partnerships and it stimulates an expansion of occasional opportunities that ensure that our learners are prepared to progress to the next stage of their journey, whether it be for their learning training or employment. The learner destinations that are published this week, so that the proportion of 2021 school leavers in a positive initial destination was 95.5 per cent up from both 2018-19 and 2019-20 figures. We are committed to continuing improvement and response to the OECD review of curriculum for excellence published last summer. We will help to ensure that. I recently visited Perth college at the University of Helens, Ireland and was actually blown away by the range of services and courses that it offers to students and the wider community. However, one of the issues that was raised with me was the apparent lack of parity of esteem between vocational pathways and academic pathways. Can the minister say what the Government can do to strengthen the links between colleges and schools so that the vocational opportunities are given the same level of support as the academic ones? I was pleased to visit Perth college myself last year. I was equally impressed. The issues that Mr Fairlie has raised are the ones that I am conscious of in relation to the issue of parity of esteem. I personally think that we are in a better place than we were previously through the range of developing young workforce activity that we have had in place. There has been, to the evidence, a year-on-year increase in the number of school leavers attaining vocational qualifications at SCQF level 5 and above since 2014. There were 7.3 per cent of students achieving that in 2013-14 and by 2021 there were 26.1 per cent of school leavers achieving that. That is only on the basis of very strong and effective school college partnerships. Of course, there is more to do and our developing young workforce activity will continue to take forward that, Johnathan, ensuring greater parity of esteem. A key consideration that is set out by the curriculum for excellence is maximising opportunities for learning and creating clear links to future skills opportunities. The Audit Scotland report has highlighted how little progress has been made on the skills alignment due to the lack of leadership and oversight by the Scottish Government. Does the cabinet secretary agree that the lack of progress of skills alignment is major obstacle to maximising opportunities for learning? I have literally just read out the figures in terms of the significant progress that we have made in terms of vocational qualifications at the school level. I take the leadership role that I have and the Scottish Government has in relation to the alignment journey very seriously. That is why I engage regularly with both the Scottish funding council and the Skills Development Scotland to make sure that this is a concerted focus of activity. We continue to take forward that programme through a range of means just recently. We have set up a shared outcomes assurance group within Government that will involve both organisations, operate into a framework of the details that will be available soon. Just as the Auditor General has suggested, we will be reflecting some of the findings in his report on the new letters of governance to the agencies, once again emphasising the importance of skills alignment. To ask the Scottish Government what action is being taken in schools to promote the mental and emotional wellbeing of children and young people. We continue to prioritise support for mental health and wellbeing in schools. The mental health and school working group recently developed a whole-school approach framework to assist in supporting children and young people's mental health in schools. That complements earlier work to provide a professional learning resource for school staff to support the wellbeing of children and young people. We also continue to support our local authority partners with £16 million in funding to ensure that every secondary school has access to counselling services. During the pandemic, there has been an increase in the use of social media platforms as our young people tried to stay connected with one another. Unfortunately, there are reports that this has meant an increase in the levels of cyberbullying, something that has been raised over the past few weeks and months by a number of my constituents. The cabinet secretary will be aware that I have raised this issue in the chamber before some very harrowing cases. Can I therefore ask what action can be taken by the Scottish Government to combat cyberbullying specifically and the impact that this has on young people's mental health? Fulton MacGregor raises a very important point. I recognise the level of work that he has been doing on this issue for some time. Of course, online bullying shouldn't be treated differently from face-to-face bullying and is addressed effectively when part of our whole anti-bullying approach is not a separate area of work. All policies that the Scottish Government has include advice on online bullying. There are specific experiences and outcomes in Benchmark in the technologies area of curriculum for excellence that allow an explicit reference to cyber resilience and internet safety, allowing schools to incorporate learning around those issues. Of course, the Scottish Government continues to fund respect me, whose website contains information and practical advice for children and young people, and very important parents and carers on dealing with online bullying. To ask the Scottish Government what the reasons are for its decision not to publish the draft of the OECD report, Curriculum for Excellence, into the future that it received in January 2021. The OECD report, Curriculum for Excellence, into the future is an independent review, carried out by an independent and internationally respected body. The timing of its publication was determined by the OECD. The report, which was published in Fulton on 21 June 2021, backed Curriculum for Excellence, and the Scottish Government has accepted its 12 recommendations as part of our commitment to continuous improvement. The Scottish Government has not released the draft report, as it is deemed to be subject to an FOI exemption. The Scottish Government applied the exemption regarding confidential information obtained from another international organisation in good faith. We consider that to be an entirely valid approach, though the OECD's code of conduct, which it applies to all publications around the world, prohibits the sharing of confidential material, and the draft report was clearly marked confidential. Oliver Mundell, That is the stuff of fantasy. Has the cabinet secretary asked the OECD if they would object to the release of the draft and, more importantly, the Scottish Government's response to it, which is, I understand it, the property of the Scottish Government? I refer Mr Mundell back very importantly to my original answer on that. The OECD's code of conduct applies to all publications that we have. I am afraid that Mr Mundell is not interested in the answer, Presiding Officer, but I will carry on for the sake of the rest of the chamber who is. The OECD is an internationally renowned organisation and has, of course, an expert opinion and a trusted opinion that it has given to the Scottish Government. Fact-checking ensures that reports and recommendations reflect the best-negreed understanding. The UK Government also takes the same approach, as has been seen with many reviews and reports in the past. Of course, we will continue to take our freedom of information requirements exceptionally seriously. We did so in this case. I do believe that the FOI exemption that I have talked about in relation to international organisations has been the correct decision, and we applied the exemption at that point. Would the cabinet secretary agree that grandstanding on important educational issues has no place in this Parliament? Will she join me in thanking the OECD for its work to independently review the curriculum for excellence? Does the cabinet secretary agree that being open to external challenges is crucial to ensuring that our education system remains world-class? I am very happy to repeat my thanks to the OECD for the work that it has done in the most recent report but also in the past. It is very important that, as a country, we open ourselves up to scrutiny and, very importantly, from internationally renowned, respected organisations such as the OECD in particular. It is an imperative on any Government, as part of its continuous improvement drive, to invite the OECD in to take out that work and, importantly, to act on its recommendations, which we are continuing to do. That was not fact-checking. The Government wanted a major rewrite. That is why it was not published before the election, because John Swinney did not like its contents. Communications to the OECD from the Government are owned by the Government, so the education secretary is perfectly entitled to publish without anyone else's permission, so she cannot hide behind the OECD. Will she just get on and publish it? I am afraid that, rather than discrediting the Government with that question, what Mr Rennie does is discredit the OECD, because, as I have said in my answers, it is an internationally renowned organisation. Its work in an educational setting is seen to be expert and trusted. Absolutely the OECD were fully entitled to present its report to the Government to have it fact-checked, but the idea that the Scottish Government can manipulate an internationally renowned organisation such as the OECD to change its recommendations, I am afraid, is fantasy from Mr Rennie. I think that it does an absolute discredit to the OECD and the very commendable work that they have done. To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on the development of the Scottish education exchange programme. The development of a Scottish education exchange programme is a programme for government commitment and will help to maintain Scotland's place as an outward-looking, internationally connected destination for work and study. We are engaging with stakeholders from across the education spectrum, including higher and further education, community learning and development, youth work and adult education, schools and sports, and we are developing the programme, ensuring that it is fit for Scotland. The stand is a charitable organisation based in Kirkntillic, in my constituency, who regularly took disadvantaged young people on trips abroad under the Erasmus scheme, so sadly lost due to the UK Government taking us out of Europe. Does the minister agree that our own exchange programme should, if possible, include young people from all backgrounds who will benefit enormously from such life-enhancing trips? Well, if I recall correctly, I met and was very pleased to meet with the stand along with Rona Mackayn Amy Callaghan MP and very grateful to them as an organisation for work. They undertake. I agree with the premise of the question. I believe that the precedent scheme that we take forward should be as encompassing as possible. It should, in fact, have a particular slant as supporting those from our most disadvantaged backgrounds to ensure that they have access to life-changing opportunities. One of my great regrets is that the Turing scheme has gone in exactly the opposite direction, so Rona Mackayn and other members have my commitment that, when we are designing our scheme, it will not follow suit with Turing. To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on its plans for a flexible skills in the education system that can help to meet net zero targets, as referred to in its programme for government 2021-22. The Scottish Government has already taken significant action to equip individuals with the skills and training to meet the needs of a net zero economy. That includes the publication of the climate emergency skills action plan in December 2020, the launch of a green jobs workforce academy in August 2021 and a suite of green skills training projects delivered to the national transition training fund over the past two years. We are also implementing our learning for sustainability action plan and continue to engage with young climate activists through the Teach the Future campaign. Dean Lockhart. The number of green jobs in Scotland is declining. According to figures released by the ONS last week, the number of jobs in the low-carbon and renewable energy economy fell from almost 22,000 in 2019 to just over 20,000 last year. The minister refers to the green jobs academy, but in giving evidence to the net zero committee, the STUC highlighted that this is merely a website listing jobs. Can the minister confirm whether the green jobs academy is actually an academy with teachers providing training and other assets that you would normally associate with an academy, or is it merely a website? It is certainly more than merely a website. What it does is ensure that we are harnessing the capacity of the system that we have in place through the range of initiatives and measures that I have laid out to be responsive to the great challenge that we have around the climate skills emergency. I am pleased to say that, as of 17 February, nearly 5,000 users have access to resources available via the Green Jobs Workforce Academy. We will, six months from launch, the STS will undertake a detailed impact assessment of the academy throughout the information and the profile of users and sectors that have utilised it. That will help to inform the development of the next phase of the academy, which I am sure Mr Lockhart will take great interest in. To ask the Scottish Government what its responses to the reported comments of Glasgow City Council's new Executive Director of Education regarding reinstating the Scottish Survey of Literacy and Numeracy. We remain committed to teacher professional judgement as the means of assessing progress in the broad general education through the annual achievement of curriculum for excellence levels data. National standardised assessments will continue to have a role to play in supporting those. As we set out in our response to the OECD report last year, we will also explore options for a sample-based survey that approaches assessing progress against the four CFE capacities. Why is it so difficult for the cabinet secretary to reinstate this well-regarded survey? Any Government serious about restoring educational standards would recognise that collecting and tracking the right kind of data is essential to an evidence-based approach to education. Does the cabinet secretary accept that many parents and teachers will simply draw the conclusion that this SNP Government would rather hide their own failings than make things better for our young people? I have to say with the greatest respect to Dr Gilhaneam. I am afraid that he is wrong on this issue. The reason that there have been changes is because a national survey provides us with greater information to ensure that we know what is happening within schools and within local authorities. The SNLA, I am afraid, once again— Mr Mundell, you have, on numerous occasions now, been shouting from a sedentary position. I have allowed you to get away with it to date, but that is enough, please. Treat the answers with as much respect as they treat the questions. As I was saying, the SNLA did not provide data about performance at school or local authority level. When the data showed a decline in literacy numeracy between 2014 and 2015, it was decided as part of the NIF work to move to a census-based approach to allow us to monitor progress in literacy numeracy to provide support where it was required at school in a local authority level. That simply was not possible when there was a survey such as the SNLA. I would also point out that, in the OECD report that is getting quite a few mentions today, the OECD report in 2015 also said that the example approach of the SNLN did not give national agencies enough evidence. Cabinet Secretary, that concludes portfolio questions. It is time to move on to the next item of business, and I will pause briefly to allow from benches to change.