 I remind members that social distancing measures are in place in the chamber and across the Holyrood campus. Please observe those measures, including when entering and exiting the chamber, and please only use the aisles and walkways to access your seat when moving around the chamber. The first item of business is a statement by Shirley-Anne Somerville on national qualifications 2021. The cabinet secretary will take questions at the end of her statement, and so there should be no interventions or interruptions. I call on Shirley-Anne Somerville, cabinet secretary. I welcome the opportunity to provide an update on the awarding of qualifications this year. It is a privilege as well as a huge responsibility to have returned to the portfolio at such a critical time for Scottish education. The exceptional level of collaboration in supporting our learners, particularly during the pandemic, has been striking, and I am determined that such constructive engagement is maintained going forward. Ensuring that our young people are kept safe and are able to achieve fair and credible grades in spite of the most challenging of school years has been and remains this Government's absolute priority. I take very seriously the anxiety and concern voiced by some young people, parents and teachers about the approach being taken and the approach that I and key stakeholders across our system firmly believe to be the fairest possible for our young people in the challenging circumstances due to the pandemic. In response to the concerns that I have heard, my statement will restate some key principles about the model, provide detail on the support available to learners, set out how this year's appeals process will work to support learners, acknowledge work to safeguard opportunities for this year's learners to progress to further and higher education, and provide an update concerning the OECD review into the curriculum. The disruption generated by the Covid-19 pandemic caused by this year's national 5 higher and advanced higher exams to be cancelled. The national qualifications 2021 group was established on October 2020, with representatives of teachers, learners and parents working alongside local authorities, the SQA and Government, to ensure that the hard work of learners can be fairly acknowledged. The group agreed and co-produced the model for this year, using its insight and expertise. Education partners continue to support the approach. Let me be clear about the assessment process. At the heart of the model are the professional judgments of teachers and lecturers based on what learners have demonstrated they have attained. It is those judgments alone, based on learners' work, that this year will determine the grades that young people receive. Those grades will not be based on any historical data or the use of an algorithm, but based on what each individual learner has demonstrated they know, understanding and can do through the work that they have been assessed on in a school or college. That is the key difference this year compared to last. My key message to reassure learners is that your grades will be judged by your teachers based on your work. I am enormously grateful for the efforts of our teachers, lecturers and others in schools and colleges that are implementing the model to ensure fairness for all learners. To provide evidence of how the model is being implemented locally, HMI inspectors of education have published a review of local authority quality assurance processes today. The key findings from the review provide independent evidence of the model working well in practice. With local authority officers, headteachers, SQA co-ordinators and teachers have been collaborated to ensure that the efforts of young people are appropriately recognised. With local authorities having supported schools to implement the model to reflect their own local context whilst working within a national framework. Despite the best efforts, there are a very small number of learners who have completed courses but have over recent weeks experienced particularly significant disruption that has meant that they have been unable to complete their assessments. Contingency arrangements are in place for later certification for this group in the national qualifications 2021 group who are publishing details of that today. I fully appreciate that there are those who disagree with the model that is in place, but to those I say that teachers, learners and parents and carers have been listened to, and that model is the result of that. Awarding qualifications will always be challenging under those circumstances, but we believe that the model that we have is the fairest solution in the interests of young people. That is not just my conclusion but that of the national qualifications 2021 group 2. That is not to dismiss in any way the concerns and anxiety expressed by some learners and parents who are experiencing the implementation of the model first hand. As a result, I am today announcing a package of support measures for those learners. Many of those are available now and others will be added to in the coming weeks. To date, we have provided over £400 million additional funding to local authorities to support schools to cope with and recover from the effects of Covid. That includes further digital devices, additional staffing and wider support. We have continued to support schools and local authorities deliver their vital role in supporting children and young people's mental health and wellbeing. However, we recognise that young people may need further support and therefore a letter will be sent to the home address of every learner taking national qualifications to outline support available and to provide links to online resources and helpline numbers. Learners may well have questions regarding their progression beyond school, and for those continuing with education, the SQA, UCAS and college and university advice lines will be there to provide support. Those who are moving on to employment can draw support from Skills Development Scotland advisers. We are also working with Young Scot who, as experts in successfully communicating with learners, will be promoting the support available through their social media feeds and their website. Although every effort has been taken to ensure that the hard work of learners is fairly acknowledged in the first instance, with learners getting the right result first time, the appeals process is an important final stage to that certification process. The SQA is today publishing details of that process, and I can confirm that the approach will, for the first time, include a direct right of appeal for learners. I am sure that that will be welcomed by learners and their representatives. It is right in those exceptional times that there is a broad mechanism to appeal for those who consider that they have not received the right result and that that is free a point of use. To ensure fairness and credibility, the grounds for appeal are disagreement with the centre's quality-assured academic judgment, contested administrative or procedural error within the SQA or the centre, and appeals related to the Equality Act, including assessment arrangements. Education stakeholders have been clear that demonstrated attainment is a key principle in ensuring credibility and fairness of the qualifications, so appeals decisions will be evidence-based and symmetric, meaning that grades can move down, up or stay the same, depending on the review of the evidence. I recognise that some stakeholders are not supportive of this position and would seek an approach where grades cannot go down. While I am really sympathetic to the position of learners this year, a word must ultimately be based on the actual attainment of pupils. That means that the subject specialist looking at an appeal must be able to give their true judgment on a pupil's attainment, moving the grain in line with the evidence. In this way, the appeal system will be fair, consistent and credible. Without symmetry, there would not be a full and fair review of the evidence. That could be perceived as unfair to other learners and raised questions over the credibility of the qualifications this year. In adopting a symmetrical approach to appeals, judgments at appeal will be on an individual learner's work only and not on an algorithm or on a school's past performance. While the formal processing of appeals will not start until learners receive their results on 10 August, learners will be able to indicate their attention to appeal from late June when provisional results are submitted. Support will be in place for learners over this period. Our learners also need reassurance that having received their grades, those who wish to continue their learner journey should be able to do so. We understand that the changes to the SQA process last year and this year may impact students looking to undertake courses in Scotland's colleges and universities in the new academic year. We will, via the Scottish funding council, continue to provide additional support to our institutions to ensure that students are able to take up places that they would otherwise not have secured without additional places being made available. In 2020-21, the SFC provided universities with an additional 1,297 places for students, impacted by the SQA changes. In 2021-22, we will continue to fund those places while having made provision for further additional places, currently estimated to be around 2,500 for new students. Colleges have also been supported to deliver additional flexibility within their courses. The Covid-19 pandemic has presented unprecedented challenges for our education system. It has sparked debate about the future of assessment and qualifications, the best way to recognise learners' achievements and to equip them with the skills that are required to succeed in whatever path they might choose. Members will be aware that we extended the remit of the OECD's review to analyse Scotland's approach to assessment and qualifications and develop options to enhance our approach. That work is on-going and will be published by the OECD in early autumn. Before then, however, I can confirm today that the OECD will publish its main report on the review of curriculum for excellence on 21 June, and I look forward to discussing its findings with Parliament before summer recess. I relish the prospect of exploring a wide range of reform opportunities that will further improve Scottish education, but my immediate focus remains on ensuring that we do right by all learners taking national qualifications this year. I can reassure the chamber that everything is being done to ensure that the hard work of learners is recognised fairly at a time that will naturally be an anxious and stressful one for many learners and for their families. I ask members to acknowledge the merits of the approach that is being taken and to play their part in reassuring and supporting learners during these challenging times. Thank you. The cabinet secretary will now take questions on the issues raised in her statement. I intend to allow around 20 minutes for questions after which we will move on to the next item of business. It would be appreciated if members who wish to ask a question were to press their request to speak buttons now. I call Oliver Mundell. I thank the cabinet secretary for advance sight of her statement. Last year's exam chaos was unacceptable, but the failure to learn lessons is unforgivable. For us to be in a worse position than this time last year is a betrayal of our young people. We have seen inconsistent approaches from school to school. Never mind local authority to local authority. Confusion over what counts as evidence of attainment. Pupils being told that exams were cancelled, then facing exams in all but name. But worst of all, today we have had confirmation that SQA assessment papers are widely available online on an industrial scale. On what planet is this fair or robust? How on earth does the cabinet secretary explain the astonishing naivety and incompetence of the SQA? As I said in my statement, I appreciate that there will be different grounds where people will like or dislike parts of this statement. However, it is unfair, not on me or the Government, because I do not expect that that is Oliver Mundell's problem. However, on the other stakeholders who have worked in the national qualifications 21 group to say that that is a failure, I quote from the EIS who said recently that the alternative certification model gives the best opportunity to demonstrate what individuals have learned. The general secretary of the school leaders, Scotland, Jim Thullis, who noted earlier in May that the system that replaced the exams was never going to be perfect, but all the way along no one has come up with a better way of doing it than the alternative certification model. I appreciate that people may not like the system that is in place. However, as the national qualifications 21 group has looked at very seriously, that is the best option and the fairest option for our young people. That is not a system that the Government has come up with, but it is something that we are very hard with with stakeholders and with others. There are aspects that are causing concern out there, and I realise that there have been discussions previously in the chamber around some materials being available online. I point to the fact that teachers and lecturers have flexibility to decide how and when to use materials. There is not one exam paper that is very different to our usual year. The SQA has provided a wealth of materials that teachers can choose or not to use. Of course, the incidents of shared material are taken very seriously, but that is very different to a normal year, where there is one exam question that might have been taken on board. I call Michael Marra to be followed by Ross Greer. Thank you, Presiding Officer, and thank you, Minister, for citing the statement in the last hour. Just minutes ago, I was contacted by an angry mother. Hers was the latest of very many. Her daughters in the midst of 28 exams over 35 days, her friends have even more, and many of those exams are scheduled on the same day. That has been typical. Following last year's SQA scandal, the Government was instructed in September nine months ago that young people must have the opportunity of appeal. On six different occasions, the SQA promised the publication of a robust appeals process. The SQA has missed its own deadlines time and again to publish the process and to give teachers, families and young people the clarity and certainty that they deserve. The publication of the process that we have not yet seen is now well over a month late, and there is just now over 20 days until teachers must submit the grades of their pupils. Many young people have already completed the assessments. The statement today confirms that those are high-stake examinations. Exam papers have been shared, exams have been retaken over time again to improve grades, and through all those, teachers are struggling on to do the best to their pupils. However, there is no real process in the statement, given the acute public interest and I do not see why we have not had it provided. However, we do agree that there should be an appeals process that has to be in the hands of the pupil. If it can, the alternative is schools appealing against their own judgment. What support will be put in place to ensure that young people can access their right of appeal? What evidence will be required for a young person to lodge an appeal, particularly given that the process for many has already passed and has such the opportunity to collate their own evidence? Please remember that many of the most disadvantaged pupils are those who may wish to avail themselves of it. How will young people know that their assessment process has been disadvantaged given that the assessment process is so wildly varied in 1,000 different ways across hundreds of schools? There is variability across hundreds and thousands of schools. If we did not have variability, we would have central dictation from central Government. If we did, Michael Marra would rightly point out that that is not the way to run an education system. We have variability to ensure that schools can best put in place what is right for them, and most particularly for their pupils. It is very important that schools are supported in that process to ensure that there are national standards and national guidelines. I spoke about the work that we have done at HMIE and published today to reassure around the standards that are there and to ensure that variability is there to support flexibility but within national standards. I have to absolutely strongly disagree with Michael Marra. There is nothing that is coming from the Scottish Government or the SQA that requires high-stake examinations. That is not how the system has been designed by the group that has been in charge and responsible for co-producing that with the Scottish Government. There may be more assessments than an individual would have set exams, but that is because teachers and schools are breaking those down into smaller assessments to ensure that people are supported during that process. He talks about the support that is available. I mentioned in my statement about the letter that we will be going out to learners, which is an integral part of the support that we will be doing, but there is only one part of that. I also mentioned for the grounds of appeal that that will be available and there will be further details coming from that from the SQA today, and the evidence will be that that has already been collected for the exams. Ross Greer to be followed by Beatrice Wishart. I thank the cabinet secretary for advance sight of her statement. The lack of a no detriment approach to appeals means that young people and their teachers will be taking a perverse gamble this year. Schools will submit the strongest evidence they have in support of the initial grade. Why would they have stronger evidence suitable for an appeal, but which they chose not to submit in the first place? It seems that the risk of downgrading is increased by an appeals process reliant just as much on demonstrated rather than inferred attainment and based on evidence likely to be weaker than that originally submitted. I noticed that the cabinet secretary mentioned the national qualifications group signed off on the certification model itself. Can she confirm if the whole national qualifications group has signed off and endorsed this appeals process? Can she also confirm whether or not young people will be given the same opportunity to ask questions directly of the SQA that teachers and parents already have? Can she clarify why it appears exceptional in individual circumstances such as immediate family bereavement due to Covid will not be considered grounds for appeal? I will try to get through as much as I can. I mentioned the symmetrical approach in my statement and we do believe and I believe that that is the fairest way forward. That ensures that learners will receive grades as consistently as possible in the circumstances with the evidence of learners' attainment being judged against national standards. It is very important that it is based on demonstrated attainment. I appreciate that some people are concerned around the risk of downgrading. I point out how exceptionally rare downgrading is. In 2017, eight people were downgraded from 13,998 appeals in 2018. It was seven people from 13,063. In 2019, it was one person from 11,138. Of course, it is an exceptionally rare process but, even if it is considered rare, we will ensure that that downgrading decision is also further reviewed in the SQA to ensure that that is the right decision for that learner. It is taken very seriously but I can assure people that it is done very rarely. One constituent told me that this model is the worst that could ever possibly have happened. Stress, uncertainty, assessment after assessment with no study leave. People have told me that they have 16 assessments this week and it is a nightmare for teachers too. Liberal Democrats have called for the reform of the SQA for years. There are no excuses left. Last week, I asked about fast access to mental health support. The cabinet secretary says that this is a naturally stressful time but does she accept that the mismanagement of this year's exam has increased stress levels? Will people see extra support to help with that extra anxiety? I absolutely take on board the response that Beatrice Richards has had from a constituent. I can assure her that I have had those thoughts fed back to me directly from some young people, parents and teachers as well. What I also have to take on board is the work that has been done by the NQ21 group that remains supportive of the model that is being developed. That includes education stakeholders such as the EIS and ADES, and they believe that that is the right and the fairest mechanism that is out there. I appreciate in this portfolio that there is not one ready answer that will be agreeable to all stakeholders, but I can assure Beatrice Richards and others that I have listened carefully to those who have concerns about it. I have listened carefully to all stakeholders and I still believe, as the NQ21 group does, that this is the fairest option that is out there, that we can reassure young people that they will get the grades based on demonstrated attainment in a fair and incredible way. I am keen to get all who have pressed in, but I would be very appreciative if we could have shorter questions and responses. I call Clare Adamson to be followed by Pam Gossel. In paying tribute to the work of our schools, our teachers and our pupils at this difficult time, I am concerned by the volume of my mailbox as anxiety is high among parents and carers over the on-going assessments. How can the Scottish Government ensure equity and quality control across different assessment models? I thank Clare Adamson for the question and I follow on from what I said to Beatrice Wishart. I am very, very determined to ensure that the system is fair and credible. I believe, as the NQ21 group does, that every qualification should be based on evidence, on demonstrable evidence in order to be fair and credible. The ACM model that we have allows schools and colleges to have a wide discretion about the types of assessments that can be undertaken to ensure that that is fit for purpose for their learners. For example, looking at the range, the timing and the duration of the types of tasks that are available. With that in place, we can reassure that there is equity and that there is absolutely a quality control due to the national standards that underpin all that to ensure that young people will get the grades that they are entitled to at the end of the process. To ask the cabinet secretary whether the new appeals process gives universities and colleges the time to prepare for additional students. It is all very well creating additional spaces that she referred to in her statement. However, this process takes time. Speaking to university directly this week, they have raised concerns over the timeframe of reopening. What reassurance can the cabinet secretary provide to the universities and colleges across Scotland that the Scottish Government will work with them to provide a route map for reopening safely? I assure Pam Goswell that we are working very closely with colleges and universities to ensure that there is contact about the process that we are in at the moment and how it will impact on them. I thank universities Scotland for the work that they are doing and for the universities that they will do to provide reassurance to their potential students about the support that is available as they go through the process. In regard to reopening, we were working very carefully with the sector to ensure that universities can reopen safely for students and staff bearing in mind the public health limitations that we are under, but we are determined to work with them to do exactly that. I thank the cabinet secretary for what she has said about supporting the mental health needs of students that she will acknowledge will be a difficult time. What structures will that support be provided through? Will the expectation be that support around mental health needs is provided through schools or will the SQA take on part of that role? That is a very important point that I have looked at carefully. It is very important that we support our young people in the process and that they know how to access that. Much of that will be through the school, for example through mental health councillors that are available in secondary schools. That is something that the Scottish Government has supported in the past. There is also a great deal of work that is going on to ensure that we provide further support for staff to support their students and there will be new online learning resources published in June. We are also working with our partners in the mental health and schools working group to develop new resources that will provide support for school staff, parents and learners. There are a number of provisions that are already in place in schools, but there is also new material that we are providing to support pupils in turn for their provisional grades being announced at the end of June. Martin Woodfield, to be followed by Stuart McMillan. I am grateful, Presiding Officer. I thank the cabinet secretary for her statement. The SQA has now put up on to their website their appeals process for 2020 to 2021 and it runs to two lines and it lacks detail about the evidence that children will need. That seems to be a process that is going to pit children against the teacher who did the initial assessment, the school and the local authority. Does the cabinet secretary agree with her predecessor who on 24 March said that the appeals process would satisfy the requirements of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child? Does she agree with the Scottish Youth Parliament and the Children and Young People's Commissioner for Scotland who has said that the alternative certification model does not comply with children's human rights? Cabinet secretary, I do believe that the appeals process does comply with the UNCRC and that is in particular around the direct right of appeal. I think that to try and portray as pitching pupil against school is exceptionally unfair and also I think provides a kind of lack of understanding about why this is exactly how you provide the rights for the child or in this case the young person by giving them a direct right of appeal. Of course a pupil should have that ability to have that direct right of appeal themselves. They will be able to do that in the circumstances which they choose based on the grounds of appeal that the SQA has set out. The first port of course should of course be a discussion with their teacher and with their school around the grades that they have and the reasons behind that, but absolutely they should be supported to take forward an appeal through the grounds that the SQA has determined. Stuart McMillan, to be followed by Megan Gallagher. Thank you very much. The pandemic has thrown a spotlight on the fundamental role of exams and whether the way in which Scotland has historically certified attainment is right for the future. The Scottish Government has said that it will look at this and the cabinet secretary tell me how that work will be taken forward. As I mentioned during my statement, we have two pieces of work that are being undertaken by the OECD and the OECD were specifically asked to expand their work to have that deeper focus on assessment and qualification approaches in the senior phases curriculum that has of course been informed not just by what happens here but international good practice. That will be an integral part of the work that we will look at and ensure that others will look at to determine a way forward for this. I am absolutely sure that we need to learn the lessons of what has worked well, but also to take this opportunity that we have in a post Covid world to ensure that our system is fit for purpose for the time that we are living in. I think that both OECD reports are an important opportunity that I certainly do not want to lose sight of to allow reform if that is what the evidence suggests might be required. There might not be one single solution to that, but I look forward to taking part in that process with members here and with stakeholders about what that future might look like. The cabinet secretary has claimed that teachers are able to exercise their professional judgment in producing estimated grades for pupils. That contradicts the SQA website that states, Our key message to learners is that your grades will be judged by your teachers based on your assessment evidence. Who has provided the right advice, cabinet secretary, you or the SQA? We are in danger of splitting hairs and therefore misinterpreting what I am saying and what the SQA is saying with the best will in the world. There is professional judgment within the process. The professional judgment is a essential feature of the assessment process. For example, in contrast to an examination diet where teachers are not able to have professional judgment in place, this time teachers have a direct control about the assessment process and the associated outcomes for this year. Of course, there are national standards, as I have mentioned in the past, to ensure a fair and consistent application for it. Teachers have an important role to play in this year that they would not do in a normal year. Can the cabinet secretary confirm that the SQA is aware that there was criticism of communication to pupils, parents and teachers last year and that decisions taken this year must be communicated with enough time for implementation by schools? It is absolutely important that the SQA or any other agency part of government looks at the lessons that they need to learn about how well we communicate and ensure that we are communicating in the right way to the right people and at the right time. That is certainly something that I am determined to do and I am sure that the SQA is determined to do likewise. I mentioned the letter that will be going out to all learners, which will be very important, but also the other work that will be done with key stakeholders to ensure that they are getting the message that they might want to get across in terms of the support that is out there and the work that can be done with pupils, parents and teachers to ensure that they know what is happening, they know why it is happening, they know when it is happening and they also know the support that is available out there during that process. Can the cabinet secretary give an indication of when the appeals process will be completed as the impact that this will have on applications for further and higher education? Student places are dependent on the qualifications and can they be confident that they will get results in time? Absolutely, they can. We will ensure that the results are undertaken on a priority basis, so those who are waiting for a result for a place, for example at a college and university, will be given a priority in that. During that, when people are making the appeal, they will have the opportunity to say that that is indeed the case. We know, therefore, the SQA will know that that is an important part. Obviously, learners will know their provisional results at the end of June and the conversations can start then with schools about why they have received that grade and the reasoning behind that. As I say, support is available during that, but absolutely the final grades will be received and determined in time as will appeals. Thank you, Presiding Officer. My question is also about appeals. Pupils and parents will want to know who is in charge of considering their appeals. Can the cabinet secretary confirm that the people who are undertaking the appeals are experienced teachers with classroom experience and a clear understanding of the particular environment and circumstances in which the pupils' assessments were taken? I absolutely appreciate that last year there was a great deal of concern, understandably, that decisions were taken based on algorithms or taking place on past school performance. This year, I can assure Gillian Martin that those who will be undertaking the appeals process are SQA appointees, subject-specific teachers, who know that subject will be able to work through the assessment using their professional judgment and come to a view on the appeal on that basis. I can absolutely give her that reassurance, and I hope that she reassures young people that the appeals will be based on the understanding and the professional judgment of teachers. That concludes the ministerial statement. I will allow a moment for people to move. While people are moving, can I remind members that social distancing measures are in place in the chamber and across the campus? I ask that members take care to