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There do not require to be any changes to the budget to ensure that exams will take place. The SQA’s central planning assumption is that they will take place and it is moving that planning forward. The budget for the SQA is set out on that basis.

If you let me answer the question, Mr Mundell, you will hear what I am about to say. The only reason why exams would not take place would be that there was public health guidance on the prevention of gatherings. Clearly, if there was such guidance, it would be irresponsible for the Government to say that exams should take place. The SQA is continuing to work to ensure that exams can take place safely.

Within the wider educational settlement, a great deal of work is continuing around what support can be given while learning is disrupted, so that there is a wider pool of material in relation to the e-learning offer, increasing study support sessions and so on. A great deal of work is continuing, albeit not within the budget that we are discussing. Clearly, we need to be delivering that work now, and increased support has gone into the e-learning in the current calendar year.

We are also working closely with local government colleagues on what they are putting in place for Easter revision and on whether further support can be given in relation to that. The reason why I have not made an announcement on that to date is that we need to know what local authorities will be doing in order to ensure that what we do is in addition to what is already happening. However, a great deal of work is being done to ensure that young people are being supported while their learning is disrupted at this time.

We increased the funding for the Scottish attainment challenge from £750 million in the previous parliamentary session to £1 billion.

This financial year’s budget included a £20 million Covid premium. Given that no Covid consequentials have come to the Scottish Government this year, it has been exceptionally difficult to make further progress or to provide specific Covid premiums.

In my opening remarks, I pointed to the fact that we have seen the biggest investment in teacher recruitment for many years, in recognition of the challenges that education was facing and was about to face. That is why we have made the massive investment that we have made in teacher recruitment. We knew that this was going to be a challenging time.

The key strength of providing specific funding for specific purposes is that that ensures that all the money that is provided for a certain purpose goes to that purpose. I point to the example of the expansion to 1,140 hours of early learning and childcare. Such projects have very much been a shared priority of the Scottish Government and local government. Such funding has allowed the Scottish Government to move forward with the commitment to provide that early learning and childcare via local authorities.

I appreciate that ring fencing funding reduces local authority discretion in some areas, but it is worth noting that, although ring-fenced funding is for increased investment in services such as schools and nurseries, 93 per cent of the funding that we will provide is not formally ring fenced. We recognise that local authorities have called for less ring-fenced funding, and the Cabinet Secretary for Finance and the Economy has committed to reviewing all ring-fenced funding as part of the resource spending review. We will continue our constructive engagement with local government on education areas that are ring fenced.

There is no specific allocation within the overall Scottish Government budget for teacher pay. As Mr Greer rightly points out, the budget for teacher recruitment is, in effect, for teachers’ pay. That is what it is spent on. The committee will be aware that we are still going through the process of seeking an agreement on teachers’ pay for this financial year. The committee will also be aware that an offer was made by the Convention of Scottish Local Authorities, which is currently with the trade union members for discussion and decision.

With the committee’s forbearance, I will not say too much about the current teacher’s pay situation, because we are clearly in the middle of the process. That process has gone on for an exceptionally long time, and I appreciate that teachers are very frustrated about how long it is taking. We need to come to agreement on teachers’ pay, but it needs to work its way through the SNCT, as per the usual process.

The Scottish Government stands by to make any changes that it can to allow that process to move forward, but the Government has already put in additional funding to the overall local government settlement, which assisted with the wider local government workforce planning and is a demonstration of how we have played our part in moving things forward. The process must now run its course through the SNCT.

Yes.

Just to be clear, the intention, as I understand it, was that the report would be out before Fiona Robertson’s appearance at the committee, but the commission required a change in date. That decision was made by the commission. It could not be changed by the SQA.

I understand that the Deputy First Minister will make a statement to Parliament, so I refer the committee to that statement and the chance to ask questions about the matter then, as I have not had the opportunity to analyse what has been made public while I have been at committee.

The evidence on face coverings is considered by our sub-group that looks at all the mitigation measures that are part of our Covid strategy. That evidence is regularly reviewed; the sub-group met yesterday and I await its updated suggestions, which we will discuss at the Covid-19 education recovery group. The sub-group considers the four harms approach, as we do in relation to all aspects of the direct impact of Covid, indirect health issues and issues around health and wellbeing. It is the sub-group’s role to provide advice on that basis and I am sure that I will receive advice from it that we will discuss tomorrow at CERG.