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The Scottish Government has regular meetings with both College Employers Scotland and the representative campus trade unions, where a number of broad workforce issues are discussed.

Given there is no timeframe set out in your question, I have provided a note of all meetings for the 2023 calendar year where pay and industrial relations within the sector was discussed since I have taken up office as Minister for Higher Education and Further Education.

Although cyber security matters are reserved to the UK Government, the Scottish Government is determined to do whatever it can within its powers to build Scotland’s cyber resilience and to reduce the impact of cyber incidents.

The Scottish Government works with a range of national partners including Police Scotland, the National Cyber Security Centre, Cyber and Fraud Centre Scotland (formerly known as ‘Scottish Business Resilience Centre’), the Digital Office, ScotlandIS, SCVO, Education Scotland and Skills Development Scotland – as part of the CyberScotland Partnership. This partnership aims to manage cyber risks through improving critical security controls across our public, third and private sectors, raising awareness and developing cyber security skills across schools, colleges, universities and the workplace.

The Scottish Government has no role in the provision of student accommodation, whether in purpose built student accommodation (PBSA) and university and college halls of residence or the private rented. However, we are determined to improve accessibility, affordability and standards in student accommodation.

Our Review of PBSA, which considered a number of issues including supply and affordability, has now concluded and the recommendations formulated by the Review Steering Group have been submitted to Ministers for consideration.

Information on the proportion of P1, P4, P7 and S3 children achieving the expected Curriculum for Excellence (CfE) Levels in literacy and numeracy is available from 2016-17 from Table 1 of the Achievement of Curriculum for Excellence Levels (ACEL) publication which can be found on the Scottish Government website:

Between 2011 and 2016 the Scottish Survey of Literacy and Numeracy (SSLN) was used to monitor national performance of school children at P4, P7 and S2 in literacy and numeracy in alternate years. The SSLN provided information on reading, writing and listening & talking individually but not for literacy as a whole. Reading, Writing and Listening & Talking data for 2014 and 2016 can be found in table 1 and Numeracy data for 2013 and 2015 is in table 2.

The data collected via the SSLN differed from that collected via ACEL. The SSLN reported on the proportion of pupils "performing well or very well" at the relevant CfE level. Data was collected through a sample survey rather than for all pupils and was based on the results of assessments completed by participating students as opposed to being based on teacher professional judgements, as is the case for ACEL. As a result SSLN results are not directly comparable with ACEL results.

Table 1: Proportion of pupils performing well or very well in Reading, Writing and Listening & Talking, 2014 and 2016

Although the Scottish Funding Council (SFC) collates data on students who declare a Mental Health condition, neither it or the Scottish Government gather information on the number of students accessing mental health services in colleges and universities.

The Scottish Government recently convened a Multi-Agency Co-ordination Group in July 2023, in response to a cybersecurity incident at the University of the West of Scotland (UWS). The group was comprised of officials from the Scottish Government, UWS, NCC Group, the National Cyber Security Centre, the Scottish Local Government Digital Office and the Scottish Cyber Co-ordination Centre.

The Group was subsequently stood down once the initial attack and response work had come to an end, with communication lines remaining open in case any further assistance is required.

The reduction in the number of bursaries awarded in 2022-23 compared with 2018 is the result of a decrease in the number of applications received and as a result, less were approved. Information on the number of applications received and bursaries awarded is available in the Skills Development Scotland 2022-23 evaluation report. .

Between November 2020 and March 2023, awareness of the Young Person’s Guarantee among employability staff was achieved using existing networks and communication channels. There was no funding allocated to the specific promotion of the Young Person’s Guarantee aimed at employability staff.

The Scottish Government expects the outstanding responses by the end of the year.

Data collection and reporting for devolved employability services delivered under the No One Left Behind approach occurs quarterly, with provision in all 32 Local Authority areas aligning with the Employability Shared Measurement Framework. To support this, we have worked with Local Authorities in their Lead Accountable Body role to develop a single reporting template, and accompanying guidance, which has been made publicly available. This reporting contributes to our quarterly statistical publication.

Data collection and reporting has been a key theme identified in our recent national stakeholder discussion events and the actions will be reviewed to identify how we can improve. This will be outlined in the Strategic Plan and National Improvement Plan which will be published later this financial year.

We will continue to work with partners to refine data collection and reporting practices, including identifying where additional support would be beneficial.