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The Scottish Government has committed to rejoining the Progress in International Reading Literacy Study (PIRLS) and the Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS) with the next cycles, PIRLS 2026 and TIMSS 2027, reporting in 2027 and 2028 respectively.

Data on reading, mathematics and science performance will continue to be available in the interim period from the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) 2022 results which are being published in December 2023 and PISA 2025 results, which will be published in 2026. In addition, literacy and numeracy attainment results from the Achievement of CfE Levels data collection are published each year in December for P1, P4, P7 and S3 pupils.

From 2007 to 2016, full-time equivalent was defined as between 35 and 37 hours per week depending on the local authority in which the staff were employed. From 2017 full-time equivalent has been calculated using a standard 35 hours per week across all local authorities.

The Scottish Funding Council (SFC) has recently begun collecting students’ reasons for withdrawal (RfW) from colleges. SFC will be working with Colleges Scotland and College Development Network (CDN) to improve the capture of student withdrawal data in future years to enable publication.

The Scottish Government does not collect this type of data.

The Scottish Government regularly publishes data on wealth from the Office for National Statistics Wealth and Assets Survey. The most recent report can be found at . More detailed analyses are available on the Office for National Statistics website at . The Wealth and Assets Survey includes gifts transferred within a period, but does not measure lifetime intergenerational wealth, or attribution of current assets to intergenerational help.

Analyses looking at intergenerational sources of wealth across the UK have been carried out by various other organisations and the academic sector, for instance and .

I refer the member to the question S6W-20602 on
‎ 29 August 2023. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament’s website, the search facility for which can be found at /chamber-and-committees/written-questions-and-answers

Local authorities are responsible for school enrolments in their area, and this includes providing information to parents and carers regarding their rights on deferring starting primary school.

In 2022 and 2023, we wrote to local authorities to encourage them to review any local processes and communications to reflect the change in legislation.

The Scottish Government has updated the to reflect the legislation change from August 2023.

Information on the number of enrolments, student headcount and full-time equivalent places (FTE) over the last decade in Scottish colleges is published by the Scottish Funding Council in their annual college statistics release which is published here:

Data prior to this can be found in older releases here:

Academic year 2021-22 saw increases in enrolments, student headcount and full-time equivalent (FTE) places on the previous year; as well as increased numbers upskilling and reskilling on short courses, and increased opportunities for those furthest from the workplace.

Colleges continue to evolve their offer, whether full-time, part-time or a tailored mix, taking account of the diverse needs of learners; while continuing to respond flexibly to the social and economic needs of the regions they serve through the delivery of short courses aimed at upskilling and reskilling.