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The increase in college withdrawal rates from 2020-21 to 2021-22 highlights the challenges faced by our colleges and their learners with the ongoing disruption to delivery caused by COVID, and the emergence of the cost-of-living crisis.

College learners faced repeated interruptions to normal delivery in 2021-22, particularly with the emergence of the Omicron variant; while some learners chose to enter employment due to the buoyant labour market and the beginning of the cost-of-living crisis.

We recognise that for many students, leaving college courses early for employment is a positive choice, despite its negative classification as a withdrawal within the Scottish Funding Council’s statistics. The SFC are currently working with the sector to better identify those who leave college to take up work opportunities.

Attainment is a complex area with many contributing factors. Our colleges provide education and training for a wide group of learners with different backgrounds, experience and levels of prior attainment.

Raising attainment is a shared priority across the education portfolio and we will continue to work with the sector to help students overcome barriers to learning to ensure they can reach their full potential.

Official Statistics published by the Scottish Funding Council in their annual College Statistics release show that in 2021-22 there were 69,036 full-time Higher (HE) and Further Education (FE) college enrolments in total. Although this is a decrease of around 10,000 on 2012-13, part-time HE and FE enrolments have increased by nearly 35,000 in total over the same period (from 218,616 in 2012-13 to 253,296 in 2021-22).

Academic year 2021-22 saw increases in enrolments, headcount and full-time equivalent 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.

The Scottish Government tracks the participation of children between 8-10, 11-12 and 13-15 in sport via the Scottish Health Survey.

The Scottish Government does not track the participation of children aged between 10 and 15 in cultural activities.

In 2023-24, we will be investing around £1 billion through local government in funding 1140 hours of Early Learning and Childcare (ELC).

We have carried out detailed analysis of the cost of delivering 1140 and worked with COSLA and local government through the ELC Finance Working Group to understand what a sustainable settlement would look like.

The settlement takes account of changes to the eligible population and also makes significant allowance for high rates of inflation in costs, as well as reflecting increased pay costs and creating capacity to deliver policy priorities including deferrals.

In 2023-24, we will be investing around £1 billion through local government in funding 1140 hours of Early Learning and Childcare (ELC).

We have carried out detailed analysis of the cost of delivering 1140 and worked with COSLA and local government through the ELC Finance Working Group to understand what a sustainable settlement would look like.
The settlement takes account of changes to the eligible population and also makes significant allowance for high rates of inflation in costs, as well as reflecting increased pay costs and creating capacity to deliver policy priorities including deferrals.

Rail accessibility remains a matter reserved to the UK Government. For the current Rail Regulatory Control Period 6 (2019-2024) the Scottish Government nominated the following stations for the Department for Transport’s Access for All Programme:-

Anderston, Anniesland, Croy, Dumfries, Johnstone, Port Glasgow, Uddingston, Springburn, Shettleston, Falkirk High, Falkirk Grahamston, and Inverurie.

Following the nominations, the UK Department for Transport Access for All Programme and mid-Tier Programmes for this Control Period provided funding for access improvements at Anderston, Anniesland, Croy, Dumfries, Johnstone, Port Glasgow and Uddingston. The UK Government has chosen not to provide funding for Springburn, Shettleston, Falkirk High, Falkirk Grahamston, and Inverurie stations.

Step free access has already been delivered at Anderston, Croy, and Johnstone with the remaining stations where the UK Government accepted the Scottish Government’s nominations due to be completed by the end of the rail funding period in 2024.

This information is not held by the Scottish Government, and this would be a matter for Local Authorities. However, not every Local Authority has a Young Carer Champion, and if they do, they are not necessarily a teaching member of staff.

The four delivery model pilots of school swimming have now been completed and an evaluation is currently being undertaken which will be published in September. We will work with Scottish Swimming and sport scotland to utilise the learning from these pilots to consider the best approach for a continued roll out of a national framework for school swimming.

The Mental Health and Wellbeing Strategy, published earlier in the summer, sets out the shared vision of the Scottish Government and the Convention of Scottish Local Authorities (COSLA) to improve mental health and wellbeing.

It will be supported by an accompanying Delivery Plan and the Workforce Action Plan in the autumn and, thereafter, we will publish related actions to support students.

The Scottish Government remains committed to supporting all Boards to achieve the standard that 90% of patients start treatment within 18 weeks of referral. We allocated nearly £40m additional funding in 2021-22 to NHS Boards to improve CAMHS, which included £4.25m specifically for clearing backlogs. In 2022-23 we allocated a further £36.7m via the Mental Health Outcomes Framework to improve the quality and delivery of mental health and psychological services for all.

We recognise that performance varies across Health Boards and we continue to provide targeted, tailored support towards those Boards with the longest waits and poorest performance. We have asked Boards to submit trajectories up to March 2024 for performance against the CAMHS standard, and for clearing long waits.