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We continue to fund and support the Young Ambassadors for Inclusion and therefore confirm that the relevant action within the November 2022 Additional Support for Learning (ASL) Action Plan update is now considered complete.

In 2022-23 we provided increased funding of £30k to the Young Ambassadors for Inclusion to support the delivery of the actions to engage children and young people in policy development as part of the implementation of the ASL Action Plan. The Young Ambassadors for Inclusion collated a resource pack for Education, Learning & Support to help schools support meaningful participation of children and young people who access additional support. They also helped create a Language and Communication Guide for school staff on using the right language, provided practical guidance and activities to support practitioners. In addition, they produced two podcasts on the role of Pupil Support Staff and delivered webinars on meaningful participation for teachers and support staff.

The Scottish Government receives quarterly reports from Let’s Talk ASN, the national advocacy and legal representation service for young people (over 16 years old) and the parents and carers of children with additional support needs. In the last quarter, between October and December 2022, Let’s Talk ASN received 124 enquiries. Of those, 27 were retained as a Let’s Talk ASN case. The remaining enquiries were provided with advice.

In the last quarter, Let’s Talk ASN lodged 20 references to the Health & Education Tribunal to commence the process to a full hearing.

The Scottish Government does not hold disaggregated information on Let’s Talk ASN cases between ‘parents’ and ‘carers’.

The Independent Review of Qualifications and Assessment is being led by Professor Louise Hayward. Professor Hayward is firmly committed to offering an approach that ensures the achievements of all learners, including those with disabilities, can be recognised. The commitment to proposing a system that works for each and every learner is evident in her recently published interim report.

During the Review’s public consultation Professor Hayward sought views on the specific question of how a system of qualifications and assessment can uphold the right of all learners including those with disabilities to have their achievements recognised.

I understand that Professor Hayward has met Angela Morgan, Chair of the Review of Additional Support for Learning Implementation, on several occasions and that Angela Morgan has also offered advice to the Independent Review Group. Professor Hayward is also visiting several schools which provide specialist education and learning for children and young people with additional support needs and complex health and medical needs, and will hear directly from learners, teachers and staff there.

The final Phase of the Review is now underway, and Professor Hayward is seeking views from a range of stakeholders across the education landscape, and beyond, on a draft model for the future of qualifications and assessment, this Phase is open until the 7 April. I look forward to receiving a final report before the end of May 2023.

In an update on the Additional Support for Learning Review Action Plan, published in November 2022 ( ) we committed to revisit this research in spring 2023.

In parallel, the Pupil Support Staff Working Group commissioned Education Scotland to undertake a national engagement programme for pupil support staff – ( ). The engagement programme commenced in October 2022, has generated over 2,500 responses to date and will close shortly.

We consider it prudent to let the engagement programme conclude and for the responses to be analysed, before deciding on the requirement for the proposed research.

In 2021-22, as part of the implementation of the Additional Support for Learning review action plan, we provided Enquire, the national advice and information service on Additional Support for Learning, with an additional £70,000 of funding. This aimed to increase the capacity of the service to support parents and carers of children with additional support needs and ensure it was effectively resourced to meet the needs of the families it supports.

The utilisation of this funding and its impact is established via ongoing grant management processes. This includes statistical information on provision of services and feedback from parents and carers using Enquire’s services. For example, in 2021-22 Enquire responded to more than 1,750 enquiries and over 1,120 in the first three quarters of 2022-23. During the third quarter of 2022-23, 100% of those who provided feedback indicated that they had a better understanding of their and their child’s rights and 91% rated the service they received as “excellent”.

The additional funding has enabled Enquire to create additional capacity to more effectively respond to enquiries from parents and carers and increased engagement with wider stakeholders; a programme of outreach; and development of new initiatives such as increased video content on the Enquire website. This level of funding was maintained in 2022-23 to ensure service delivery sustainability and continuity in support for families of children and young people with additional support needs.

The Scottish Government are committed to working with COSLA, ADES and our partners to deliver improvements in additional support for learning implementation and to ensure meaningful change for children and young people through our Additional Support for Learning Action Plan. The most recent ASL Action Plan progress report published in November 2022 confirms the progress made on the development of the measurement framework, including measures to celebrate the successes and achievements of children and young people with additional support needs. Since the publication of the progress report, a draft of the framework has been considered by the ASL Network and ASL Project Board and officials continue to work with partners to further enhance the framework.

The Scottish Government will continue to report on the progress of implementation of the ASL Action Plan through formal progress reports. The next progress report is due to be published in May 2024.

Information on the deferral rate for disabled students entering Higher Education is not held by the Scottish Government.

UCAS collect and publish information each year on the number of applicants, applications and acceptances for UK providers. As part of their releases, UCAS publish the number of acceptances who defer entry to a later year split by Domicile, Age and Gender, in their interactive dashboard. Deferral rates for those with a Disability Declared are not included.

UCAS do publish the number of acceptances with a Disability Declared overall. This shows in the 2022 cycle, there were 6,535 Scottish domiciled acceptances with a Disability Declared, 17.5% of all Scottish domiciled acceptances.

Social Security Scotland works to progress applications as quickly as possible.

Decisions for the majority of people who applied for Scottish Child Payment, or added additional children to their award, between 14 November and 31 December 2022 have now been issued and this will be reported on in the next round of statistics. As previously announced, all successful awards will be backdated to the date that the application was received.

Around 143,000 school age children benefitted from the Winter 2022 Bridging Payment of £260, with over £37.1 million of payments awarded to families. We do not hold information on the number of people who applied for Scottish Child Payment who also received Bridging Payments.

The latest available information on new applications for Scottish Child Payment is contained in the most recent official statistics release, covering the period to 31 December 2022 - .

Social Security Scotland received 91,225 new applications for Scottish Child Payment between 14 November and 31 December 2022. This does not include applications from existing clients looking to add additional children to their current award.

The majority of people who applied or added additional children to their existing award during this period have now received a decision. People who made new applications and received an award decision received their payment by the end of February. For people who were adding additional children, payments will follow their existing payment cycle.

Where someone applied for Scottish Child Payment before 31 December 2022 and has not received a decision, this is because additional information or evidence is required to process their application. Social Security Scotland has been in contact with everyone in this situation.

Social Security Scotland routinely produces information at application level and not by household type, such as on behalf of couples or individuals.

Information relating to applications received for benefits is routinely published by Social Security Scotland as part of Official Statistics releases and includes both monthly and financial year breakdowns of data.

These statistics are available at .