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The Scottish Government does not hold information on the number of children and young people who are home educating in Scotland.

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-25783 on 11 March 2024. 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 hold responsibility for ensuring the safety and wellbeing of children being home educated, and that the education they are receiving is suitable for their age and ability. In line with the Scottish Government's home education guidance, it is recommended that local authorities should make contact on an annual basis with those families who are known to be home educating within that local authority area.

If, from whatever source, an authority becomes aware of concerns about the home education of any child, outwith the normal contact time, they will need to gather the necessary information in order to form a view on whether those concerns are justified or whether the parents are providing an efficient education suitable to the age, ability and aptitude of the child. Local authorities have their own individual and established processes to obtain this information.

An independent review of Community Learning and Development (CLD) was launched in December 2023 and is expected to conclude in June 2024. This review aims to assess the impact of CLD on learners across Scotland and is likely to consider the regulatory framework alongside other aspects of the current approach to CLD, taking the original commitment further and providing valuable insights for the future.

Community youth work remains an important pillar of local authority provision. The Scottish Government utilises a Block Grant system, affording local authorities significant autonomy in allocating financial resources, including those designated for youth work. This approach empowers councils to prioritise local needs and tailor services accordingly, while fulfilling mandatory obligations and adhering to nationally-agreed priorities. Transparency is ensured through annually-published breakdowns of spending on the Scottish Government website.

The Scottish Government utilises a Block Grant system, affording local authorities significant autonomy in allocating financial resources, including those designated for youth work. This approach empowers councils to prioritise local needs and tailor services accordingly, while fulfilling mandatory obligations and adhering to nationally-agreed priorities.

Examples of direct Scottish Government support include:

• £106m+ to 115 organisations, supporting children and families across Scotland from our Children, Young People, Families Early Intervention and Adult Learning and Empowering Communities Third Sector Fund (CYPFEI & ALEC) since its launch in 2016. £6m in core funding to 22 new organisations supporting children, families, young people and adult learners from our Children, Young People, Families and Adult Learning Third Sector Fund in 2023-24.
• £19m to support 72,000 young people through youth work from the CashBack for Communities Fund over the last three years.
• A further commitment of up to £20m from our CashBack for Communities Fund for 2023-26 to provide support to 29 youth work organisations to deliver a wide range of trauma-informed and person-centred services and activities for young people.
• £1m+ to YouthLink Scotland and Youth Scotland in 2023-24 to support core funding and provide high quality training with a focus on equality and inclusion for youth work staff and volunteers.
• £1m of capital investment in digital inclusion between 2022-24 for community learning providers, including youth work organisations.

Furthermore, an independent review of Community Learning and Development (CLD), encompassing youth work, was launched in December 2023 and is expected to conclude in June 2024. This review aims to assess the impact of CLD on learners across Scotland, providing valuable insights for the future.

The Scottish Government does not hold this information. The Student Loan Company (SLC) collects and publishes data on student loan outlays, repayments, and borrower activity for Scottish SLC customers each year.

This includes information on the total student Income Contingent Repayment (ICR) loan outlay each financial year, the average loan balance of borrowers, borrower repayment status, repayment amounts, and average repayment amount by repayment method. All of which can be found in the publication.

SLC does not publish information on missed payments, nor on the collection rate of repayments.

Loans for which the required repayments are based on the borrower’s income.

An independent review of Community Learning and Development (CLD), was launched in December 2023 and is expected to conclude in June 2024. This review aims to assess the impact of CLD on learners across Scotland which will provide valuable insights for the delivery of CLD in a reformed education system.

The Scottish Government does not hold this information. The Student Loans Company (SLC) collects and publishes data on student loan outlays, repayments, and borrower activity for Scottish SLC customers each year.

provides (i) the number and (ii) the percentage of borrower who received loans as Scottish domiciled students studying in the UK or as EU domiciled students studying in Scotland by repayment status.

Note: These statistics only include information on loan products and do not include information regarding grants and bursaries which make up part of the student support package offered to students in Scotland.

Our commitment to free tuition means that unlike elsewhere in the UK, Scottish students studying in Scotland do not incur additional debt of up to £27,750, and average student loan debt for Scottish students is the lowest in the UK at around a third of the level seen in England.

In Labour-run Wales, the cap on tuition fees is to rise from £9,000 to £9,250 per year, which will only increase student debt levels.