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Data on the outcomes and achievements of school pupils with additional support needs are published on the Scottish Government website.

Achievement of Curriculum for Excellence Levels data provides information on attainment of school pupils in literacy and attainment ( ). Information on pupils with additional support needs can be found in Section 4.3 of the publication. The latest data available is for 2021-22 with 2022-23 data due to be published on 12 December 2023.

Data on the attainment and initial destinations of school leavers can be found in the Summary Statistics for Attainment and Initial Leaver Destinations publication ( ). Information on pupils with additional support needs can be found in tables 3 and 6. The latest data available is for 2021-22 with 2022-23 data due to be published in February 2024.

Data on the follow-up destinations of school leavers can be found in the Summary Statistics for Follow-up Destinations publication ( ). Information on pupils with additional support needs can be found in table 3. The latest data available is for 2021-22 with 2022-23 data due to be published in June 2024.

The Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA) and the Scottish Funding Council (SFC) publish a range of information for colleges and universities for disabled students. Information can be accessed through their websites at ( ) and releases ( ).

The Students Awards Agency Scotland (SAAS) publish data each year on the number of supported Higher Education students at college and university claiming Disabled Students’ Allowance (DSA). Data is available through the Higher Education Student Support in Scotland publication ( ).

This information is not held centrally.

However, the Pupils with complex additional support needs: research into provision published on 19 September 2023 reflects practice and provides examples of the transition process followed by a child or young person with additional support needs to a specialist settings.

Under section 70 of the Education (Scotland) Act 1980, any interested party can make a complaint to the Scottish Ministers that a responsible body (the managers of a school or education establishment, an education authority, or other persons) has failed to discharge a duty imposed on them by, or for the purposes of any enactment relating to education.

For Independent Adjudication, applicants write officially to Scottish Ministers with their complaint. Ministers will nominate an Independent Adjudicator. However they do not have any involvement in decisions after that point. Ministers also officially appoint the panel of Independent Adjudicators.

Since 2016-17, 7 complaints have been made under section 70 of the Education (Scotland) Act 1980 relating additional support needs provision, and 13 complaints have been made through applications for independent adjudication.

Complaints under section 70:

1 – City of Edinburgh Council

1 – Perth and Kinross Council

2 – Highland Council

1 – West Dunbartonshire Council

1 – Comhairle nan Eilean Siar (Western Isles)

1 – Midlothian Council

Complaints through Independent Adjudication:

1 – East Dunbartonshire Council

1 – Aberdeen City Council

2 – Scottish Borders Council

1 – Dundee City Council

2 – Glasgow City Council

1 – East Lothian Council

1 – Comhairle nan Eilean Siar (Western Isles)

1 – West Dunbartonshire Council

1 – North Lanarkshire Council

2 – City of Edinburgh Council

Under the Additional Support for Learning Act 2004, education authorities have duties to identify, provide for and review the additional support needs of their pupils. Parents and carers are encouraged to continue to engage with their child or young person’s school about the support that is in place. The aim is for disagreements to be resolved at as local a level as possible, and as quickly as possible, to ensure that children and young people receive the support they need to access and benefit from learning. As these complaints are dealt with at a local level, the information is not held centrally.

Imprints are a way of stating who is responsible for publishing campaigning or promotional political material and who they are promoting it for.  This point is reflected in the Electoral Commission’s recent statutory guidance on digital imprints under the Elections Act 2022. 

The functions of the SPCB are laid out in the Scotland Act and require the SPCB to provide the property, staff and services required for the Parliament’s purposes.  In principle, the SPCB does not include imprints on its material as it is publishing material for the purpose of these statutory functions and not political campaigning or promoting.   

The SPCB provides support to Members through the Reimbursement of Members Expenses Scheme to produce and distribute parliamentary funded publications to inform constituents of the work of the Member in their electoral area or in Parliament or about the work of the Parliament itself.

As SPCB resources are applied for the Parliament’s purposes, in accordance with the SPCB’s statutory functions, Members must abide by the rules in the SPCB Policy on Members’ Publications where costs are met from the Members’ Expenses Scheme.

The Policy restricts members from including material promoting the political views of any person, political party, the government or other organisation involved in political campaigning in parliamentary funded publications.  The Policy also prohibits the issue of parliamentary funded publications in the immediate run up to elections and referendums. For its purposes, the Policy requires the inclusion of a statement in relation to how the costs were met for such a publication and a header which must include the Parliament’s Corporate Identity, alongside the Member’s name and their area of representation, whether the publication is online or in hard copy.

Yes, the SQA is being replaced with a new qualifications body as part of the Scottish Government’s wider education and skills reform programme.

As part of the process of replacing the SQA, the Scottish Government has opened a consultation on the provisions in the Education Bill. The consultation is seeking views on the establishment of a new qualifications body that will replace the SQA, along with views on changes to education inspection in Scotland. The consultation is open until 18 December.

The funding received was included within the Scottish Government’s Autumn Budget Revision published on 28 September. It also formed part of the consequentials figures included in the Deputy First Minister’s letter to the FPAC on 21 November providing an update on the in-year budget changes.

This funding was utilised to support the range of measures outlined within the Autumn Budget Revision including £264.5 million being provided to Local Government for pay offers, £30 million for additional costs relating to the Ukrainian Resettlement programme and £50 million of additional capital funding being provided to the NHS.

The Scottish Government places great importance on community sports and leisure facilities. They are crucial to the wellbeing of all our country and most importantly, for our children and young people to be healthy and active.

We are fully aware that local authorities are facing challenging financial circumstances, particularly in the maintenance and operating of facilities such as swimming pools, largely due to energy costs and other cost of living pressures. In 2023-24, East Lothian Council will receive £221.5 million to fund local services, which equates to an extra £8.1 million to support vital day to day services or an addition 3.8 per cent compared to 2022-23.

Decisions on future local government finance settlements will be the subject of negotiations with COSLA on behalf of all 32 local authorities and will be announced as part of the outcome of future Scottish Budgets.

The Scottish Government’s policy towards local authorities’ spending is to allow local authorities the financial freedom to operate independently. As such, the vast majority of funding is provided by means of a block grant. It is then the responsibility of individual local authorities to manage their own budgets and to allocate the total financial resources available to them, on the basis of local needs and priorities, having first fulfilled their statutory obligations and the jointly agreed set of national and local priorities.

sport scotland are supporting Scottish Swimming to undertake the Scottish Swimming Facilities Project. This is a detailed piece of work to accurately understand the current pool provision and life cycle, and to predict the landscape in the short, medium, and long term. This important piece of work can help inform future investment decisions both nationally and locally to ensure sustainable facilities, in the right places, to serve their local communities’ needs.

We remain committed to delivering a National Care Service to improve quality, fairness and consistency of provision that meets individuals’ needs. We are designing the NCS in partnership with stakeholders and experts, including NHS management and clinical staff.

The new national shared accountability framework agreed with COSLA and NHS will improve the experience of people accessing services by introducing a new structure of national oversight to drive consistency of outcomes and maximise the benefits of a reformed local service delivery.

The approach agreed provides that local authorities and Health Boards will retain delivery functions, staff and assets. NHS staff will continue to deliver those health services that are in scope for the NCS, together with existing community health providers.

During regional summer co-design sessions, we asked people with lived experience, third sector and statutory stakeholders about how community health services work with social care support and healthcare services. We will use what we have learned during these forums to continue to develop our approach to community healthcare in the NCS and how the National Care Service and NHS should work together.

It is the statutory responsibility of local authorities to manage and maintain their school estate, and Scottish Government funding is intended to augment, not replace, local authorities’ own investment in their schools.

East Lothian Council have been awarded financial support through the £2bn Learning Estate Investment Programme (LEIP) for their Wallyford High School and Whitecraig Primary School projects.

In addition, through the previous Scotland’s Schools for the Future Programme, the Scottish Government awarded East Lothian Council with funding of £9.5m towards 2 school projects.

As a result of investment by this government, the proportion of schools in “good” or “satisfactory” condition in Scotland has increased from 61% in April 2007 to almost 91% in April 2023. LEIP investment will build on this progress.

We will continue working with COSLA, local authorities and Scottish Futures Trust to explore how we can deliver further improvements in the school estate.