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Curriculum for Excellence (CfE) “Achievement of a Level” (ACEL) data shows that attainment at CfE Third Level or better by S3 pupils has been over 85 per cent for both literacy and numeracy since 2016-17. In 2021-22, 86 per cent of S3 pupils achieved this level in literacy, with 89 per cent in numeracy which is slightly less than in 2018-19, demonstrating the ongoing recovery from the pandemic.

ACEL data is one of a range of measures captured in the National Improvement Framework. It is important to be able to measure the impact of the education system as a whole, rather than looking at individual measures. That is why the National Improvement Framework includes the ACEL data for P1, P4, P7 and S3 as part of a broader basket of key measures of attainment. This avoids, as far as possible, a situation where looking at a single measure generates perverse behaviours by becoming the single focus of activity in schools.

Local education authorities have the statutory responsibility to provide school education. To support continuous improvement in literacy and numeracy nationally in our schools, the Scottish Government is:

• Focusing on literacy and numeracy within the Scottish Attainment Challenge (SAC) which has allocated over £550m in Pupil Equity Funding directly to primary schools up until 2022-23 and is investing a total of £1bn over this parliamentary term, including direct funding for all 32 local authorities.
• Has agreed clear stretch aims within each local authority as part of the SAC which, if achieved, would narrow the poverty related attainment gap by over 7 percentage points in both primary school literacy and numeracy by 2022-23 compared to 2020-21.
• Rejoining the “PIRLS” and “TIMSS” surveys, thereby further improving the evidence base on literacy and numeracy performance.
• Taking forward the National Response to Improving Literacy (NRIL) and the National Response to Improving Mathematics (NRIM) alongside Education Scotland and ADES, drawing on the available evidence to develop focused, “teacher-relevant” packages of professional learning, guidance and support.
• Ensuring that Education Scotland provides a tailored local and school-level support offer via attainment advisers and Regional Improvement Collaboratives.
• Funding and promoting Maths Week Scotland every year since 2017, transforming public attitudes to maths and promoting the value of maths as an essential skill for every career.
• Funding additional national programmes which support high quality learning and teaching, including “Read Write Count with the First Minister”, Reading Schools and the School Library Improvement Fund.

As the Cabinet Secretary for Social Justice updated in her statement to Parliament, local authorities have a statutory responsibility to ensure that their schools are safe for pupils, staff and their users. In line with this responsibility, they continue to carry out assessments of their school buildings, and Ministers have been clear to authorities that those must be carried out as a matter of the highest priority. At present, I am meeting with COSLA on a weekly basis to review the position.

It is imperative that there is transparency around the schools where RAAC has been identified and the mitigations that are in place. This is why, on 8 September, a list of the 16 local authorities where reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete (RAAC) has been found in some schools was published in a Scottish Government news release ( ). Local authorities have now published a list of any schools where RAAC has been identified, and it would be for those individual local authorities to decide if they publish the projected cost to remedy any issues within their school estate.

In accordance with the Education (Scotland) Act 1980, the provision of education is the responsibility of local authorities, meaning that each of Scotland’s 32 local authorities are responsible for ensuring young people in their area receive adequate provision of school and pre-school education; including in STEM subjects.

The Scottish Government leads on national policy, as set out in the STEM Education and Training Strategy, and helps to fund a series of national programmes which local authorities and schools can access. This includes:

• the Raising Aspirations in Science Education (RAiSE) programme which has been in place since 2016 and is delivered in partnership with the Wood Foundation and Education Scotland. The programme aims to improve primary teacher confidence in delivering inspiring science learning.
• the Scottish Schools Education Research Centre (SSERC) which is a local authority shared service, available to all education authorities in Scotland. SSERC offers STEM professional learning courses for early years, primary and secondary teachers as well as technical support staff.

Local authorities are also involved, either directly or indirectly, in other STEM education development programmes supported by the Government including Maths Week Scotland and a professional learning programme for computing teachers.

In addition, the Education Scotland STEM Team work with local authorities to support a range of initiatives to encourage STEM leadership in the classroom, promote greater equality of access to STEM subjects and build on effective practice in STEM education. For example, grants have been provided by Education Scotland to Milnathort Primary School to help them develop a conceptual approach to teaching numeracy and Campsie View School has received funding to develop STEM teaching skills for young people with additional support needs.

The Scottish Government provided funding for summer programmes by calendar year below:

I meet quarterly with the COSLA Spokesperson for Children and Young People, Chair and attend further meetings and events where COSLA is represented, and meet directly with Councillors across Scotland to discuss mutual areas of interest. In the period since my appointment I have met with COSLA eight times, in a range of settings. In addition, officials across the Education & Skills portfolio are in constant contact with COSLA officials, frequently engaging on a daily or weekly basis and it is not possible to collate the total number of such engagements.

Getting it Right for Every Child is Scotland’s national approach to improving outcomes for children and young people. We are committed to investing £500m in Whole Family Wellbeing to improve holistic family support so that families get the right support, in the right way and at the right time. The GIRFEC approach is not directly comparable to the Early Help Scheme.

As set out in answer PQ S6W-20065 Local Authorities are expected to have robust processes and guidance for children who do not attend school from the first day they are absent until they are re-engaged with education. I have expressed concerns about the impact of COVID-19 on attendance and have asked Education Scotland to undertake work to better understand the current barriers and challenges experienced by schools, children and young people and their families and which influence school attendance, and to provide clear examples of effective strategies that are supporting improved attendance, and clarity on what further support or intervention is required in areas where attendance is not improving. I am welcome to learning from approaches to improving attendance from elsewhere.

The number of full time equivalent pupil support assistants by Local Authority is available in the school support staff statistics: https://www.gov.scot/publications/school-support-staff-statistics/

A summary of the changes from 2018 to 2022 is provided in the following table.

The Scottish Government does not hold this information as the recruitment and employment of teachers including recruitment practices are matters for individual councils.

Local authorities have a statutory responsibility to ensure that their schools are safe for pupils, staff and their users. Those local authorities affected have now published a list of any schools where RAAC has been identified, and it would be for those individual local authorities to decide if they publish the projected cost to remedy any issues within their school estate.

In addition, the First Minister has been clear, while we do not have contingencies within Scottish Government to spend on RAAC.

The UK Government’s Chancellor of the Exchequer recently committed to spend what was necessary, and we would expect to see new funding made available. Continual UK Government cuts to capital budgets make responses across the public sector more difficult.

This is an issue we have been alive to for some time. On 16 th August, the Deputy First Minister wrote to the UK Government’s Treasury seeking clarity on new capital funding to deal with RAAC. Then, on 3 rd September, I wrote to the Secretary of State for Education seeking clarity on funding. Thus far, neither letter has received a response.