Seòmar agus comataidhean

Absolutely—the cudgels will still be there to be picked up.

Ruth has summed it up nicely.

That is a fair point. Ruth’s summary captures the sentiment of everyone who has spoken.

That brings the public part of the meeting to an end. I ask members to reconvene on Microsoft Teams in a few minutes. Come to think of it, there is no one on Teams. We will consider our final items in private. I wish those who are watching proceedings a very good afternoon.

Good morning, and welcome to the 12th meeting in 2022 of the Education, Children and Young People Committee.

The first item on our agenda is an evidence session as part of our Scottish attainment challenge inquiry. We will take evidence from representatives of local authorities. I am delighted to welcome to the committee room Ruth Binks, who is the director of education, communities and organisational development at Inverclyde Council; Gerry Lyons, who is the head of education at Glasgow City Council; Tony McDaid, who is the executive director of education resources at South Lanarkshire Council; and Mark Ratter, who is the director of education at East Renfrewshire Council. Good morning to you all. I think that this is the first time in the sixth session of the Parliament that we have been able to have all our witnesses with us in the committee room, which is wonderful. You are making a little bit of history today. I thank you for your time.

I will begin with a couple of straightforward questions. We have often heard it said that the additional funds that have come through attainment challenge funding have been used to plug gaps that have arisen because of cuts that would otherwise have had to be made because of the reduction in central Government funding for local government. How do you react to that? Is there a case for saying that that has happened? Is it still happening? Let us start by hearing from Ruth Binks.

It has always been used for additionality, Gerry. Is that what you are saying?

That is very clear.

Tony McDaid, how about South Lanarkshire?

Let me stay with you, Tony. You know Greg Dempster.

This is what Greg told us recently:

“When the funding in a school or an authority goes down, some of the PEF might not really be additional, depending on our definition of that. It might be used to prevent a reduction in staffing or in what is offered in the school. A school that is to lose a couple of support staff because of a change in funding or policy in the authority might use PEF to retain those staff because it knows that it needs them to make a difference and that losing them would have a negative impact.”—[Official Report, Education, Children and Young People Committee, 20 April 2022; c 15.]

Is there anything in what Greg Dempster says that bears out your experience in South Lanarkshire?

The next instrument for consideration is the Teachers’ Pension Scheme (Scotland) Amendment Regulations 2022. Do members have any comments on the instrument?

As members have no comments on the instrument, does the committee agree that it does not wish to make any recommendations in relation to it?

Members indicated agreement.