Seòmar agus comataidhean

The next question will be from Michael Marra.

I do not want you to be too specific about numbers and so forth, but, as far as you are aware, is that now happening? Are those contracts being made permanent in Dundee?

I will bring in Bob Doris in a minute, but I have to say that he is right. The Scottish Government and Parliament are sanctioning the spending of this money, which is going to Scotland’s local authorities. I am all for holding the Scottish Government to account, but at the end of the day, the employer is the local authority. [Interruption.] I am getting all kinds of gestures from colleagues who want to come in.

It is very important that those temporary contracts are made permanent, so I ask Laura Caven to do what I did not ask her to do earlier, which is to write to the committee and tell us whether the move from temporary to permanent contracts is happening and the number of teacher vacancies in Scotland over and above the temporary contracts. I think that we would like to know that—in fact, I think that it is fundamental to the committee’s role to ensure that every penny that is spent on education delivers the right number of teachers in classrooms with the permanency of contract and security of tenure to allow them to get on with their lives.

I will bring in Bob Doris, and I see that Michael Marra wants to come in, too. I know that this is a very important issue, but please be brief.

So, it is unlikely that the process will be activated without consideration being given to trying to claim back some of the compensation moneys that have been paid to survivors.

But this process would be initiated entirely by Redress Scotland.

I asked a parliamentary question about that in the summertime, and I was told by the Government that one in eight of all our teachers is on a temporary contract. There are people in classrooms doing a job of work right now who do not have the security of a permanent contract. When I quite rightly asked about that in the chamber, the Government minister said that the Government had now sorted that, because the temporary, one-off money in a pot was now part of the core budget. I am really surprised to hear you being so soft on the issue of getting those temporary contracts to become permanent. I am really surprised that the union is not being much harder on that issue.

Good morning, and welcome to the 11th meeting in 2021 of the Education, Children and Young People Committee.

The first item on our agenda is a decision on taking business in private. Are members content to take item 6 in private?

Members indicated agreement.

Are you satisfied with that, Fergus?

Before I move to a different line of questioning, I want to go back to Bob Doris’s questions. As you can tell, I am pretty agitated about temporary contracts for teachers, because, in many cases, we are talking about younger teachers who are starting their careers and need some security of employment so that they can make other decisions about and plan their lives. I therefore ask Jennifer King whether, given the certitude over budgeting that it now has, Dundee City Council is translating some of those temporary contract teachers to permanent contracts.

It is a fundamental issue, the number of teachers.