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What do we need to change to improve the conditions for staff in that respect, so that they can deliver the change that is needed?

Good morning, and thank you for the information that we have had so far.

One thing that strikes me is that, out there in the real world, we still have significantly poorer outcomes for care-experienced young people, especially in areas such as education, with less than half of them leaving school with a national 5 qualification. We really need to move on that—not because we have all said that we will do it, but because outcomes are progressing in the wrong direction.

When the committee spoke to young people, one young person asked what the point is of calling it “the Promise”, because they felt that it is not being delivered. We also heard that there is too much in the Promise, so young people cannot see change in any of the particular areas. On the workforce, one person said:

“I’ve had 12 social workers over 4 years; 14 years and at least 15 social workers.”

That sort of situation makes it very difficult to deliver on many aspects of the Promise—especially relationship building.

I want to ask about the evidence from CELCIS that social work staff are only really getting to work on the top of their priority list and are not getting any further than that. Can you tell me a bit about what that looks like in reality?

Yes.

My earlier point was not that we should now have an independent review, although that is a legitimate view. It was more about whether, when you saw all of this happening before the SQA did the review, you asked it to do an independent review.

I want to build on the point about statutory codes of practice and move slightly to the point that Laura Caven made about other services. We have heard about the role of schools. COSLA’s additional support for learning project board, which I think, Laura, you are a co-chair of, has highlighted the importance of refreshing the code of practice on learning for pupils with additional support needs, but action on that appears to be way down the line.

One area in the plan that has been identified as having zero actions completed is resources. Laura, could you talk a bit about whether you feel that there is enough pace of work in the additional support for learning project board to help to make the connections across the different agencies that you highlighted, and whether you think that the code of practice will be updated any time soon?

If not strategies or legislation, what will change the dynamic?

Do the other witnesses want to add anything?

All of them are working for the SQA as part of that process. They might work in schools, but they are also part of the SQA process. Was anyone who was not part of the process—

It is a question to be asked.

But teachers have said that that is not clear and, whether you call it blame or otherwise, the explanation that the report has given for the drop is that learners did not perform. How do you explain that problem?