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On Monday night, a headteacher told us that she was “raging”, and trade union representatives have said that what has happened is immoral and that they have no idea how those local authorities will cope.

I see that Liz Sommerville is keen to come in.

Would that even be allowed?

Okay.

Thanks for your evidence. I realise that time is ticking on, so I will try to be short and punchy—if you can be, too, that would be great. I appreciate the endurance that you have shown over the past couple of hours.

You have confirmed that you have been involved in the redesign of the Scottish attainment challenge work. My question is for Patricia Watson and Craig Clement. As strategic directors, did you raise concerns about the significant cuts to the existing challenge authorities and what that would mean?

I am sorry, but it is a bit of a yes or no question. Did you raise concerns about the impact? We have heard a lot about the great work that you have done with headteachers and other people. Did you or did you not raise concerns?

But it is not the best way for those kids. I know that it is not your decision alone—it sits on the desks of the cabinet secretary and the Convention of Scottish Local Authorities, and conversations happen there, too—and I am not saying that you guys are to blame, but I would have thought that, given the work that you have done over the years, you would have recognised all this. However, what I am hearing is: no, you did not raise any concerns.

Will you tell us about your quantitative analysis of the impact of the pandemic?

We are interested in the scale of the challenge and whether the efforts made under the policy are commensurate with that. What has the pandemic done to the scale of that challenge? Anecdotally, we know that it is growing, but what do we know about the numbers? What analysis has Education Scotland done of what needs to be achieved? Is anything being done in that regard?

Of course.

Of course.