Seòmar agus comataidhean

The Strategy Committee on Continuing Professional Development for Teachers will be chaired by the Deputy Minister for Children and Education. The membership is being finalised and, alongside practising teachers, will include eminent figures from business, education and other fields.The remit is as follows:

• to oversee the development and implementation of a national strategy for teachers' continuing professional development (CPD);
• to ensure that the strategy reflects national priorities for school education, in particular the raising of standards and improvement in levels of attainment;
• to ensure the effective promotion and marketing of CPD to teachers, parents, policy makers and other stakeholders;
• to ensure the strategy, and the standards and programmes forming part of the strategy, address future as well as current requirements of schools and teachers;
• to consider any other strategic issues relating to teachers' professional development.

Working practices and timescales for particular tasks will be established at the first meeting of the Committee.

We will be issuing a consultation paper on national priorities later this month. The paper will go to a wide range of interested groups including education authorities, school boards, teaching unions, employers and pupil councils. My officials will also be holding a series of consultation meetings around Scotland. A report on the consultation will be published later in the year.

An additional £115.7 million over five years was announced in the July 1997 Budget under the New Deal for Schools. We have, in partnership with CoSLA, enhanced authorities' ability to prioritise their capital expenditure in favour of school building work. And this is complemented by public private partnership schemes in 10 authorities with a capital value of around £430 million.

The working party comprises the following people nominated by their respective statutory and voluntary organisations:

Association of Directors of Social Work	Monica Boyle
	David Heaney
	Fred McBride
Convention of Scottish Local Authorities	Steve Driscoll
	Anne Marie Stewart
Scottish Throughcare and Aftercare Forum	Tam Baillie
	Vivienne Boyle
The Association of Careers Service Companies in Scotland	Mary Carson
	Jean Geddes
Who Cares? Scotland	Dierdre Watson
	Stephen McGinley
Scottish Council for Single Homeless	John Dickie

The working group will be chaired and supported by Scottish Executive officials.

Under the Children (Scotland) Act 1995, local authorities already have a duty to provide advice and assistance with a view to preparing a young person for when he or she is no longer looked after by a local authority. Local authorities are also required to advise, guide and assist a young person who was looked after at school leaving age or thereafter up to the age of 19 unless the local authority are satisfied that the young person's welfare does not require it. Local authority assistance, which may include assistance in kind or in cash, may continue until the young person is 21 years old.

The working party will examine how best local authority resources, enhanced by the transfer of DSS resources, might operate for the good of young people requiring throughcare and aftercare and offer advice to Scottish Ministers. This will include consideration of such issues as ring-fencing of resources; a safety net for young people who have lost contact with their local authority; and an appeals procedure.The working party will report periodically to Ministers to assist appropriate implementation procedures to come into effect in the course of next year.

Copies of individual responses may be obtained in the usual way from the Scottish Executive unless individuals have asked that their reply remain confidential.

We are making excellent progress. Under regulations made in April 1999, P1 classes with a single teacher may not have more than 30 pupils this academic year. Two schools have been granted temporary exemptions and we are holding an application from a third authority.From August 2000 this limit will apply to P2 and from August 2001 to P3. By 2001 we will have achieved our target of all children in P1-P3 being taught with a maximum ratio of 30 pupils to every teacher.

All estimated end year flexibility within the education, culture and sport budget has been allocated.

The Scottish Executive have no plans to publish the results of the review of education authority anti-bullying policies which was carried out in 1997. At the time of requesting information local authorities were advised that this information would not be made publicly available.