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We remain committed to reducing class contact timegiving teachers more time out of the classroom. Any changes to terms and conditions for teachers, including how this time will be used, are matters for agreement through the Scottish Negotiating Committee for Teachers.

To inform this work, we commissioned an external modelling and research exercise to help inform discussions which was published on 7 May. This contains a number of high-level future scenarios and assesses their broad compatibility with any changes to teachers’ contracted class-contact time.

These scenarios will help to facilitate our discussions with SNCT partners on how we can best deliver this commitment.

We are offering local authorities £145.5m in this year’s budget to maintain teacher numbers. This will assist in delivery in the reduction of class contact time.

The Board agreed its workplan in September 2023. The most recently published version of the workplan can be found on the Scottish Government website. https://www.gov.scot/publications/strategic-board-teacher-education-meeting-27-thursday-1-february-2024-10-00am-11-30am/pages/2/

The workplan contains three workstreams:

• Workstream 1 – Workforce Planning and Increasing Diversity of the Profession
• Workstream 2 – Improving the Promotion of Teaching as a Valued Career
• Workstream 3 – Continuum of Teacher Education

The Board has held meetings in November, February and March to progress these workstreams. The agendas, minutes and papers from these meeting are published on the Scottish Government website at https://www.gov.scot/groups/strategic-board-for-teacher-education/

The Board last met on 15 May 2024, and the agenda, minutes and papers from this meeting will be published on the Scottish Government website following the next meeting of the Board, which is scheduled for 27 June.

The provision of education and training of audiologists is being considered as part of the National Audiology Improvement Programme. In addition, there is a review underway of Healthcare Science Education in Scotland to look at education and training provision in healthcare science more widely.

Our Teaching Bursary Scheme offers a £20,000 payment to career changers who are looking to undertake teacher training in hard-to-fill STEM subjects – physics, maths, technical education, computing science, chemistry and home economics. The scheme was also extended to include Gaelic as a secondary subject, and Gaelic medium across all secondary subjects and in primary.

In addition, the Strategic Board for Teacher Education (SBTE) is considering issues around the recruitment and retention of teachers in Scotland in detail, together with work to improving the promotion of teaching as a valued career.

The Scottish Government and Scottish Funding Council have also offered to work with universities to develop alternative routes into subjects which have traditionally been difficult to recruit to.

We are committed to ensuring that all children and young people get the support that they need to reach their full learning potential.

Our national guidance on exclusion, ‘Included, Engaged and Involved Part 2’ makes clear that exclusion should be the last resort. Where exclusion is used, it should be as a proportionate response where there is no appropriate alternative, and the wellbeing of the child or young person should be the key consideration. The guidance makes clear that the practice of “sending home” or “informal exclusion” is illegal and denies pupils and parents their rights. Following an incident where the decision is made that the child or young person cannot remain in school, for one of the reasons specified in regulation 4 of the Schools General (Scotland) Regulations 1975 as amended, this must be recorded as an exclusion. This will ensure transparency, allow for appropriate monitoring and enable support to be put in place through the education authority’s staged intervention system.

Information on pupils that are subject to reduced or part-time timetable is not reported centrally by the Scottish Government. Under the Additional Support for Learning Act 2004, education authorities have duties to identify, provide for and review the additional support needs of their pupils. Education authorities are responsible for determining the most appropriate educational provision for children and young people in their area, taking account of their legislative responsibilities and the individual circumstances of children, young people and their families.

The Scottish Government does not routinely collect data on mothballed schools in Scotland. The Scottish Government does collect data from local authorities in order to collate a list of schools regarded as rural for the purposes of the Schools (Consultation)(Scotland) Act 2010. The most recent rural schools list was published on 25 October 2021 - Rural schools in Scotland - gov.scot (www.gov.scot) . The rural schools list includes those schools the relevant local authority has mothballed. The 2021 rural schools list shows that 21 schools were reported as being mothballed. The following table shows how many rural schools are mothballed by local authority area.

Forestry and Land Scotland (FLS) do not undertake any road upgrades, or build new roads, for the purpose of windfarm development. FLS include the right for a windfarm developer to upgrade roads or build new roads, at their expense, within a lease agreement. FLS will only enter into a lease and permit civil engineering works relating to windfarm construction once the development has received planning approval.

The UK Government’s Review of Electricity Market Arrangements (REMA) provides an opportunity to take a whole systems view of our future electricity market and consider how it can be reformed to support further renewable deployment, ensure security of supply and reduce costs for consumers. We are clear that any reforms should support a fair and just transition to net zero. We provided a response to the second REMA consultation on 3 May.

We are aware of the potential impacts, both positive and negative, that locational marginal pricing could have for market participants, and we are cognisant of concerns expressed by the renewables industry in Scotland. We are also aware of potential benefits for consumers, including those in or at risk of fuel poverty, as well as for the decarbonisation of industry, heat and transport through electrification. We continue to call on the UK Government to act quickly to provide further clarity on market reform options.

SSEN have shared with the Scottish Government that they estimate that a volume of approximately 1700 cubic metres of peat has been disturbed. SSEN have suggested that the loss was generally the surface layer of peat in the area. SSEN have confirmed to the Scottish Government that they are working with key stakeholders and environmental specialists to put in place a plan for safe restoration and reinstatement.

SSEN have informed the Scottish Government that the landslide is not connected to the construction of the Viking Wind Farm but took place at SSEN Transmission’s Kergord Substation, which is currently under construction. We understand that there is no impact to the nearby Viking Wind Farm or the Shetland HVDC link.