Seòmar agus comataidhean

The International and European Relations draft budget of £26.5m for 2021-22 will be spent pursuing our engagement at home and internationally to enhance Scotland's reputation and increase sustainable economic growth, and promote Scotland as a great place to live, visit, work and do business. A breakdown of how this has been distributed has been published on the Scottish Parliament website https://beta.parliament.scot/chamber-and-committees
/research-prepared-for-parliament/financial-scrutiny

The increase of £2.1m from the 2020-21 budget is due to the Migration Strategy budget moving from the Finance Portfolio into the Constitution Europe & External Affairs Portfolio.

Supporting the health and wellbeing of our teachers and lecturers, other school and college staff and learners is of paramount importance and we are committed to ensuring that learners can be fairly assessed this year. The National Qualifications 2021 Group has clarified that there is no expectation that schools or colleges hold prelims. It is for schools and colleges to decide on the best assessment approaches, and timings, for gathering learner evidence. This approach provides local flexibility to plan assessments against local circumstances in these unique times.

I am aware that some schools and colleges will already have held prelims, and these may contribute towards evidence and teachers’ and lecturers’ determination of the provisional results for National Qualifications courses. However, while results from prelims which have been held or which are planned can contribute to learner evidence, schools and colleges will be drawing on a wider range of evidence in arriving at the provisional results for individual learners this year. These results will be subject to local and national quality assurance. These provisional results are to be submitted to the Scottish Qualifications Authority by the later date of 18 June 2021.

The priority for schools and colleges at this time should be to maximise learning and teaching, and consolidate learning, with final assessments of learner attainment to inform the provisional results taking place later in the 2020-21 session.

The Scottish Government provides a bi-annual report to the Culture, Tourism, Europe and External Affairs Committee on progress with the 1+2 approach. Our most recent report to the committee was considered on 14 January: https://www.parliament.scot/S5_European/Meeting%20Papers/20210114_MeetingPapers.pdf .

We continue to prioritise support for the 1+2 approach, with £35.6 m invested since 2013 to enable local authorities to implement it in schools. This includes £2.4 m announced on 1 February to support consolidation of progress so far.

We also provide over £1 m each year to partners to support professional learning for teachers, pedagogy and leadership, immersion courses, and the provision of language assistants.

Our 2019 survey of local authorities on 1+2 implementation showed good progress with delivering the entitlement to learning a first additional language. A report is available at: https://www.gov.scot/publications/12-languages-implementation-findings-2019-local-authority-survey/ .

To avoid adding to schools’ workload during the pandemic, a survey was not distributed in 2020. Officials are considering how and when a new survey should be issued.

Local authorities and schools have responsibility for delivering a curriculum that meets the needs of learners in their areas and running multi-level course classes is one approach that schools use to increase the amount of choice available to their pupils.

In 2019, the Scottish Government commissioned an Independent Review of Scotland’s Curriculum for Excellence, by the Organisation for Economic‎ Co-operation and Development (OECD). This review is intended to help us better understand how the curriculum is being designed and implemented in schools and to identify areas for improvement across the country. It is due to report in June 2021 and the recommendations from that report will be vital in helping us to ensure that Scotland’s education framework continues to deliver quality learning and positive outcomes for all young people.

Subject to local partners’ agreement, the Scottish Government plans establish increased symptomatic mobile testing unit coverage and further asymptomatic testing coverage across Ayrshire.

The legal requirements that apply to travel and, in Level 4 areas, to leaving one’s home without a reasonable excuse are set out in the Health Protection (Coronavirus) (Restrictions and Requirements) (Local Levels) (Scotland) Regulations 2020. They are designed to allow, amongst other things, local outdoor exercise by permitting that to start and finish at a place in the local authority area in which a person lives or is within 5 miles of that area. Guidance stresses that people should stay as close to home as possible including by travelling no further than they need to reach to a safe, non-crowded place to exercise in a socially distanced way.

From 18 January all people arriving in Scotland from outside the Common Travel Area (UK, Republic of Ireland, the Channel Islands and the Isle of Man) have to self-isolate for 10 full days. They must also have a valid negative COVID-19 test result, taken no more than three days before the scheduled time of departure.

During the contact tracing process, information is collected on whether a positive case has travelled outside of Scotland. This figures set out confirmed cases who, when interviewed, reported that they had travelled outside Scotland.

As published by PHS in the weekly Covid Statistical briefing:

I refer the member to the information sent to all MSP’s dated 23 December 2020 which provides the prioritisation information requested.

Statistics on pupils not in school due to Covid-19 related reasons can be found here: COVID19-SchoolsandChildcareInformation - SG Education Analytical Services: Learning Analysis | Tableau Public

Pupils are recorded as being not in school due to Covid-19 related reasons if:

The school is closed due to Covid-19

The pupil is self isolating in relation to Covid-19

The pupil is displaying symptoms of Covid-19 or have tested positive for Covid-19

The pupil's parent(s) chose to keep them away from school as a precautionary measure contrary to public health guidance

We recognise that travel agents have been severely hit by the Covid pandemic and it is vital that we support them through the crisis. £5.1 million of the £185 million fund will be made available to travel agents. This covers agencies, limited companies and sole traders that sell outbound travel services to customers for business and/or leisure purposes. Local authorities will contact those businesses which are eligible for the support.

In addition, the Job Retention Scheme and Self Employed Income Support Scheme are essential to protect jobs and livelihoods across all sectors in Scotland. We have repeatedly called on the UK Government to ensure this support will continue to be available to businesses and workers for as long as is required.