Meeting of the Parliament 29 October 2015
Thank you, Presiding Officer. I say to Mr Finnie that I absolutely accept that, and the Government’s move in that direction is a welcome step. There is an argument in the Gaelic community about whether it goes far enough, but I am sure that we will debate that in committee at stage 2.
There is a further issue around Gaelic that members might be interested in discussing. Our report notes that the bill treats early learning, primary education and secondary education differently, and we asked for an explanation of the circumstances in which the Scottish Government would make regulations on Gaelic early learning and childcare. Its response notes that Gaelic-medium education is most effective when it is provided from a young age, but that early learning and childcare were not included in the bill as it
“was not the right time to introduce another duty that would impact on a sector that was already undergoing considerable change”.
Instead, the Scottish Government intends to have discussions about the most appropriate time to bring forward regulations under the power.
I now want to briefly highlight two other provisions. First, the committee agreed with the proposal that education authorities should appoint an officer to provide them with advice on their educational functions, although we noted that most authorities already have such a person in post. Our report also asked questions about how the role of chief education officer would work in practice, and the Scottish Government’s response notes that there are on-going discussions on the matter. Again, I would be grateful if the minister could provide an update on that in summing up.
On a separate note, I appreciate the detailed consideration that the Scottish Government has given to our and stakeholders’ comments on the bill’s provisions on additional support for learning. They are complex and technical, and I am sure that we will have a lot to say about them during stage 2. It is a particularly complex area, and I am glad that the Scottish Government has sought to clear up some of the factual misunderstandings, thereby allowing the debate to focus on the substantive policy issues.
The Education (Scotland) Bill is a substantial bill with many different provisions. As we know, two more are due to be added by the Government at stage 2.
I conclude by thanking all those who provided evidence to the committee, the Scottish Parliament information centre and our committee clerks, to whom we are very grateful for all the work that they do to support us. I also thank my fellow committee members for their detailed consideration of the bill and the Scottish Government for its willingness to listen to our views as expressed in our stage 1 report.
15:00