Hansard

On 23 June, I confirmed to Parliament that the collective efforts of the people of Scotland to suppress coronavirus had enabled us to bring forward our plans to reopen schools, with the aim that they should be open to all pupils on a full-time basis from August.

Since then, we have continued to see improvements in the data, we have benefited from further, detailed scientific advice and we have witnessed a relaxation of some of the wider restrictions that were placed on non-essential aspects of everyday life. In Scotland, the infection rate in the general population is currently reducing by 30 per cent each week, which means that there are now only around 700 infectious people in Scotland, compared with 1,300 four weeks ago and 5,000 at the end of May.

Although our country has had to wrestle with the loss of so many of our citizens to Covid, there have been no deaths among people under 16 years of age, and, by 12 July, only 42 of the 5,939 hospitalisations had been of people aged under 15. That represents less than 0.01 per cent of the population in that age group and demonstrates an important message about the relative risk for school-age children.

Today, I will update Parliament on progress towards fully reopening schools in August and set out how we will address the wider impacts of the virus on the health and wellbeing and educational progress and attainment of our children and young people.

We are now about halfway through the school summer holidays. I want to express my appreciation to parents and carers for their support for young people, to the teaching and wider workforce across Scotland for their efforts to sustain education, and to children and young people for their resilience during this difficult period.

Throughout this crisis, the Scottish Government has been open when speaking with members of the public and in providing updates to Parliament. I have taken many opportunities to seek views from parents, teachers and young people on how the Covid situation and our journey out of lockdown are impacting on their lives. We know for certain that children and young people from across all age groups will have experienced some negative effects from being unable to attend school and from living in a world restricted by physical distancing. We know that academic learning, peer relationships, safety, wellbeing and mental health are all at risk. It is both a moral and an educational imperative that we lift those restrictions on our children and young people as soon as we know that it is safe to do so.

Last Thursday, our Covid-19 advisory sub-group on education and children’s issues published its latest scientific advice. The advisory group set out that we needed to consider the protection of the public from Covid alongside the need to address the other harms that are caused to children and young people by absence from school. It was clear in its advice that there was an overwhelming justification for the reopening of schools, with appropriate mitigating approaches in place, and that, on balance, that would be significantly better for the wellbeing of children and young people.

The advisory group specifically examined information on physical distancing and safe school transport. That advice, which draws on multidisciplinary evidence from within Scotland as well as internationally, makes it clear that, subject to complementary risk mitigation measures being implemented, there is no requirement for physical distancing between children in primary schools. Although the advisory group recommended that, on balance, no physical distancing is needed among secondary school pupils, it noted that the position was less clear in that respect.

After carefully considering that advice and the views of stakeholders, the education recovery group is developing guidance that involves taking extra precautions and envisages that secondary schools will be asked to take a practical approach to maintaining distancing between pupils where possible.

That could be accomplished, for example, by managing the flow of pupils and staff within schools and adjusting the layout of classrooms, always subject to that not reducing capacity within schools.

That approach, which is similar to that set out in the guidance developed by the Welsh Government and the Department for Education, means that pupils should be able to return to both primary and secondary schools full time, with appropriate mitigations in place.

The advice recommends that staff should observe 2m physical distancing from pupils wherever possible, and it is important that this point is reflected in advice.

Regarding transport, it is the view of the scientific advisers that dedicated school transport should be regarded as an extension of the school estate and, therefore, that physical distancing between pupils will not be necessary. The guidance will be developed to reflect that view and will set out a proportionate approach towards ensuring the safety and wellbeing of children, young people and transport staff.

I want to make it clear that the advice remains conditional on continued low rates of infection, effective surveillance measures and a process for handling any local outbreaks.

We are working with our partners in the education recovery group to produce guidance by 30 July that would enable schools to reopen in August. A final decision regarding whether we are in a position to reopen schools full time and for all pupils will be taken by the Cabinet on 29 July and will be set out to Parliament next Thursday. We will then introduce an educational continuity direction to implement the provisions that are agreed.

Importantly, that guidance is being developed in partnership with local government, unions representing teachers and other school staff, parents’ representatives and public health representatives. This represents a shared commitment to provide parents, pupils, teachers and other staff with the reassurance that they need.

Clear communication with all staff, parents, providers and trade unions on the reopening of schools will be important as we develop and implement the guidance, to ensure that all those concerned understand the required changes and are confident in the revised arrangements.

Local authorities or schools will be in touch with parents regarding the specific arrangements for the return of children and young people to school. We know that, across different local authorities and within each local authority, there will be a range of unique challenges to address. There will be a need for some degree of flexibility in finalising the detailed arrangements for the new term.

Some schools and local authorities may phase children back in to school where necessary to provide assurance on safety. Those issues will need to be addressed by individual schools through risk assessments to identify the appropriate actions and put them in place.

The guidance will sit alongside similar information for early learning and childcare, other childcare services, youth work and community learning and development activity. This suite of national guidance is designed to help all our partners to operate within the clear public health measures. The guidance will set out the comprehensive package of protocols that are necessary to reduce the risk of transmission of the virus, as well as advice on practical arrangements.

Important school mitigations will include good hand hygiene practices, ventilation and improved cleaning regimes. Those school mitigations are about working together to protect and support each other. A number of specific public health measures will also be in place in schools, including test and protect, outbreak management and quick access to testing for all symptomatic staff and pupils. We shall also be monitoring very closely cases of the virus in schools, drawing on our tried and tested community surveillance and on existing healthcare surveillance measures.

In addition, we are currently developing proposals for a targeted enhanced surveillance programme, which will allow us to cast more light on any impact on pupils and staff in schools throughout the country. These measures will provide reassurance and will allow adjustments to be made, either to ease further or to tighten up, in the light of clear evidence of developments on the ground.

As we progress, we know that we must continue to be ambitious, to be led by the evidence and to work in partnership with others. There will almost certainly be additional costs involved, and the £100 million of additional investment that I announced in June demonstrates our commitment to this agenda.

As part of that new funding, we are ring fencing £50 million specifically for the recruitment of additional teachers and support staff for the academic year 2020-21. That will enable schools to intensify support for children and young people as they return to face-to-face education and will help to mitigate any learning loss.

Although I stress that final numbers will depend on the precise mix of staff recruited and the needs of children and young people, I expect that the money will provide sufficient funding for approximately 850 extra teachers and give local authorities the flexibility to bring in around 200 support staff in schools across Scotland, subject to final agreement with our Convention of Scottish Local Authorities partners.

Everyone in the school workforce has a crucial role to play in our education recovery mission, and it is vital that they are supported to do so. I do not underestimate the logistical challenges involved in reopening our schools safely, whether in providing enhanced cleaning services or in addressing continuing capacity constraints on school transport.

For that reason, I confirm that I intend to allocate a further £20 million of funding to local authorities to help to address those additional requirements. That allocation recognises the extremely valuable work of our school cleaners and facilities management and school transport staff, who are essential to the successful delivery of education in Scotland and to whom I pay tribute.

Although that funding should provide local authorities with the assurance that they require to progress plans immediately, we will continue to work with COSLA to understand the additional costs associated with the school reopening guidance that each local authority is facing and how those costs can be addressed alongside any loss of learning. COSLA has advised us that it will share the outcomes of the cost-collection exercise associated with the school reopening guidance, authority by authority, as soon as it has completed that work. We will take a responsible approach to supporting local authorities as we move forward, and the level of funding will require regular, rigorous and transparent monitoring of costs.

I make it clear that that funding is on top of the additional support that we have already made available. That has included providing local authorities or schools with enhanced flexibility of £182 million of attainment Scotland funding and the ability to redirect up to £508 million as a result of suspending the provision of 1,140 hours of early learning and childcare. We have provided a £350 million package of community and wellbeing funding to support those in need. In addition, we have provided local authorities with a further £27.6 million to continue the provision of free school meals and wider food support to families through the summer holidays.

We are investing £30 million as part of a huge digital boost through the provision of laptops for disadvantaged children and young people. That includes £25 million of funding to enable a roll-out of digital devices to school pupils to enable them to study online.

When these measures are considered alongside the range of other measures, the Scottish Government will have made available or provided flexibility of more than £1 billion across local authorities to tackle the impact of coronavirus and ensure that children get the support that they need.

I mentioned in my statement on 23 June that we would be seeking the assistance of the youth work sector in supporting those families and communities who need it most. The sector has continued to support and engage children and young people throughout the pandemic, including through the use of digital technology and outreach work, to mitigate the impact of Covid-19 on the mental health, learning and development of children and young people. I take the opportunity today to reinforce that commitment by announcing that we will make a further £3 million investment in youth work to support education recovery.

As well as providing important updates on the practical and logistical preparations for reopening schools, I restate our vision and ambition for education in Scotland. Our collective aim is to achieve excellence and equity for all children. Our education recovery mission must be to further improve Scottish education and accelerate progress in closing the poverty-related attainment gap.

At the outset of this planning, our partners in the education recovery group agreed five guiding principles to ensure that the child is always placed at the centre of our considerations. We agreed that our approach must be safe, fair, ethical, clear and realistic.

The guidance and health mitigations that we are developing, based on scientific advice, will be designed to demonstrate to parents, carers, staff and pupils that it is safe for schools to reopen, subject to the continued suppression of the virus. A final decision on the reopening of schools will be announced on 30 July.

The plans for blended learning remain an essential contingency, which could be applied at local, regional or national level, if needed. I am grateful to local authorities for their continuing work to refine their local plans for blended learning, with appropriate challenge from Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Education.

In parallel, Education Scotland is expanding its close working with e-Sgoil to ensure the availability of online lessons that will help to support and augment the work of classroom teachers when schools reopen. E-Sgoil will train additional teachers to provide online lessons, across a range of subjects, which learners in the senior phase across Scotland can access via the glow network. Partners are now working together so that the lessons are designed, in the mediums of English and Gaelic, to complement what is being delivered in local schools.

This statement has inevitably focused on the many practical and logistical issues around the reopening of schools. It is vital, however, that the work is set in the context of the moral and educational imperative of delivering education to every one of our children and young people. They have suffered during lockdown, and the Government and our partners are focused on putting in place the opportunity to access school to support their wellbeing and develop their potential. That drive must lie at the heart of all that we do.