Chamber
Meeting of the Parliament (Virtual) 23 July 2020
23 Jul 2020 · S5 · Meeting of the Parliament
Item of business
Progress Towards Reopening Schools
I thank the cabinet secretary for early sight of his statement. Schools are due to open in just over two weeks, yet we still have no final decision, councils still do not have the additional resources that they need and guidance on risk mitigation is still being written. The Government has never had a route map for the return of schools, and it still does not have one—it still looks as though it is making it up at the last minute.
The number of additional teachers referred to today amount to fewer than half a staff member per school, and councils have two weeks left to try to recruit them. Hundreds—perhaps thousands—of newly qualified teachers, probationer teachers, supply teachers and retired teachers, who all want to help to get their schools back, still cannot get a job. Surely, we need to use every available qualified teacher we can. How ready are we, really? How many additional teachers have been recruited? What proportion of school buildings have been risk assessed for the return of pupils?
As for mitigation, anyone over the age of five is wearing face coverings in shops. Can it really be the case that nobody is to wear a face covering in schools?
In the same item of business
The Deputy Presiding Officer (Christine Grahame)
SNP
Good afternoon. The first item of business is a statement by John Swinney to update Parliament on progress towards reopening schools. The cabinet secretary w...
The Deputy First Minister and Cabinet Secretary for Education and Skills (John Swinney)
SNP
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...
The Deputy Presiding Officer
SNP
We have around 30 minutes for questions, after which we must move on to the next item of business. Members who wish to ask a question should type “R” in the ...
Jamie Greene (West Scotland) (Con)
Con
I thank the cabinet secretary for advance sight of his statement. Given the progress that we have made in tackling Covid-19, the question that many people st...
John Swinney
SNP
Mr Greene has asked four questions. First of all, the Government has made clear that the planning assumption is to reopen schools full time to all pupils in ...
Iain Gray (East Lothian) (Lab)
Lab
I thank the cabinet secretary for early sight of his statement. Schools are due to open in just over two weeks, yet we still have no final decision, councils...
John Swinney
SNP
Our dialogue with local authorities on the recruitment of teachers is under way. We are setting out to local authorities the financial support that is availa...
The Deputy Presiding Officer
SNP
I have 13 questioners and 20 minutes for them, so the usual mantra applies: there should be short questions and answers, so that everybody gets their shot.
Ross Greer (West Scotland) (Green)
Green
I am grateful for today’s update from the Deputy First Minister. He has confirmed that the routine testing that the Greens called for will not be offered to ...
John Swinney
SNP
On Mr Greer’s final question, the answer is yes. Risk assessments must be carried out in schools to support the resumption of schooling for young people and ...
Beatrice Wishart (Shetland Islands) (LD)
LD
It is right to prioritise the health and wellbeing of pupils when schools return, as young people might have experienced trauma during lockdown. However, tea...
John Swinney
SNP
We expect the overwhelming majority of those counsellors to be in place by September 2020. However, because of the disruption of Covid to the recruitment pro...
Gail Ross (Caithness, Sutherland and Ross) (SNP)
SNP
The recent report from the advisory sub-group on education and children’s issues states that activities that cross classes and age groups, such as assemblies...
John Swinney
SNP
I am afraid that, for obvious reasons, we must proceed cautiously with activities that involve large gatherings, such as whole-school assemblies and choirs. ...
Jamie Halcro Johnston (Highlands and Islands) (Con)
Con
The education secretary said that “plans for blended learning remain an essential contingency”. However, the Scottish Government’s failure to address sever...
John Swinney
SNP
We are now in the school holidays. We are working with local authorities to make sure that the 25,000 devices that we have ordered are in the hands of school...
Stuart McMillan (Greenock and Inverclyde) (SNP)
SNP
I welcome the £20 million that has been allocated to support schools with other costs that they will face as they introduce the new health protection and cle...
John Swinney
SNP
Those resources will be allocated to individual local authorities and it will be up to them to decide how to utilise those resources to support their priorit...
Daniel Johnson (Edinburgh Southern) (Lab)
Lab
Inaudible.—proportion of the existing teaching workforce will be unable to return for the new school year because of shielding and other coronavirus-related ...
The Deputy Presiding Officer
SNP
Did you manage to get all of that, cabinet secretary?
John Swinney
SNP
I think that I caught most of it, Presiding Officer. As Mr Johnson may have heard in the First Minister’s statement earlier today, we expect that shielding ...
Gillian Martin (Aberdeenshire East) (SNP)
SNP
Many pupils in my constituency rely on school buses to get to school. The Deputy First Minister has advised that social distancing will not be needed on scho...
John Swinney
SNP
The rationale behind the advice that our expert group has provided to us is that the prevalence of coronavirus among children and young people is very low an...
Alexander Stewart (Mid Scotland and Fife) (Con)
Con
Given that the cabinet secretary promised to offer all newly qualified teachers guaranteed employment for the next academic year, I welcome the funding to wh...
John Swinney
SNP
The Government is allocating resources to enable local authorities to employ additional newly qualified teachers. The funding will be ring fenced to ensure t...
Emma Harper (South Scotland) (SNP)
SNP
What support will be available for pupils who might have to self-isolate for two weeks, to ensure that they do not fall behind with their school work and tha...
John Swinney
SNP
That is one of the issues that I suspect will be an on-going feature of our education system in the period ahead. Coronavirus has not disappeared; cases will...
Claire Baker (Mid Scotland and Fife) (Lab)
Lab
There has been a level of inconsistency in the educational offer across schools, which risks increasing the attainment gap. After the cabinet secretary’s mos...
John Swinney
SNP
The Government is taking forward the necessary work to identify all the issues, factors and responses inherent in an equity audit. That will enable us to ide...
John Mason (Glasgow Shettleston) (SNP)
SNP
I have been contacted by peripatetic teachers, who go around different schools and who have a lot of contact with different teachers and with a range of pupi...