Meeting of the Parliament (Hybrid) 23 September 2020
No, I do not, because the overwhelming majority—[Interruption.] The overwhelming majority of teaching posts are permanent posts, which I would have thought that a former teacher would have known something about.
The Government is also making a range of other investments to support struggling families. We have introduced a national minimum school clothing grant of £100 to help more families afford to meet school uniform costs. Our expansion of free school meals saves families with children in P1 to P3 an average of £400 per child, per year and it means that children are being provided with a nutritious meal at the heart of the day. We are leading the way as the only Administration in the UK to offer bursary support targeted specifically at care-experienced students. ?That and more has been done to directly help struggling families.
We have also put more resources into the hands of schools through the pupil equity fund. That makes teachers the decision makers on how best to invest in their schools. Earlier this year, we confirmed that, for the first time, more than £250 million in pupil equity funding will be available to 97 per cent of schools in this school year and the next.
National evidence shows that that focus is making a real difference. The attainment gap between the most and least disadvantaged has narrowed on most indicators, with 95 per cent of school leavers in a positive destination such as study, work or training three months after leaving school in 2019, which is up from 87.7 per cent in 2009-10, and most headteachers have indicated that the poverty-related attainment gap in their school is closing as a consequence of the Government’s investment in the Scottish attainment challenge.
We know that lockdown has been particularly difficult for pupils and families from the most disadvantaged communities. One result of Covid-19 is a widening of the attainment gap, which is why it is key that we continue to act by investing in extra teachers, digital learning and youth work to ensure that we close the poverty-related attainment gap.