Chamber
Meeting of the Parliament 17 January 2024
17 Jan 2024 · S6 · Meeting of the Parliament
Item of business
Education
—to protect Scotland’s children from the impacts of Westminster austerity. That is why we have invested in the Scottish child payment, lifting an estimated 90,000 children out of poverty this year. It is why we are investing in the most generous free school meals provision of any nation in the United Kingdom. The 2024-25 budget also commits to further roll-out in relation to the Scottish childcare element of that.
Presiding Officer, I am conscious of time, but there is a lot to be positive about in Scottish education. We have record attainment levels in primary schools, a record low attainment gap in literacy in primary schools, exam passes at above pre-pandemic levels, and the highest investment per pupil and the lowest pupil teacher ratio in the UK.
In the same item of business
The Deputy Presiding Officer (Annabelle Ewing)
SNP
The next item of business is a debate on motion S6M-11875, in the name of Pam Duncan-Glancy, on stand up for quality education. I invite members who wish to ...
Pam Duncan-Glancy (Glasgow) (Lab)
Lab
My party and I have long believed that education can be a great leveller, spreading opportunity for all, and that it should be built on the values of opportu...
The Cabinet Secretary for Education and Skills (Jenny Gilruth)
SNP
The Labour motion refers to the programme for international student assessment results, teacher workload, additional support needs, challenging behaviour, wo...
Pam Duncan-Glancy
Lab
Will the cabinet secretary give way?
Jenny Gilruth
SNP
I am happy to give way to Ms Duncan-Glancy.
Pam Duncan-Glancy
Lab
With respect, the motion includes all those things because they are interconnected. For too long, parents, teachers and pupils have seen this Government pick...
Jenny Gilruth
SNP
I am not necessarily sure that I agree with the rationale behind Ms Duncan-Glancy’s thinking. Her motion looks to me a bit like a copy-and-paste job. Nonethe...
Martin Whitfield (South Scotland) (Lab)
Lab
I am grateful to the cabinet secretary for mentioning the ACEL data. Are those the same teachers that we did not trust with the assessments during Covid or w...
Jenny Gilruth
SNP
I am not sure that I understand the member’s point in relation to what happened during the pandemic. However, it is important that we look at a broad range o...
Daniel Johnson (Edinburgh Southern) (Lab)
Lab
Will the cabinet secretary give way?
The Deputy Presiding Officer
SNP
The cabinet secretary is in her last 20 seconds.
Jenny Gilruth
SNP
—to protect Scotland’s children from the impacts of Westminster austerity. That is why we have invested in the Scottish child payment, lifting an estimated 9...
The Deputy Presiding Officer
SNP
Cabinet secretary, you need to conclude.
Jenny Gilruth
SNP
I have been clear in acknowledging the challenges, but I am asking once again for all members to engage constructively in the debate, because it is only by w...
The Deputy Presiding Officer
SNP
Thank you, cabinet secretary.
Jenny Gilruth
SNP
I move amendment S6M-11875.2, to leave out from “and the conclusions” to end and insert: “which highlight areas for improvement in Scottish education, parti...
The Deputy Presiding Officer
SNP
We have no time in hand to speak of, so I invite members to stick to the time that they have agreed to. Members have actually agreed to their speaking slots,...
Liam Kerr (North East Scotland) (Con)
Con
This is an incredibly important debate, because I think that we would all agree that education is the key brief in sorting out the myriad of issues that Scot...
Willie Rennie (North East Fife) (LD)
LD
I hope that it will be a constructive and reasonable Willie Rennie who makes this contribution.
Jenny Gilruth
SNP
Let us see.
Willie Rennie
LD
It might not last, but. Actually, I have some serious issues to raise, some of which we raised this morning in the Education, Children and Young People Comm...
The Deputy Presiding Officer
SNP
We move to the open debate. 15:17
Michael Marra (North East Scotland) (Lab)
Lab
I thank my colleague Pam Duncan-Glancy for bringing the motion to the chamber on behalf of Scottish Labour. She was right to begin by highlighting the PISA s...
The Deputy Presiding Officer
SNP
Mr Marra, you need to conclude.
Michael Marra
Lab
The solution that is coming forward from this Government will result in all the money that they have paid being lost.
The Deputy Presiding Officer
SNP
I call Kate Forbes, who joins us remotely. 15:21
Kate Forbes (Skye, Lochaber and Badenoch) (SNP)
SNP
Forgive me for not being present, although it might be timely to spare a thought for the many young Highland pupils who are off school today due to the snow ...
The Deputy Presiding Officer
SNP
Ms Forbes, you need to bring your remarks to a close, please.
Kate Forbes
SNP
I will close there. 15:26
Alex Rowley (Mid Scotland and Fife) (Lab)
Lab
The cabinet secretary talked about the number of issues that are in the Labour motion. I know that she is busy talking just now, but I suggest to her that we...