Meeting of the Parliament 03 September 2024
Martin Whitfield raises a hugely important point. I note that the risk profile would be owned by the local authority, not by the central Government. The authority would have the data on the individual pupils in its cohort, and it would know and understand which of its pupils were care experienced. I would expect headteachers in schools to consider that in their application of the policy. To go back to a previous question from a member, I expect headteachers to work with their cohort on the basis of that risk profile, and to address the needs of, and to support accordingly, pupils who might need access to a mobile phone throughout the school day.
Nevertheless, Martin Whitfield raises an important point. It is also worth my while to remind members that, through the Scottish attainment challenge, there is a specific funding stream that supports looked-after children and care-experienced young people. In addition, through mechanisms such as the virtual school headteachers network, for example, we have been able to support care-experienced young people and get them back into school when, perhaps, in the past they might, for a variety of reasons, not have been able to engage.
We will always work with local authorities to that end. I have set out some of the examples at national level, but with regard to the risk profile, the data set belongs to local authorities, and the legislation sets out that statutory responsibility rests with them.