Meeting of the Parliament 15 May 2019
PEF reaches 95 per cent of schools in Scotland. I appreciate that there are challenges around the distribution mechanism, and my officials are engaged with local authorities to find another way of ensuring that we spread that funding and support even further.
I was surprised to see that, in Mr Scott’s motion, which refers to
“staff conditions, recruitment and retention”,
he made no reference whatsoever to the pay deal that we have negotiated with Scotland’s teaching professional associations that resulted in a 13 per cent increase for all teachers as a minimum over a three-year period. There is not a single mention of it.
One of the challenges that we have faced with the recruitment and retention of teachers has been that ministers, including me as the finance minister, have had to apply public sector pay constraints. Why did we have to apply those public sector pay constraints? We had to apply them because of the austerity that was created by the Liberal and Conservative Government after 2010. If we are going to have a complete debate about this, let us have a complete debate about it.
We have been able to make progress on teacher numbers. We now have the highest number of teachers in our classrooms since 2010. However, one of the issues that troubles our teachers is the provision for additional support needs in our schools. I welcome the interest in that subject from the Education and Skills Committee, and I am writing to the convener to set out the Government’s response to the committee’s work.
Part of that response is that the Government is preparing to undertake a review of co-ordinated support plans. I know that Ross Greer has raised that in the committee and I do not doubt that he will cover it during today’s debate. We will consider how to strengthen the guidance and other support that is available to education authorities on co-ordinated support plans, and we will develop that work in partnership with stakeholders to ensure that, in every respect, we are meeting the needs of every pupil in our country.
One of the most important things that we have to focus on is what is achieved by our learners, and this relates directly to the Education and Skills Committee’s inquiry, which is under way. Our learners are achieving more in Scottish education. They are going on to better destinations than they have ever gone on to before, with more than 94 per cent of young people going to a positive destination within three months of leaving school. That is the outcome—