Meeting of the Parliament 04 March 2026 [Draft]
In what is all but guaranteed to be the last education debate in this session of Parliament, I begin by paying tribute to Scotland’s children and young people.
This is the generation who experienced their education in the teeth of a global pandemic. The upset caused by Covid and associated lockdowns has impacted on schooling and education globally. Changed behaviour, lower attendance rates and growing additional support needs are not factors unique to Scotland. Indeed, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization estimates that more than 1.6 billion students have been impacted by the pandemic, with the most vulnerable learners being hit hardest. I hope that members will hold those vulnerable young people—those most on the margins—in their thoughts this afternoon and will think critically about how the Parliament will serve them better in the next session.
I am grateful to the Liberal Democrats for selecting education in this last Opposition debate. It will not come as a surprise to Willie Rennie, however, that I am a bit disappointed in the tone that has been adopted, because I simply do not recognise the education system that he has attempted to portray here today. However, as members will know, this Government is an advocate of supporting positive behaviour in our schools, so I will attempt to apply the same approach in the chamber this afternoon.
I again wish to put on the record my sincere thanks to Willie Rennie and his party, in the first instance, for voting to back this Government’s budget, which was passed only last Thursday. That budget is helping to provide an extra £3 million of funding in 2026-27 to further expand eligibility for free school meals, funding of up to £200 million to continue the Scottish Government’s commitment to closing the poverty-related attainment gap, and continued investment of more than £57 million to support children and families with additional support needs.