Over the next three years the Scottish Government will invest in a new programme of work to support early intervention in speech and language for children and their families, helping to build confidence and capacity for staff working in early learning and childcare settings, and joining up efforts across other key public services, such as health visiting.

In our Best Start - strategic early learning and school age childcare plan 2022 to 2026, we outlined a commitment to invest in a new programme of work to support early intervention in speech and language. As part of that work we are recruiting six Full Time Equivalent Regional Leads for Early Years Speech and Language – in collaboration with Education Scotland.

The leads will be based in each region in Scotland, aligned to Regional Improvement Collaboratives. We anticipate that their work will improve outcomes for children’s speech and language across Scotland, by setting up new stakeholder networks, supporting frontline staff, promoting quality improvement and learning from best practice.

The Scottish Government does not gather this information. It is for local authorities to determine how they deliver the service to suit the needs and circumstances of children and young people in their area. We produced guidance to support local authorities, available at: Access to counselling in secondary schools: guidance - gov.scot (www.gov.scot)

The Scottish Government have invested £16m per year in order to ensure that children and young people have quick and effective access to support for their mental health and wellbeing through counsellors in schools. Local authorities provide six-monthly reports to the Scottish Government on this commitment. The reports confirm that the overall picture on improving children and young people’s outcomes is positive.

A summary of the reports can be found here: Access to counsellors in secondary schools and children and young people’s community mental health services – summary reports - gov.scot (www.gov.scot) . We will publish a summary of the 2022 reports in the coming weeks, which will include the number of counsellors local authorities reported were in post.

I will lead the summit on behaviour and relationships in our schools, with the first stage of the taking place on 5 September. The views and experiences of school staff will be central to the summit process, which is focusing on practical support at classroom, school and local level to make a difference on this issue.

A multi-stage approach to the summit is planned to ensure the issues are considered in detail and to allow the later stages of the summit to benefit from the latest data following the publication of the Behaviour in Scottish Schools research. This research will provide a robust national picture in relation to behaviour in Scotland’s schools when it publishes in Autumn this year.

As well as our plans for the summit, I convened a Headteacher taskforce which includes representatives from across the education sector. The taskforce met in June and we considered the issue of school exclusions and consequences. We will use these discussions to inform our approach to the summit.

I will continue to update Cabinet colleagues in the usual manner.

The General Teaching Council for Scotland’s (GTCS) Standard for Full Registration, which is the benchmark for competence required of all registered teachers, outlines that all teachers are required to demonstrate a depth of knowledge and understanding of pedagogical and learning theories, and draw on these appropriately to inform practice in areas such as dyslexia. Furthermore, the GTCS Guidelines for Accreditation of Initial Teacher Education Programmes, are clear that programmes should expose all students to national priorities and pedagogies to develop their understanding and practice in areas such as dyslexia.

Over 700 teachers have GTCS registration in additional support needs which is available to those with appropriate qualifications.

The Scottish Government collects information on the condition, suitability and capacity of all local authority schools in the annual School Estates Core Facts Survey. Information is also collected on schools that were built or substantially refurbished during the previous year. The latest School Estate Statistics were published on 5 September and are available on the Scottish Government website .

The Scottish Government’s School Estates Core Facts Survey show that we have a record number of schools in “good” or “satisfactory” condition in Scotland. Moreover, the proportion of schools in “good” or “satisfactory” condition has increased from 61% in April 2007 to 90.7% in April 2023.

The Scottish Government publishes statistics showing the number of young people who were in a positive destination three months and nine months after the end of each school year. These statistics are available on a comparable basis for school leavers from academic years 2009-10 to 2021-22. They cover all young people who left from a publicly funded mainstream secondary school in Scotland.

Table 1 shows the numbers and proportions of school leavers in a positive "initial" destination, three months after the end of the school year, for 2009-10 to 2021-22. Table 2 provides the same information for "follow-up" destinations, nine months after the end of the school year.

Positive destinations are: higher education, further education, employment, training, voluntary work, activity agreements (from 2010-11 to 2017-18 inclusive) and personal skills development.

The time period covered by these statistics means they contain data that will be affected by the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. The pandemic could have affected the opportunities available to some school leavers, either directly or due to an impact on attainment caused by the alternative approaches taken to grading National Qualifications in 2020, 2021 and 2022. This should be kept in mind when making comparisons over time.

Table 1. Number and percentage of school leavers in a positive initial destination, three months after the end of the school year, 2009-10 to 2021-22.

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-18589 on 15 June 2023 where the benefits of the Erasmus+ sector to Scotland, and as such subsequent loss due to the UK Government decision not to associate to Erasmus+ were outlined.

All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament's website, the search facility for which can be found at Questions and answers | Scottish Parliament Website .

The Scottish Government’s vision for Scottish education is excellence and equity and ensuring that every child has the same opportunity to succeed regardless of their social circumstances or support needs.

The school’s approaches to closing the poverty related attainment gap and achieving excellence and equity for all children and young people form a key part of every school inspection.

HM Inspectors consider the quality of education provision and how well schools are meeting the needs of all children and young people including those children who require additional support and are entitled to free school meals.

HM Inspectors are provided with key information about the school. This includes the number of children with additional support needs, the nature of those needs, the percentage of children living in each area identified in the Scottish Index of Multiple Deprivation and the percentage of children and young people entitled to free school meals.

When evaluating the quality of education provision, HM Inspectors take account of the school's specific circumstances. They look closely at the needs of individual learners and groups of learners with additional support needs and those affected by poverty. They evaluate how well the school is supporting children and young people by looking closely at their support plans, observing learning and teaching and speaking to them. HM Inspectors consider the extent to which schools promote equity of success and have raised attainment and achievement for all children and young people, including those who are most disadvantaged.