Youth Work (Investment)
To ask the Scottish Government what its position is on whether its current investment in youth work is sufficient, in the light of reports of an increase in youth violence and the loss of local youth services in recent years. (S6T-02550)
The Scottish Government continues to fund youth work in a variety of ways, including through the block grant that is given to local authorities, affording them significant autonomy in allocating resources for youth work in their area.
Recognising the important role that local authorities play, the Government is increasing the resources that are available to local government in 2025-26 by more than £1.1 billion. In addition, the Scottish Government provides targeted funding to the youth sector via the cashback for communities programme. Since its inception, the programme has committed £156 million to supporting around 1.4 million young people across all 32 local authorities in Scotland.
I offer my deepest sympathies to the families and communities that have been affected recently by youth violence across the whole of Scotland.
Respected organisations such as YouthLink Scotland have reported more than £20 million in cuts specifically to youth work services since 2016. Does the minister accept that that reduction in provision has directly weakened the support networks that so many young people rely on, particularly those who are most at risk?
I associate myself with Martin Whitfield’s initial remarks.
It is a fact that youth services are not run by the Scottish Government. As I have outlined to him, there is substantial funding going into local government to protect those services and additional moneys are provided by cashback for communities.
It is disappointing that the minister is unaware of the specific amount that is spent on youth work.
Does the minister recognise that youth work lacks any formal legal status in Scotland, which leaves even vital local services at risk of being cut or deprioritised? In that context, given the overwhelming support from the sector and the Scottish Youth Parliament for my proposed youth work (Scotland) bill, which would enshrine youth work provision in law, will the minister meet me to discuss the fundamental importance of youth work’s role not only in tackling youth violence, but in the lives of our children and young people?
As I have already outlined to Martin Whitfield, the evidence of the importance that the Scottish Government places on youth work is there—it is in the funding that it provides for that work, to local government and by other means. Of course I would be delighted to meet Martin Whitfield.
Will the minister outline some of the very good and important youth work that the Scottish Government has supported, including through the cashback for communities programme, which specifically supports young people to divert them away from crime and antisocial behaviour and teaches the consequences of violence and carrying weapons, including knives?
It is important to say—I should have said this earlier, because I know that Martin Whitfield did not mean to imply otherwise—that the vast majority of young people, both those who engage with youth work and those who do not, are law-abiding citizens. They would not indulge in the kind of behaviours that the member has rightly pointed out, and I know that he did not mean to imply that they would.
Phase 6 of the cashback for communities programme runs from 2023 to 2026 and has funded various projects, including youth work, employability support, creative arts and sports projects. Additionally, the Government has provided more than £2 million of funding over the past three years for community-based youth work through national third sector youth work organisations to reach young people outside of school.
The minister needs to take responsibility for the cuts that his Government has made to youth work at the same time as serious assaults by teenagers have increased by 600 per cent. YouthLink Scotland’s chief executive officer says that there is a direct link between the number of council youth workers in Scotland falling by 50 per cent in eight years on the Scottish National Party’s watch and the increase in youth crime. Does the minister agree with him?
On the point of accepting responsibility, I think that it ill behoves a Conservative member of Parliament to stand here today and talk about cuts in funding when the Conservatives, if they had got their way, would have utterly slashed the Scottish Government’s funding by between £700 million and £1 billion, as I remember. I suspect that Sharon Dowey supported that position.
I make the point once again that it is local government that delivers those services. Local government has had an uplift in its funding, contrary to what the Conservatives would have had us do, and the responsibility sits there. Of course, as I have said to Martin Whitfield, I fully recognise the importance of local government, and I will be delighted to meet him to discuss his bill.
Young people are exponentially more likely to be victims of antisocial behaviour than to be perpetrators of it. Having worked for YouthLink for four years and having been a volunteer youth worker for nearly 20 years, I have seen the transformative effect that detached and sessional youth work can have on young people in our communities.
Martin Whitfield is absolutely right that the sector has been decimated by £20 million-worth of cuts by the Government. There is a double-edged sword, too. The reduction in workforce caused by our not training community education workers any more and the decline in volunteering since lockdown have had a massive impact on the sector. What more can the Government do to encourage people into youth work in the first place?
Alex Cole-Hamilton made a good point at the end—youth work is a very important line of work. I am happy to take that away and consider it. Through prioritisation in encouraging young people into particular workstreams, I think that there is more that we can do. However, I again go back to the point that it is not the Scottish Government that is cutting funding—that is a choice of local government.
Violence Against Teachers (Aberdeen)
To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to reports that violence against teachers in schools in Aberdeen has risen by 25 per cent in the last year. (S6T-02545)
Scotland’s classrooms should be safe and consistent learning environments for all. In August, the Scottish Government published, with the Convention of Scottish Local Authorities, our joint action plan on relationships and behaviour in schools, which includes actions to reduce violence in schools. The plan is jointly owned with local government, in recognition of the shared legal responsibilities of national and local government. Local government, as the employer of school staff, has responsibility for addressing concerns in specific local authority areas.
In the coming weeks, we will publish new guidance to support school staff in responding to behaviour, including the use of consequences. We will also publish new guidance on developing risk assessments for violent, aggressive or dangerous behaviour.
The violence and abuse in our schools are not new, and they are constant. In the north-east, we have seen truly terrifying examples in recent weeks at Hazlehead and Laurencekirk. Of course, local authorities and COSLA have a role, but solutions that lie at Government level have been proposed by countless people. They were proposed in the debate that I led in March 2024, by the Educational Institute of Scotland in its November 2023 report, and recently by teachers themselves. Which of those Government-level solutions has the Government fully implemented since all those reports were produced?
I thank the member for his interest in the issue. We debated the topic at length when he served in a previous position. On the action that the Government has taken, there has been a range of progress. Between November 2023 and March 2025, we made good progress against all 20 of the actions that are set out in the behaviour action plan. That includes new guidance on addressing gender-based violence in schools, which we know is increasingly challenging, and updated mobile phone and anti-bullying guidance.
There has also been enhanced evidence gathering on relationships and behaviour as part of the school inspection process, which the member might recall that I discussed at length in a previous debate. The chief inspector has been leading that work. At the end of an inspection, that feedback highlights key strengths and areas for improvement, which helps to support schools in reflecting on and enhancing their approaches to promoting positive relationships and managing behaviour. Professional learning on relationships and behaviour has also been developed and is available to staff in schools.
Over the next year, we will deliver a number of actions to support our schools and young people and their families. I will give a further update to Parliament on the work on consequences before the end of this term.
Despite many voices begging the Government to get a handle on the issue and the reams of paper and warm words that we have had, violence in Scottish schools has been rising for years. The cabinet secretary has referred a number of times to the behaviour action plan. That was published 10 months ago, yet the NASUWT states that it is having “little impact”. In fact, the number of pupils being physically abusive and violent in schools has increased in the past 12 months.
What resources for councils, schools and other relevant agencies have been budgeted for specifically to deliver the action plan when the consequences section is published? What does the cabinet secretary think the statistics on violence in Scottish schools will be by this time next year, as a result of her plan?
The member raises a number of points. He referenced the NASUWT, which I look forward to meeting at one of my regular bilaterals later today. The issue about impact that he raises is one that I have discussed with him at length. Earlier this year, jointly with Councillor Tony Buchanan from COSLA, I wrote to all directors of education to encourage information sharing and awareness raising with headteachers, because we need the national action plan to help to inform better approaches in our schools.
The member talked about the increase in the figures, and I note the issues in Aberdeen. He will recall that, in late 2023, I was clear in Parliament—and I have been since then—that we want to encourage our staff to report incidents. We know through the behaviour in Scottish schools research that, in the past, there has been a reticence among staff to report.
The member raises issues about funding. He will recall that, in 2023, I announced funding of £900,000 to provide support to our staff. Of course, the Scottish Government’s budget provided extra funding for more teachers in our schools and in relation to additional support needs.
Any violent incident against a teacher is unacceptable, and we must do all that we can to reinforce the importance of behaving respectfully at school and in the community.
Cabinet secretary, do you also agree that the vast majority of children and young people behave respectfully? As pupils are reaching the end of the school year and starting to transition into the next one, and as many young people are having to overcome stressful exam experiences, we should say thank you to them and highlight our appreciation of who they are and what they contribute to our lives and society.
Please always speak through the chair.
Sorry, Presiding Officer.
I agree with the member’s point. I thank our young people, who have had an extremely challenging few years due to their education being disrupted by the pandemic, which has had an impact on our schools.
As Mr Dey said in response to a previous question, we need to remember that, just like adults, the vast majority of our young people behave well and are a credit to their schools and society, so they should not be tarnished due to the behaviour of a minority. That is confirmed by our behaviour in Scottish schools research, which found that most staff said that children were well behaved “most or all” of the time.
As cabinet secretary, I have had the privilege of visiting many schools across the country, and I am always really impressed by the young people whom I meet. Although I do not deny the challenges that we face with relationships and behaviour, particularly post-Covid, I have always been clear that we should not demonise our young people, who need our support.
Do the Cabinet Secretary for Justice and Home Affairs’ comments that were broadcast at the weekend, which were that violent children should remain in mainstream classrooms, reflect the official position of the Cabinet Secretary for Education and Skills or of the First Minister?
If it is the policy, was it agreed with teachers and their unions? If it is not the policy, will the cabinet secretary take the opportunity to apologise to Scotland’s teachers, parents and pupils for the confusion and concern that those comments have caused?
I am not sighted on the specific commentary that Mr Kerr is alluding to, but the general point, which was made in First Minister’s question time last week and by the justice secretary, is that schools are sometimes the safest place for some of our young people who come from chaotic and challenging backgrounds. It is important that schools provide consistent support.
More broadly, the member and I have discussed over a number of months, if not years, some of the challenges in Scotland’s schools and how we can better support our front-line staff, which is hugely important. In response to Liam Kerr, I mentioned the extra funding that we are putting in via the budget for teacher numbers and additional support needs. Those things make a difference at the chalkface, but it is also imperative that the national action plan, which I spoke about previously, helps to inform improved practice in our schools, which is why we are working in conjunction with COSLA to do exactly that.
Experienced educators, such as the retired Edinburgh headteacher whom I met this morning, track the root cause of escalating violence in schools to the erosion of clear and unambiguous values-based behavioural policies that are based on consequences.
Will the Government now admit that the overreliance on restorative approaches has failed and eroded behaviour in our schools, and will it now fully commit to urgently restoring clear behavioural expectations with consequences in order to protect our teachers and pupils’ safety and to raise attainment?
I am not sure that I would associate myself with Ms Regan’s comments on a values-based education system. In Scotland, we very much have a values-based education system that is rooted in social justice, which is encapsulated by our approach to curriculum for excellence.
There are consequences for young people in our schools, much as there might be consequences for members of the Scottish Parliament for their behaviour. It is therefore appropriate that we engage directly with headteachers and listen to them accordingly. I have not seen the commentary from the headteacher that Ms Regan alluded to, but I am more than happy to engage with her on that point if she can share more information with my office.
That concludes topical questions. There will be a brief pause to allow front-bench members to change over before we move on to the next item of business.
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