Seòmar agus comataidhean

The Scottish Government does not have the information you require in a readily available format in order to answer this question. In order to answer your question would therefore incur disproportionate costs.

However, information we do have in relation to school pupil attendance and absence throughout the 2020/21 school year can be found here:

COVID19 - Schools and Childcare Information 2021 | Tableau Public

Coronavirus (COVID-19): daily data for Scotland - gov.scot (www.gov.scot)

Coronavirus (COVID-19): trends in daily data - gov.scot (www.gov.scot)

COVID-19 Education Recovery Group: children and young people infographic - gov.scot (www.gov.scot)

This information shows the attendance and absence rates over the course of the entire 2020/21 school year (when schools were open for all pupils to return from specific stages).

It shows that attendance generally started at around 95% when schools fully reopened after a lockdown (i.e. August 2020 and April 2021). However, attendance rates slowly fell throughout each term.

However, on any given day, more children and young people were not in school due to non-Covid reasons, and that most pupils not in school due to Covid-related reasons was due to pupils being required to self-isolate. The actual number of pupils who were absent due to having tested positive for Covid (or displaying Covid symptoms) was generally under 1,000 pupils (out of approximately 700,000 pupils) on any given day over the course of the entire school year.

We are committed to expanding the maximum total support package available to students over the next three years to reach the equivalent of the living wage.

The Alternative Certification Model (ACM) for national qualifications in 2020-21 has been designed to give schools the flexibility to assess learners at times and in ways that are appropriate to their specific needs. This has been enhanced by a programme of support provided by the wider education sector.

As a result, the additional workload will vary and be subject to decisions at a local school level, in terms of their approach to delivering the Alternative Certification Model.

The Alternative Certification Model required teachers to ensure learners receive their national qualifications, based on their professional judgement of demonstrated attainment. We have recognised this unprecedented responsibility through the payment of up to £400 for each teacher involved in supporting the delivery of the ACM, and providing two days set aside during the school year for teachers to work on the assessments.

At present we are awaiting Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) advice on whether all those aged 12 to 15, and all 16 and 17 year olds should be offered COVID-19 vaccination – and once we have this we will be preparing policy guidance as to how we will operationalise this for Scotland. No 16-17 year olds outwith the previously identified JCVI priority groups will have vaccination prior to the pending JCVI advice.

There were three cases of pupils being 'removed from the register' of their school in 2018-19. When this occurs a pupil does not return to their original school and will be educated at another school or in some other educational provision.

More statistics on exclusions from school can be found in the following publication: https://www.gov.scot/publications/school-exclusion-statistics/

Information on exclusions is not available for 2017-18 or 2019-20 as this data is collected biennially. Information on exclusions in 2020-21 has yet to be collected.

Applications for the Legal Aid Traineeship Fund are sought from all legal firms/organisations across Scotland, including those in the Northern Isles. The Scottish Government and the Law Society agreed that all posts must be externally advertised including on the lawscots.jobs website. The criteria for the Fund explicitly states that all reasonable steps must be taken by legal firms/organisations to use an open, fair, and diverse recruitment process.

The Law Society are responsible for the administration of the Fund and further information on the eligibly criteria can be found here: https://www.lawscot.org.uk/qualifying-and-education/qualifying-as-a-scottish-solicitor/the-traineeship/funded-legal-aid-traineeship-scheme/ .

Grant funding allocations were made to councils based on levels of deprivation and rurality within their areas, allowing them to purchase devices and connectivity for learners to align with local digital strategies. Local authorities have been responsible for securing and distributing devices, and for reporting to Scottish Government on progress. Global pressure on supply chains (primarily as a result of the pandemic and the move to home learning and working) has resulted in delayed delivery times for some devices.

The following table shows the number of devices ordered, received and distributed at end-March 2021 (immediately before the Easter break after which in-person learning resumed), as reported by individual local authorities.

The guidance to support the provision of the £400 one-off payment to teachers is available on the Scottish Government website at: https://www.gov.scot/publications/coronavirus-covid-19-guidance-for-employers-on-one-off-gbp400-payment-for-teachers/

This exceptional payment is being made in recognition of the additional workload for teachers who have supported the delivery of the Alternative Certification Model (ACM) in the unique circumstances brought about by Covid-19 in 2020/21.

This will be paid through a grant arrangement to education authorities and directly from the Scottish Government through a grant to independent and grant-aided schools, further to claims being received.

The Improvement Service has been commissioned by the ELC expansion programme to collect data from local authorities on progress towards delivery of 1140 hours of funded early learning and childcare, and to report on this data. The most recent report, on data returned by Local Authorities in April 2021, was published on 15 June and can be accessed via the Improvement Service and Scottish Government websites. This provides detail on progress with both recruitment and construction work.

I gave an update to Parliament on 16 June 2021, a transcript of my statement can be found here . This included updates on both the Advance Payment Scheme and the development of the statutory redress scheme for survivors of historical child abuse in care.